Vermont Becomes the First State in the U.S. to Require GMO Labeling – Why This is a Very Big Deal

I don’t spend too much time on GMO labeling here at Liberty Blitzkrieg, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hold a strong opinion on the matter. I completely and without question think that consumers have a right to know whether or not the food they put into their bodies has been engineered with biotechnology, and I certainly think it’s beyond ridiculous that genetically modified foods can still be labeled “natural,” as is the case currently. Apparently, I am not alone, as a New York Times poll late last year showed that a stunning 93% of respondents support such labeling.

Despite such support, GMO labeling bills have been tried and failed in several states in recent years, most notably in California and Washington state. However, Vermont just made history with the passage of H.112. The bill, which requires all GMO foods sold in Vermont to be labeled by July 1, 2016, will now head to the desk of Governor Peter Shumlin who has said he will sign it into law.

At this point, I want to congratulate the great state of Vermont for what they have just done. The passage of this bill is a huge deal on multiple levels, and not just when it comes to food choice and GMO labeling. While it is hugely significant that Vermont will now become the first state in America to require labeling (Maine and Connecticut already passed such bills, but they do not go into effect until a certain number of surrounding states pass similar laws), its significance is even more important when it comes to the states rights movement.

People who say things can’t be changed are fighting on the wrong battlefield. Fuck the feds and fuck Washington D.C. Use the state legislatures to get things done. Already in the past year, two states have ended marijuana prohibition and now the states approach is taking the lead on GMO labeling. The states are doing what the feds never could or would. This fits in with the overall macro trend of decentralization taking over as a means of societal interaction away from centralization. We have the power, it’s time to exercise it. Go Vermont.

Meanwhile, you know this movement is scaring the living shit out of Monsanto, which is why Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas just introduced a desperate bill, which activists are referring to as the DARK Act, that would ban states from requiring labeling. That’s Congress for you. Criminals on the Potomac.

The Wall Street Journal covered the story well last week. Here are some excerpts:

The movement against genetically modified crops scored a signal victory Wednesday, as the Vermont legislature passed a bill that would make it the first state to require food makers to label products made with the technology.

The Vermont House voted 114-30 to adopt a state Senate labeling bill. Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he plans to sign the bill, whose requirements would take effect in July 2016.

While Vermont is one of the smallest U.S. states, the legislation marks a victory for activists who have campaigned for GMO labeling, saying consumers have a right to transparency over the widely used technology. Food and agriculture industry groups, which have lobbied aggressively to block similar measures in other states, blasted the Vermont decision, saying it was driven by faulty science and would hurt consumers.

The vast majority of corn and soybeans grown in the U.S. are GMOs, and food companies estimate that about 80% of U.S. packaged-food products contain GMO ingredients in some form.

GMO advocates note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved their use, and argue that the technology has no proven human health threats and has increased crop yields and helped lower food prices.

For those of you somehow still under the impression the FDA has consumer interests in mind, I suggest you read the following: Fraud Alert: FDA Allowed Drugs with Fraudulent Testing to Remain on the Market

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Hot Pockets Recalls 8 Million Pounds of Meat Due to “Diseased and Unsound Animals”

Last year saw a great number of widely publicized instances of food fraud and general nastiness when it came to the various items many of us regularly put in our bodies. From “fake tuna,” to rat meat in the streets of Shanghai, to alcohol in New Jersey diluted with “river water,” the list was seemingly endless. While 2014 has … Read more

Aspartame: Coming to a Milk Carton Near You (Without a Label)

Rightly or wrongly, aspartame is a highly controversial artificial sweetener.  I’m no scientist and I haven’t researched it throughly enough to come to my own conclusion, but generally I try to eat minimally tampered with foods.  This is where this story begins to present serious issues for me.  The debate here is not whether aspartame will be allowed in milk; it already is.  The issue is whether or not dairy producers will have to let consumers know that it is there.  In a world where tuna isn’t tuna and beef is increasingly horse meat, we should demand more information than ever before as far as the substances we put in our bodies.  As usual, I would expect the FDA to side with the lobbyists and corporate America rather than consumers’ best interests.  From the Huffington Post:

Got diet milk? The dairy industry for the past three years has been hoping to sell you some under the guise of just plain “milk,” so that chocolate and strawberry varieties that contain artificial sweeteners would no longer need to carry a special label.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged a 2009 petition from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation that seeks to drop the FDA requirement to label milk and other dairy products as “artificially sweetened” when they contain sweeteners such as aspartame.

