Dr. Josette Wier continues her battle against pesticides

Posted on February 28, 2015 by admin

Dr. Josette Wier, a doctor and an activist against pesticides, was born in France. She is 68 years old. She has a 120 Acre plot at Smithers, northern BC. She wishes to plant organic grain there, but has not managed the economics of it yet, so presently leases the land for hay. She does not earn anything from it – but gives the hay away freely. She intends to try out experimental crops in small lots to see what works and what does not. She is not aiming to get her products certified organic right now, because it is an expensive proposition, but would like to grow her crops as if they were organic.

There is a shortage of information and knowledge on what can be grown there sustainably. The region’s history of settlements is barely a century old, where settlers came, cleared the forest and created the farm land. Nobody has tried growing human cereals, though some have grown animal feed there. There was a government funded study in an experimental farm decades ago, to see what can be grown there. But, the Government has shut that down quite a while ago. The information thus collected is apparently lost or lying in someone’s barn without any effort to preserve. Reportedly a research student in the University of Northern British Columbia, UNBC, is trying to find that information and is lamenting at the difficulty of finding, preserving and building on that knowledge base.

Josette has a few more things that sets her apart. She has been battling pesticide use in Canada, as an activist and a litigator, for 15 years or so. She took the provincial Government followed up by taking the Federal Govt to court for practice of injecting arsenic based pesticide into hundreds of thousands of BC forest trees to fight the pine beetle attack, and for spraying RoundUp by the logging corporations. After several years of court battle , she eventually won both her cases, and the practice was halted. But this happened only after EPA had withdrawn approval of the practice in USA due to proven harm to environment.

Josette however does not consider it a victory, since the BC Government does not seem to know what to do with the hundred thousand trees that still stand with arsenic and Glyphosate in them, and are poisoning woodpeckers, mice, insects and a whole lot of the food chain. During this long battle, she came to learn a lot about the harmful effects of Glyphosate.

As if that was not enough, Dr. Josette Wier has come across a new challenge in the last few years in Smithers. Her district voted itself to want to be GMO free through a resolution in 2013. However, an Alberta farmer has landed on her town, bought a large plot, and has started planting and growing GM RoundUp Ready Canola, and spraying RoundUp, more than the recommended limit, on his property bordering Josette, causing pesticide trespass onto her property over the fence, as well as using RoundUp on crown property ditches which is illegal even in Canada.

Further, he appears to be using it more often and in larger quantity than recommended by the producer (Monsanto) and seller (Croplife). Also the new farmer apparently does not follow best practice guidelines recommended in Croplife brochure, about informing bee keepers and neighbours before spraying, so the neighbours could take precaution.

Josette says she and her family is genetically inclined to fall prey to Cancer more easily than others. She has officially complained to the district board. But nothing much happens.

It appears that the use of Glyphosate is approved by Health Canada based on study by the maker of the product, provided the user follows the guidelines provided in the package. The strange thing is – there seem to be no oversight or regulator, to ensure that the guidelines, however questionable, are being followed.

[youtube eXxdL00nKC4]

Josette has filed a case with the Farm Industry Resource Board on this issue as well as given written letters to the farmer in question, advising him of the recommended practice per CropLife and Monsanto documentation and requesting him to maintain a buffer, use the herbicide no more than recommended level and keep neighbours and bee keepers advised ahead of time. None of these requests are being followed.

I am planning to create a two part video, 15 minutes each, of Josette’s talk, and plan to drive to her place in summer, a 12 hour drive, for a look sea and taking pictures (right now there is a lot of snow on the roads and is not a good time to drive there).

This video was created based on my talks with her.

A few notes:
She is asking for a buffer around her property where no herbicide is sprayed. This is better than no buffer. But we know that is insufficient as the spray drifts in the air. Also, it may get into the underground water, and also go in agricultural runoffs and contaminate the neighbourhood anyway.

The issue here, is another example where we may be having a Government that appears determined to poison the countryside for the sake of a handful of Auber-powerful corporations. Is this an onset of fascism? Are we having a Government of the Corporations, for the Corporations and by the Corporations, while maintaining a thin and crumbling facade of democracy and rule of law?

If any of you know the student of UNBC that is searching for the missing documents about the experimental farm in Bulley-Nachako regional district, that was shut down by the Government, I would request you to pass me her contacts so I can catch up on that story.

This is not the only battle on Josette’s plate. She has the pipeline and the other toxic agendas to fight against too. My heart goes out to this spirited doctor, and member of CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment).

For those that might want to offer a suggestion for Dr. Wier – send me a note.

Canada’s unenviable record of resisting Glyphosate and GMO

Posted on February 5, 2015 by admin

Here is something that I wrote, on a long chain of email based discussions on what we Canadians or British Columbians might do, to resist the GMO onslaught.

Hi Dag, and everyone else.

Guess this is a kind of email-brainstorm discussion on the topic. I shall state my feelings on it, if I may, based on Dag’s very good analysis, which is still quite different from mine.

