Prince Charles Denounces GMOs
According to Prince Charles, GMOs are the “biggest environmental disaster of all time.”
He has good reason to say this. 70% of GMO crops are designed to be Roundup Ready, so that farmers can spray the powerful herbicide Roundup on their crops to kill weeds without killing the corn, soy, canola, etc., that they’re growing.
Roundup, however, is an extremely toxic herbicide. It kills plants by inhibiting an enzyme that would allow the plant to synthesize the amino acids tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine. In addition, it promotes disease causing organisms in the soil, which then work to attack the already weakened plant.
Roundup also has serious effects on animals and humans. For example, it was found that birth defects were up to 70 times higher for farmers who were regularly exposed to Roundup. When this herbicide is used, it pollutes the environment and drinking water, harming plants, animals, and humans alike in the process.
Neither of these things are good for the environment. In fact, compared to non-GMO counterparts, pesticide use on GMO crops is 323 million pounds greater in the United States alone.
jjdoublej, that’s a good point, but are you familiar with the Roundup-resistant weed issue that all long-term GMO farrems are facing? The weeds in their fields developed resistance to the being bathed in herbicides. Each year, more and more herbicide had to be applied to kill the weeds. It is at the point now where the herbicide is not killing the weeds, so many are being forced to look at alternative means of killing the weeds, like tilling herbicides into the soil. Where is the benefit of GMO now? It may make it easy for you to farm now, but what about the mutant weeds you are leaving behind for your children? Many would challenge your assertion that the growers will raise a higher quality of Alfalfa by using GMO. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine states:…several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.Another study, lead by Professor Andre9s Carrasco of the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School, demonstrated that glyphosate (Roundup) causes birth defects at far lower doses than those used in agricultural spraying and well below maximum residue levels in products approved by the European Union. The study was initiated because of widespread reports of human malformations in Argentina beginning in 2002. This was two years after farrems began widespread aerial spraying of Roundup on their GM soy crops.There are many more
January 16, 2013 at 1:28 pm