Aspartame is used in a range of products, including diet soda and yogurt, and is sold to consumers under the brand-name Equal (which also includes some other ingredients). Some researchers have found that artificial sweeteners alter people’s brain chemistry, making them crave higher-calorie foods, which in turn makes them more prone to obesity and diabetes.

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The Meat Industry Now Consumes 80% of All Antibiotics

Care for a side of horse meat with that dose of tetracycline in your chicken wings?  Recovery never tasted so good!  Basically since 2003, antibiotic use for sick people is flat, but up 50% for use in the meat industry.  These stats are shocking.  From Mother Jones:

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a set of voluntary “guidelines” designed to nudge the meat industry to curb its antibiotics habit. Ever since, the agency has been mulling whether and how to implement the new program. Meanwhile, the meat industry has been merrily gorging away on antibiotics—and churning out meat rife with antibiotic-resistant pathogens—if the latest data from the FDA itself is any indication.

Note that that while human antibiotic use has leveled off at below 8 billion pounds annually, livestock farms have been sucking in more and more of the drugs each year—and consumption reached a record nearly 29.9 billion pounds in 2011. To put it another way, the livestock industry is now consuming nearly four-fifths of the antibiotics used in the US, and its appetite for them is growing.

meatAntibio

In an email, a Pew spokesperson added that while  the American Meat Institute reported a 0.2 percent increase in total meat and poultry production in 2011 compared to the previous year, the FDA data show that antibiotic consumption jumped 2 percent over the same time period. That suggests that meat production might be getting more antibiotic-intensive.  

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New Study Shows: Food Fraud Soared 60% Last Year

So what is food fraud anyway?  Well, it’s sort of what you would expect.  It’s when companies label food one way, but the truth turns out to be completely different.  I have been predicting an escalation in this trend for years, since it was obvious that as inflation led to increases in food prices, companies would resort to this type of behavior to keep margins inflated.

So in their latest study, the non-profit food fraud detectives at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) show us the extent of this extremely dangerous trend.  From ABC News:

It’s what we expect as shoppers—what’s in the food will be displayed on the label.

But a new scientific examination by the non-profit food fraud detectives the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), discovered rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice.

In a new database to be released Wednesday, and obtained exclusively by ABC News today, USP warns consumers, the FDA and manufacturers that the amount of food fraud they found is up by 60 percent this year.

So what are the most commonly faked products?

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Whistleblower Site “Science Fraud” is Shutdown

Considering how dirty the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is, this appears to be yet another defeat for transparency.  Let’s not forget my post from last summer The FDA is Caught Spying on its Employees and Creating an “Enemies List” in order to recognize the importance of whistleblowing in the era of peak corruption we live in.  From Forbes:

Those of us concerned about the decaying credibility of Big Science were dismayed to learn that the whistleblower site Science Fraud has been shut down due to a barrage of legal threats against its operator.

Operated as a crowdsourced reference site much like Wikipedia, Science Fraud, in its six months of operation, documented egregiously suspicious research results published in over 300 peer reviewed publications. Many were subsequently retracted, including a paper by an author whose lawyer sent Science Fraud a cease and desist letter.

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Coming to America…Biotech Salmon!

The FDA always has your back.  This government agency, which is well known for corruption (watch the movie Burzynski), seems to be inching closer toward approving a biotech salmon product called AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon egg.  Sounds tasty!  From Reuters:

(Reuters) – A controversial genetically engineered salmon has moved a step closer to the consumer’s dining table after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday the fish didn’t appear likely to pose a threat to the environment or to humans who eat it.

AquaBounty officials said they were caught by surprise by the news that its product was a step closer to approval as years of controversy had followed the company’s application for a go-ahead from the regulator.

Hahaha.  Even the company itself was surprised its product could get approved so easily!

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The FDA is Caught Spying on its Employees and Creating an “Enemies List”

Ah, so now we see the surveillance state is indeed everywhere.  This is what happens when the government itself claims the right the tear up the supreme law of the land – The U.S. Constitution – and just track anyone they want anytime they want.  When I first woke up to the gigantic fraud that is the global monetary system I thought I had figured it all out.  Boy was I wrong.  The more stones I overturn, the more I see the syndicate is indeed everywhere.  The food industry and the healthcare industry are indeed as corrupt as the financial system.  Just like the “regulators” in the financial markets simply serve as gatekeepers for the bankster oligarchs, so too does the FDA serve as a gatekeeper to the pharmaceutical elite.  You know the corporations that in many cases are more interested in keeping you sick and selling you medicine than actually curing disease.

Key quotes from this NY Time article:

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