I look at it this way, but am not proposing that everyone else must agree:

Glyphosate is a greater health risk, proven, than GMO. Glyphosate combined with vaccine additives make a drastically more dangerous cocktail of poison. Glyphosate is in more things than just our food, and is killing more than just humans. Glyphosate is now being used even on non-GMO crops as desiccant, so it is expected to have higher concentration on non-GMO food than even on GMO crops. Lastly, without Glyphosate, a majority of the GMO (roundUp ready crops) will automatically die off. IN other words, eradicating GMO will not stop Glyphosate, but eradicating Glyphosate will more or less kill the largest swatch of GMO. So, at least in my view, Glyphosate is to be the primary target of my energy. The only thing worse is, 2,4-D is coming, together with Glyphosate and smart stacks.
I disagree that Canada in the last ten or twenty years have gone a long way forward in fighting off GMO. I do not know how to judge public awareness, but by mathematical numbers, the support for fighting off GMO is pitiful in my eyes. Where venues should pack thousands of people, even hundreds of thousands, we see tens and twenties and at times a few hundred. I do not consider this progressing forward. To me this is regressing backward. Further, if I check the details of how many GMO crops Canada managed to stop, and compare than with how many GM crops Canada has allowed in, in the last two decades, I come to the conclusion that Canada is singularly the worst nation in the planet (along with USA) when it comes to approving GM products in our food. Official figures through UNO affiliated bodies say USA and Canada have over 100 GMO products on their food shelves, while Europe has less than ten, and countries like India have just one. So, if I consider we are making progress, then I am in denial, and I am part of the problem, not part of the solution.
When strategizing, I must take into account that GMO and pesticides are entering Canada through our political system, and that both mainstream political parties, i.e. the conservation’s and the liberals, are allowing wholesale introduction of it, much like the republicans and the democrats in the US. NDP has a slightly shrouded agriculture policy that appears to be against GMO and pesticide but does not spell it out clearly and unambiguously. I have learned to be suspicious of policy statements that are vague and avoids calling a spade a spade. The agriculture policy of the Green Party appears to be the only one that is unmistakably, unambiguously and clearly, against introduction of patented GMO and pesticide laden agriculture, forestry and ecosystem management practices. Not just that but they seem to be the only party that highlights the dangers of the trade deals we are entering into that allow foreign nations and corporations to sue us if we do not import their toxic packages. But then, the Green Party is a long way off from forming a Government. Some MLA and MPs have said, including emails to me, that there is no hope for Canada (on the GMO/pesticide issue as well as many others) unless we get proportional representation. However, nobody seems to know how to bring about proportional representation when such policy changes will have to be voted by the very MPs that support the current unjust system. What we have is a mockery of democracy, and the onset of a full blown fascism, and unless we fix that, all the talk about resisting GMO is just that – talk. So, to me, resisting GMO or pesticide cannot be divorced from politics. This is a political problem – a crisis of civilization, and not one of just science or sociology. Our democracy has gone down the toilet.
I am appalled at the apathy of Canadian citizenry, especially of the younger generation that seems to have no time for anything other than be preoccupied with themselves. In that sense, I believe the youth is disconnected in general, but Canadian youth appear to be particularly more self-absorbed and myopic compared to youth of other continents. So, again from my point of view, I am trying within my meagre means to get ordinary citizens to re-engage with the rotten political system of this country. I have been vigorously involved within my means in the local municipal election – supporting good candidates and exposing those that sit on the fence on the GE free issue on my blog (www.tonu.org) naming rogue politicians, mayors and the like and putting up their pictures, as well as highlighting honest politicians that pledge to fight for eradication of GMO and pesticides. I am happy to note the only politician I went door to door to canvas in support of (ms Heather King) won the election in Delta. I am trying to organize a weekly trip to the local town halls where municipalities conduct their business in front of the people, and trying to give a free ride to anyone wanting to attend them from my neighbourhood. I find it appalling that the halls are bare and there are more councillors and municipal staff than there are public attending them. These, to me, are some of the root illnesses of our society, our civilization and our culture – just my view.
In the last provincial election, I went door to door supporting candidates in Surrey, and Langley area that were standing on the Green ticket – not because of the party, but because they had integrity and would not mince their words on GMO and pesticide. They all lost their elections, but that hardly changes my position on what I as a citizen consider my duty of supporting good candidates.
I am contemplating who to support in the next general election and what strategy I might adopt as a citizen. I already have at least one candidate and a very strong personality on anti-GMO and anti-pesticide battle. She is Brandie Harrop of Sherwood Park, Alberta standing on the Green ticket. I have not yet found a similar candidate, of any party or independent, in BC, but the search in on.
I aim to promote and highlight people that make a difference, such as Arzeena Hamir, April Reees, Harold Steves, Sheryl McCumsey, Huguette Allen, Wendy Bales, Josette etc. These are hero and heroines of far greater importance, in my book, than a hundred Vandana Shiva, or Jeffrey Smith, Rachel Parent, or any other name on the horizon. These are people that are trying to “do” something, and not just talk about it and look pretty on tv. And I am always looking out for more of the unsung hero and heroines of Canada. I cannot get enough of them.
I think GE free resolutions are a great starting point, but it needs to go further, and Municipalities need to push the button and find ways to pass bylaws and not just resolutions, on banning on growing GMO, or find ways to make it difficult or uneconomic for GMO / pesticide using farmers. I know legally agriculture in Canada is supposed to be a federal jurisdiction. But I have studied enough of it to know that both Provincial Governments as well as Municipalities can push at this boundary continuously, and preferably with many Municipalities together – to alter the situation. I also come from the land of Gandhi, who said, if there is a law that is unjust, then it is our duty to break that low. Growing clean food should be a basic human right and any law that curtails it is an unjust law in my book. That is part of the civil disobedience that Henry David Thoreau talked about almost two centuries ago.

I do not propose or expect folks here to agree with me much. I am just stating my own analysis on it and what I aim to do about it. I shall join hands with others occasionally where our views overlap.

Yes, we are in it together, but we are not a monolithic pack and I am not here to work under a narrow agenda. Most agendas I have so far seen, appear irrelevant and do not go far enough for me. But, I accept that for a lot of folks, thats all they can do.

By the way, there is a lot of bogus information, ill-information, half-information, or veiled misinformation going around in the name of science, while promoting the notion that GMO and herbicides are good for us and good for the planet. Don’t be swayed by such propaganda of the corporatocracy. Here is an example, that claims to state the “truth about glyphosate“:

Thanks and best wishes

Tony Mitra

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[More to come here. Watch this space]

Create a demand for Glyphosate lab in Canada

Posted on December 8, 2014 by admin

Glyphosate is the poison in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide, the most used weed killer in Canada. It is used on RoundUp ready GM crops, and also as desiccant on non GM crops. it is to be used on prairies with designed GM alfalfa. It is being sprayed from the air on Canadian forests by logging companies. It is everywhere.

There is a rising body of study that point to possible link between our exposure to this chemical and an unparalleled rise of various chronic diseases in North America.

Here in Canada, there is no lab that will test citizen’s urine, or blood, or breast milk of nursing mothers, for traces of Glyphosate. There is no lab in Canada where one can test the food we buy in our store, for presence of Glyphosate.

Are there such labs available in other regions ? Yes, USA has them. There are labs in the rest of the world, but not in Canada.

Why are there no labs in Canada ? Because no doctor, no hospital, no environment ministry or health ministry is asking for routine and broad range testing of Canadian people and Canadian food, for glyphosate poisoning. Labs are commercial ventures. They will provide a service only if there is sufficient demand.

So, here is an appeal for all Canadians – join us and create a demand. All you need to do is ask your doctor, or hospital, or clinic, to arrange for a test of urine, or blood, or breast milk for nursing mothers, as well as a few heavily used food brand for your family such as a brand of milk, or bread, or meat. If enough doctors or hospitals started asking around for this test, this would generate a demand, and some labs would respond to it and start offering this service. Right now, a few Canadian labs offer the service of testing Glyphosate in water, and soil. Unfortunately, they will not test it in your food, or your body fluids as of now.

For those that wish to learn more about what Glyphosate is, and why it should be a matter for concern – read the bottom section of this blog, where a copy of a letter recently written by retired Canadian genetic engineer Dr. Thierry Vrain to the health minister is included, covering this very subject, with scientific references to international studies. You can also check my own blog from the summer, where I asked for a nationwide testing for Glyphosate, and how our efforts are delayed due to the roadblock of not having any lab in Canada, and sending samples overseas or across the border is proving difficult and costly.

I am also including another external link : The microbiota Crisis and how Glyphosate is killing animal micro biome, including our own, and how this micro biome is vital for all us in the animal kingdom.

Above is a sample letter. Use it if you like, or modify it as needed. Wording of the same blank letter is shown below. Do not offer to pay for the tests as of now. Idea is for doctors and hospitals to start enquiring about testing Glyphosate in food and in people. If enough demand is perceived, some labs will start offering this service.

We intend to self-label our food

Idea is for us to contribute in testing our food. I could pay for testing one or two brand of food, apart from my own urine etc. Someone else would test another food item. We shall keep loading the findings on the internet in a sort of nationwide list. Eventually, with hundreds of citizens pulling in, we shall have hundreds of food items tested and self-labelled, so to speak, for the rest of the nation to check on. Then, for those that do not like to have Glyphosate in their food, or those that already find Glyphosate within themselves and are looking to identify and exclude those food items from where it might be intruding from, they can then start automatically banning those food items that are tested with high Glyphosate content. This self-driven citizens action bypasses the entire political circus of trying to convince Ottawa politicians to pay heed to public concerns, an exercise so far proving to be very difficult thanks to the financial clout of the foreign corporations that peddle the toxic stuff onto us.

That is one reason we need a lab. Besides, Canada is not a fourth world country – or we hope not. The first, the second and the third world already have labs for testing Glyphosate. It is a national shame that Canada has none.

So, please help Canada in helping ourselves on this important task.

The plan is not just to get a lab. A lab is the first step, which we should not even have had to deal with, had our Govt been careful. The Govt has not been so, and we now have to work extra for the first part – of getting a lab.

Once we have the lab, Canadians can then do into a citizen-driven self labelling drive. I would test a few food products myself, out of my own pocket if need be. If two hundred Canadians from coast to coast, decided to test one food item each, apart from testing ourselves, then Canada would have two hundred food items tested. Results would be put up on the internet, for the rest of 35 million Canadians to check up on, and decide what to buy and what not to. We can do this without asking Ottawa politicians for anything.

Citizens can, and in this case, may have to, take care of our health and environment issues on our own, since the Govt seems to have abandoned the cause. Citizens will label the food. Citizens will selectively ban the food according to label and need.

Thats the plan.

Sample letter 1

To : Doctor, or Nurse, or Hospital etc

From : Your name

Date :

I am concerned that my corn, soy or wheat based food may contain traces of a herbicide called glyphosate. I would like to get my body fluids and possible fat tissue sample tested for the presense of glyphosate to see if I am accumilating any of it in my body.

If I supply you with the samples, can you please arrange to get them tested?

I would prefer for the results of the tests to be sent to me personally, as well as to your office.

Samples I wish to test: Urine (2 samples), blood(1 sample), milk (1), bread(1), cooking oil(1) – (Please modify this letter and the list of items you wish to test, to suit your situation).

Appreciate your prompt action in this.

Thanking you,

Name & address

Sample letter 2

To : Doctor, or Nurse, or Hospital etc

From : Your name

Date :

I wish to test some samples for Glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Round-Up herbicide and is being liberally sprayed on much of my food, both GMO and non GMO. I am concerned that this Glyphosate is migrating into my body, and may adversely affect my health.

If I supply you with the samples, can you please arrange to get them tested?

I would prefer for the results of the tests to be sent to me personally, as well as to your office.

Samples I wish to test: Urine (2 samples), blood(1 sample), milk (1), bread(1), cooking oil(1) – (Please modify this letter and the list of items you wish to test, to suit your situation).

Appreciate your prompt action in this.

Thanking you,

Name & address

Note from a Canadian lab, about testing Glyphosate in urine and food

Hi Tony:

We will look into the method once there is a demand, we cannot allocate resources to the development of a method for which there is no market at the moment. Also it will be a non-accredited method at this point.

Thanks.

Dr. Thierry Vrain’s letter to Rona Ambrose, health minister

October 27, 2014

To the Honorable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health

Re: herbicide pollution and GMO labeling

Minister,

The confusion about the safety of GMOs is quite simple to address. The only GMOs in our agriculture are Glyphosate Modified Organisms also known as RoundUp Ready crops and the only GMOs in our food supply are from those crops. RoundUp Ready crops are engineeredto be sprayed with the herbicide RoundUp and this technology has become so successful that RoundUp has become a major pollutant (1). This chemical pollution is antibiotic, it impacts the microbiome, impairs CYP enzymes, and depletes food of essential mineral micronutrients. As a background paper for the impact of this pollution I offer my speaking notes to the American College of Nutrition conference last week in San Diego (Texas). Most of the studies I cite were published in the last five years.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient of the herbicide RoundUp, a new molecule created in 1960 by Stauffer Chemicals – a US company with a business of cleaning industrial pipes and boilers of mineral scales. The mineral deposits (same as in electric kettles) are called scales, and the pipe cleaning chemicals are called descaling agents. Glyphosate was patented in 1964 in the US as a powerful and very broad spectrum descaling agent (2). Meaning, it binds to metals indiscriminately and does a great job at “dissolving and preventing minerals from being reactive or bioavailable in solution”. When the descaling solution was disposed of in nature, it was obvious that it killed plants. The chemical company Monsanto promptly bought the molecule, patented it as a herbicide in 1969, and got it commercialized in 1974 (3). This molecule is making history because glyphosate has become the most successful agricultural chemical in North and South America wherever RR seeds are used. The farmers using this technology get simpler and cheaper weed management and despite
higher input bills and sometimes disappointing yields, and with weed resistance spreading fast, they adopted it in troves (4).

The herbicide RoundUp had a completely novel chemistry for a herbicide in 1969. It was deemed to kill plants by bonding to only one protein enzyme in the chloroplasts – the same enzyme that is also in bacteria and fungi. Enzymes are metalloproteins with a metal atom as a cofactor at the active site of the molecule. Bacteria and plants and fungi have a metalloprotein called EPSPS for short and 5-Enol Pyruvyl Shikimate-3 Phosphate Synthase if you want to know what it does. It works with other metalloproteins to “make” several of the building blocks of proteins, the aromatic amino acids. These molecules are also building blocks for a large number of aromatic molecules we call secondary compounds. Glyphosate binds tightly to the manganese atom at the centre of the EPSPS metalloprotein, so tightly that the protein cannot move and do its work making aromatic amino acids. No protein synthesis means there is no metabolic work possible, a quick death for the plant, or the fungi or the bacteria.

Animals do not make their own aromatic amino acids since they lack the shikimate pathway with the EPSPS metalloprotein. Because of its presumed mode of killing plants, glyphosate was pronounced innocuous to humans and registered as such in 1974 in the USA. Glyphosate has no acute toxicity, and at the time of registration in the US, and even since, nobody has bothered to check for chronic effects beyond 3 months. Considering the chemical properties of this pollution one would expect long term chronic effects, very similar to rickets, scurvy, or beri beri, for lack of micronutrients. The Industry sponsored feeding studies proving the safety of GMOs do not include testing for the safety of glyphosate. None of them bother to mention the residue levels of glyphosate in the feed. Meanwhile, a fast growing series of independent studies in various countries published in the last 5 years have ascertained the impact of glyphosate on various cellular enzymes and organs of animals and human cells.

The first RoundUp Ready crops to be commercialized were soy and corn, released in 1996. Since then, a handful of RR crops have been adopted enthusiastically by farmers, particularly in North and South America. Today close to 500 million acres of soya and corn, and cotton, canola, and sugar beet, are engineered to be sprayed with RoundUp. About 40% of all RR crops are grown in the USA, most of the rest are grown in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and a few other countries. RR crops are now sprayed with close to two billion lbs of glyphosate every year, and so much of that finds its way into processed food and feed that the EPA had to raise the legal residue limits last year to accommodate a new reality (5).

They are the teachers of our immune system, they make many neurotransmitters for our brain, and have a strong connection to the heart and the whole digestive tract. They literally feed us all kinds of molecules that we require – we call them essential, like vitamins and such. They digest and recycle most of our food. Most human organs rely on molecular signals from the microbiome for normal functioning. As goes the microbiome, so does its human shell. A recent review of the medical literature on celiac and other diseases shows the link to imbalances of the microbiome that are fully explained by the antibiotic properties of glyphosate (8). And the same authors published another review of the impact of glyphosate on the CYP enzymes and the microbiome. Samsel and Seneff have suggested that glyphosate’s suppression of CYP enzymes and its antibiotic effect on the human microbiome are involved in the etiology of many chronic degenerative and inflammatory diseases that have grown to epidemic proportions since 1996, since the advent of the RoundUp Ready technology (10).

We lack any official data on residues of glyphosate in food or in water in Canada – no epidemiological studies of any kind have ever been done. All we have are the legal maximum residue limits now allowed by the EPA in RoundUp Ready foods, human cereal 30 ppm, animal grain 100 ppm, soybean 120 ppm, and everything else in between (5). Here an inquisitive mind will ask why there is such a high residue limit for cereal when none of the grains are engineered to be sprayed with RoundUp. This is when you learn that RoundUp is sprayed on many non-engineered crops with the intent to kill them right before harvest. This is done to mature and dry the crops quickly to make them easier and cheaper to harvest. The RoundUp herbicide has now become a dessicant.

There is direct toxicity to animal cells because glyphosate binds to metals indiscriminately, and not just in plant cells. It binds to metals in solution and to metal co-factors at the centre of metalloproteins anywhere. For example glyphosate binds to the iron atom at the centre of a large family of protein enzymes called CYP. There are 57 different CYP enzymes in the human body, and approximately 20,000 in animals, plants, bacteria and fungi. The CYP enzymes are oxydizers, the first line of digestion and detoxification of most substrates. David Nelson wrote in a review of the CYP enzymes: “The CYP enzymes of humans are essential for our normal physiology and failure of some of these enzymes results in serious illnesses (9,10).

Nancy Swanson has made public her statistical analyses of the US Centre for Disease Control’s statistics about the health status of America when placed next to the statistics of the US Department of Agriculture about the spread of RoundUp Ready soy and corn. Her correlation analyses show very high coefficient values suggesting strong links between glyphosate residues in RoundUp Ready food and chronic illnesses (11).

Medical and chemical reviews and peer reviewed studies have explained the mode of action of glyphosate and its impact on many metalloproteins. Human cell studies have shown acute toxicity (12-15) and animal studies have shown chronic toxicity (16-21). Glyphosate bioaccumulates in the plants and in any animal that eat the plants.

Glyphosate accumulates in the lungs, the heart, kidneys, intestine, liver, spleen, muscles, and bones … and chronically ill people have higher residues in their urine than healthy people.”(22)

To conclude this presentation of the nutritional status of Glyphosate Modified Organisms, I would say that crops sprayed with RoundUp, whether they are RoundUp Ready or not, contain residues of glyphosate, that foods made from RoundUp Ready soy and corn and sugar and canola, etc … are depleted of the minerals that are bound to the glyphosate molecules (23). Foods made from crops containing residues of glyphosate are by definition depleted of minerals and toxic.

Minister, your reassuring words have been quoted widely. “Currently, there is no… scientific evidence, that says genetically modified foods are unhealthy. It is impossible for us to mandate a label, because our labels have to be based on evidence that it is an unhealthy product for Canadians.” I hope you have found here the scientific evidence you require to act and that you join over 60 governments in the world who have found this evidence compelling enough in the past few years, to legislate some form of labeling or ban RoundUp Ready crops and the herbicide RoundUp.

Respectfully,

Dr. Thierry Vrain

thierryv@telus.net

Literature cited

Why don’t I like GMO in Canada?

Posted on November 25, 2014 by admin

Here is another piece of information for all these new followers that I seem to gather like flotsam that get stuck at the mangrove roots in shifting tides.

The whole world, when discussing GMO, wants to see if it if safe or not. I believe it is unsafe, especially the chemicals and pesticides associated with it. However, that is not the main point from where I stand.

I am on a completely different platform. To me, this is an attack on Canadian democracy and independence, whereby all living creatures that are important, may one day cease to be Canadian product, or Gods creation, and instead belong to a patent holding foreign corporation.

This is also an assault on nature.

This – damn the science – is unacceptable to me. I want Canadian flora and fauna to remain Canadian and Gods creation and not stolen by any biotech thief from abroad.

And the mechanism being used to infiltrate into Canada, is not through scientists, but through our corrupt politicians.

Therefore, to me, this is a political issue. This cannot be solved by scientists, but by politicians. And corrupt politicians are not going to solve it for us. Hence, in a democratic system, it comes down to people. The buck stops at your and my feet to change the politician system, from the bottom up, in banning GMO at the Municipal level.

Why bottom up and why Municipal level ? because that, far as I can see, is the only level of Govt that is still within reach of ordinary people and where corporate funding has not yet become pervasive.

So, this is a politician problem, and needs a political solution. This will not happen by writing petitions to bogus politicians in Ottawa, but this can happen, and is happening in BC, at the ground level.

Think of it another way. In your own home, do you need to prove that Roundup is had for health in order to decide not to use it? No, you do not need to prove any such thing. Why not? Because you are living in a free country and it is your right to decide if you will or will not use GM food or pesticide, without any need to prove anything to anybody.

Likewise, a Municipality is an extension of your home, and includes your community. If the community does not like GMO and does not trust RoundUP, it can ban it without any need to prove anything to anybody. That is the meaning, and essence, of democracy & freedom.

Municipalities cannot be sued for banning it, per trade agreements, because Municipalities did not sign those agreements. Higher Govts did, and it is higher Govts to face the music for agreeing to trade deals that attempt to subvert citizen rights.

Now, why did I bother writing all this here ? To inform all of you pro-GMO nitwits that asking me to enter the “peer-reviewed” science of GMO safety is a complete waste of time. My freedom and that of my country is under attack. I don’t care too hoots about your peer-reviewed shit.

By the way, I do consider you pro-GMO guys nitwits, which is far better than considering you as collaborators to a foreign occupying force, or agents of fascism – I trust you’ll agree to that.

So, all you GM nitwits – find another place to go and jump up and down. I am totally uninterested in your opinion or behaviour.

Comprende ?

Above is the beginning of my new blog.
I invite you good people to write to me why you do not like GMO in Canada (or USA, or India, or Russia or elsewhere etc) and I may add those in the same blog. I shall also be asking friends, scientists and activists from around the globe to consider adding their perspective.

Perhaps someone will agree to read all this into an audio podcast. Either way – this is an attack on our freedom and our eco-system. It is for us, and not those biotech scientists, to grab the issue by the scruff of neck and toss it off our land. Join me in the next freedom struggle, my friends, if you will.

Meanwhile here is a preview of the next blog headline : Deconstructing Controlled Opposition.

Moms Across America, USA
Zen Honeycutt, Founder

Moms Across America completely supports any country’s right not to be bullied by a few American chemical companies into feeding billions of their people GMO foreign proteins and toxic chemicals such as Glyphosate, 2,4-D, Atrazine and Dicamba.
American moms see their kids get better from ailments such as autism, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases and more when we avoid GMOs and related pesticides. We urge parents, politicians and policy makers of all countries to protect your children, ban GMOs, Glyphosate and related toxic chemicals. Have faith in your farmer’s abilities to ingeniously farm as has been done for thousands of years, without toxic chemicals.
Protect your children and future generations now.

From Grace Joubarne
East coast, Canada

(a) the UN Agenda 21 and the Sustainability Development Agendas were signed off on by the Mayors of most municipalities in Canada and the USA since 1992 and that is why we are having the problems we are having now. The Mayors signed treaties agreeing to meet UN demands and goals. This is the root of the destabilization of Canada’s economy. It is part of the One World Order governance system and is designed to enforce changes at the local level and upwards. For more info look up Tom DeWeese Report for starters…excellent speaker and I follow his well researched newsletters.

(b) Harper is engaged in unprecedented high treason. I will forward you the details of a very important lecture on this that is held tomorrow night (Nov 26th) in Ottawa. I will definitely be there. Former Deputy Prime Minister under Paul Martin, Paul Hellyer has called what Harper has done and will do when he secretly signs the CETA agreement ‘high treason’ that cannot be denied. He will be the keynote speaker.

Fran Murrell
MADGE – Australia

” I totally agree that we have the right to decide whether we want to use or eat a technology or not. Food is fundamental to our health and so to be told that we ought to eat experimental food because some obscure body has decided it is safe is oppressive. It is up to us to decide what we feed our families. When corporate profit overshadows science and transparency, as has happened with GM, then we have the right to be suspicious. When politics sides with corporations to deny us labelling or proper regulation we should resist. No one is coming to save us or our food, the only way we can do this is by organising from the ground up and claiming our democratic rights.”

Aruna Rodrigues
Challenging Govt of India at Supreme Court for introducing GMO

GMOs are a laboratory technology, can only made in a lab. and are therefore, un-natural to the evolutionary process of billions of years. This is a technology that is also irreversible and irremediable once introduced. This single aspect changes the dynamics of this technology and the way with which it must therefore, be considered and quite literally handled.

The question of whether or not to accept GMO crops in food and feed should and must ultimately be a societal decision shorn of politics (in an ideal world). At the very least, this should be the sterling effort and to this end, the role of democratic institutions is to foster this process. It will encompass many aspects of life and living, ethics and science. Science is and should be an important input to this process, but is not the prime mover because it does not inform the other intellectual, religious/spiritual and cultural aspects of thousands of years of civilisation, and man’s interaction with the environment in which he lives. It must also be understood that science can only ‘stand’ if it is allowed to change its mind when new facts come to light. On the other hand, the biotech Industry, a stake-holder with a conflict of interest so severe, must be regarded as an undoubted IMPOSTER to this process. It may not have an input, except to a country’s regulator for independent and rigorous appraisal and consideration of the technology. Unfortunately, this is precisely where matters have gone seriously awry. Regulators are mired in very grave conflicts of interest in virtually all countries where these crops have been approved. The line between the regulator and regulated has been effectively obliterated. It bears repeating that unfortunately, this is a process encouraged by the USA where GMOs were first commercialised about 20 years ago, by-passing sound science and rigour in regulation to foster the biotech Industry, as official policy.

The democratic process in the matter of GMOs has simply broken down, hijacked instead by money-power, politics and corruption, a sinister cocktail likely to be ‘deadly’ for the future of countries like India. It is difficult to know how these matters may be remedied and resolved; but it is clear that this is a task that civil society must undertake, to enable and promote an environment where sense and sensibility may prevail in formal governance and the precautionary principle be allowed to take its rightful place in the regulation of GMOs.

Evaggelos Vallianatos
Ex EPA Scientist and author of “Poison Spring”

I support your position on GMOs.

The genetic engineering of crops started in the mid-1990s. This project, like the giant industrialization of farming, has been political in nature. Science is used like a lipstick to instill confidence in something that deserves none. In my book, “Poison Spring” (Bloomsbury Press, 2014), I document the unreliability of presumed “safety” claims that accompany pesticides. In this case, industry influence nullifies both science and regulation. So pesticides are dangerous. But pesticides have been the most profitable part of the chemical industry — earning more than $ 40 billion per year. In fact, the GM crops were constructed primarily to extend the life of the best selling pesticides.

For these reasons, both pesticides and GMOs must be phased out because they harm both human health and the health of the natural world. In addition, the owners of these technologies are threatening out democracy. They flood the political system with corruption and money. They are pushing small farmers out of agriculture, promoting large farmers and industries.

You are right in trying to ban GMOs at the municipal level of government. I congratulate you for your determination to work for the public good.

Evaggelos Vallianatos, Ph.D.

Stephanie Seneff
Senior Research Scientist
MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

I agree with you that it has to happen bottom up. However, apparently, in parts of the US, there has already been sneaky legislature passed to prevent municipalities from banning Roundup. I gave a talk in Wellesley to the League of Woman Voters, and the Wellesley leader of that group decided to investigate the idea of banning Roundup use in public spaces in Wellesley. She looked into it, and found that there was already a state law on the books that prevented municipal levels from issuing such a ban. I was shocked to find that out.

In Hawaii, however, this is working superbly well. All the counties except the big one (which is Oahu and Honolulu and most of the population) have successfully passed various laws restricting use of GMOs and/or pesticides.

Stephanie

Gretchen Zwickert, Northeast Pennsylvania.
Food activist, against the use of glyphosate.

I totally support your stance on GMOs. It is a political problem. Awhile back I wrote for a local newspaper here in the Poconos. I would attend the local township meetings and report what was discussed. I was disappointed to see the lack of turnout by the community. It is sad that the inaction of the communities shows the politicians how much citizens are concerned about local government and the decisions that are made for the community. It all starts at the local level, whether it is in Canada or USA. People need to show up, speak out, and not accept poisons in our foods, soil, water, on our earth!

Anthony Samsel
Research Scientist / Consultant
Samsel Environmental and Public Health Services
Dr. Samsel is the principle investigator of the Glyphosate and Modern Disease papers, written with co-author Dr. Stephanie Seneff.

Hi Tony,

This is a brief update on my current work…

Today, the vast majority of industrial agriculture is a two part system which consists of the use of genetically engineered (GE) or genetically modified (GM) plants and chemical herbicides. Some of these GM plants contain the ability to manufacture insecticidal toxins and may also be resistant to the application of chemical herbicides. My previous work focused on the biochemical effects of the herbicide glyphosate on our biology, as it is the most widely used herbicide on GM crops.

I’m now working on the other side of the industrial agriculture equation, an extensive field experiment with laboratory analysis of 44 varieties of corn, 33 of which are GM patented varieties and four of these represent an isogenic line. These GM varieties contain the major genetically engineered event traits now available from Monsanto, Dow, Dupont and Syngenta. These are all grown by commercial farmers in the USA and many countries around the world.

All of the varieties for these experiments were grown in the same field, under the same conditions and with no added fertilizers or micronutrients. I’ve done a mineral analysis of the soil from the root zone of all of the corn varieties, to determine minerals available to the plants for assimilation and then quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the plants themselves for all mineral, fatty acid and vitamin content.

I’m examining how the stacked GM traits of the gene cassettes, which are installed in these corn varieties, influence the uptake of minerals and how the plants then express the fatty acids and vitamin content. These results are being compared to the results of non-GM and ancient corn varieties which make up the balance of the 44 varieties. I’m also looking at how glyphosate influences all of these parameters by spraying half of each variety with glyphosate. I can now tell you that both the GM genes and the use of glyphosate negatively impacts the crop. This is concerning as these varieties are grown as a source of food for humans and feed for animals.

I can also tell you, that GM corn is substantially different from non-GM corn, contrary to FDA and industry claims. In fact the changes are inflammatory to our biology and I will be explaining how, through the biochemistry of minerals and fatty acids. The gene cassette determines the genes and the genes, influence the uptake of minerals and the expression of fatty acids and vitamins. In the sprayed varieties, Glyphosate impacts and causes further disturbances to the minerals, fatty acids and vitamins.

These changes caused by genetic modification and glyphosate herbicide, in concert together in the food, are then responsible for increases in a multitude of modern diseases of unparalleled proportion. These GM crops now make up the majority of the Western Diet which consists of processed food and food oils. The details of this work will be summarized and published in a paper which I’m currently writing.

In the spring of 2015 I will begin the same kind of field and lab experiments with GM and non-GM soy. I am also looking at wheat and have been accumulating samples of both herbicide treated and non-treated wheat obtained from farmers in Canada and the USA. I’m looking for any possible biochemical changes to the wheat and will report findings at the conclusion of the work and again will focus on the biochemical impacts to human physiology.

Anthony

PS: I’m still analyzing plant tissue in the lab as I can afford. Please be patient, this work takes time and I’m working with no funding from my own pocket.

It’s a shame that good scientists like Anthony Samsel cannot find funding for their research, while rogue scientists get the funds from industry. This is why agricultural research needs to be public funded. I hope folks would do something, such as initiate a crowd funding scheme or something to help scientists like Anthony.

Henry Rowlands,
International Coordinator of the Global GMO Free Coalition
Director of Sustainable Pulse.

Hi Tony,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I of course support your work and I hope that your blog continues to grow.

The truth is that the system needs to be forced to change – I am not sure people power works on its own – but I am sure a mixture of people power and legal force does work.

We now have almost 1 million people a month visiting Sustainable Pulse – interest is growing.

“GMO and pesticide agriculture currently dominates the globe, creating human health and environmental problems on a scale that has never been seen before. However, change is on the way, a growing awareness of the problems associated with GMOs and their associated pesticides is leading to increasing pressure on the biotech industry and its supporters. This is a global fight and it needs everyone to get involved!”

Best Wishes,

Henry

Asking Politicians to come clean on GMO and pesticides

Posted on November 6, 2014 by admin

To :
Hon. Rona Ambrose, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health

Hon. Gerry Ritz, M.P., Minister of Agriculture

Libby Davies, NDP Health Critic

Hedy Fry, Liberal Party Health Critic

Elisabeth May, Green Party leader

cc:
Alex Atamanenko, M.P, NDP – concerned on GMO & Glyphosate

Bruce Hyer, M.P. Green Party – concerned on Glyphosate

Dated – Nov 6th, 2014

Honorable minister of health, Minister of Agriculture,

Health critics

Concerned Parliamentarians

Good day

I have written in the past to a few of you on this general topic and put up the feedback, if any, on my blog at www.ton.org on issues considered to be of grave concern for Canadians. Today, I have another set of questions for you.

Hon Rona Ambrose – Health Minister

I am a retired Marine Engineer, Shipmanagement executive, consultant, and a blogger, podcaster, science interviewer, photographer, videographer, citizen journalist, food security activist and a writer, not to mention a public speaker currently on a talking tour, along with retired Agriculture Canada Scientist Dr. Thierry Vrain, across Canada on GM organisms and what it means to Canada’s future as an independent nation.

Questions I have are about GMO, pesticide, and patented life forms introduced into Canada, to replace natural life forms.

1) What Science ?

Science in the western hemisphere is no longer public funded, and is wholly supported by the Industry. The Industry has no interest in funding any science project that aims to find faults with its product. As a result, science itself has gotten one side and lost its neutrality.
Please comment on this.

2) Where is the independent analysis?

GM crops are considered intellectual property of the patent holder, which denies the right for any independent analysis of its quality or safety without express permission of the patent holder, and this permission is only given with conditions that the findings be first be vetted by the patent holder and any analysis that is not flattering, does not get to see light of day.

Please comment on this.

3) Science under dictatorial censorship.

Few scientists that, in spite of such severe restrictions, found problems with the GM technology or its pesticides and published their findings, manage to get fired, or their papers retracted from the journals, and they are discredited, lambasted and literally hounded out of the academic world.
Please comment on this.

4) Who owns living organisms?

How do corporations get to own living organisms and their DNA? They did not create them from scratch, but first stole the DNA of a few living organisms (I say stole because if life forms can be “owned” then those living organisms must have been property of some entity, even God, before the Corporations decided to use it). And then these stolen DNA were polluted it by inserting genes of unrelated organisms, such as a toxic bacteria and a food crop plant. So, should we allow such patents and let the whole organism be patented and owned by a corporation?

Please comment on this.

5) Attack on God’s creation and on Canadian Independence?

The plan, as it appears, is for all living organisms, be it food we eat, or grass and alfalfa in the prairies, or trees in the forest or fish and animals and micro organisms, all living creatures that have some value, to be owned property of a few patent holding foreign corporation.No living organism that has any value to humans in any way, will belong to Canada or be God’s creation any more.
Please comment on this.

This is an open letter and will be put up on the web (www.tonu.org) for the public. Any answer from you or another recipient in copy, will also be put up. Our belief is that the public needs to know where politicians stand on such issues

Thank you

Tony Mitra

tony.mitra@gmail.com

(Address and contact)

MP Bruce Hyer Responds:

Good letter

I agree

Bruce Hyer, Deputy Leader, Green Party

GE talk tour Ontario – CBC Radio talks with Tony Mitra

Posted on November 3, 2014 by admin

We are on the GE talk tour already. While I have sporadic access to the internet, I believe one should still try to put up an update here for those interested. We are all in it together. So this is a fresh blog that I shall update time to time as more material comes in, and I find the time to collate it.

I am sitting in the wonderful home of Ann in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We arrived by a short flight from Toronto and Ann was there to greet us.

Attendees in Flesherton were very supportive and enthusiastic about our message. I did remember to tell them that without the women in Canada, our talk tour would not have gotten off the ground. Some of them said I should be staying back in Flesherton. I think some of these women should challenge the status quo in local municipalities, and try to emulate Richmond BC and other municipalities, and start pushing back at Glyphosate and GMO.

This was in essence our third stop. We had already spent an eventful day first at Flesherton, ON, and then at Owen Sound, ON, both within a few hours drive from Toronto. Both those events, in my view, went famously. The Flesherton event was a late morning+lunch+afternoon event. We got appreciated, and a lot of hand shakes and hugs.

Thierry Vrain addressing attendees at Harmony Centre, in Owen Sound, on Nov 1st, 2014

People in Owen sound were enthusiastic and knowledgable. The town has banned lawn pesticides, but they also knew about Neonicotinoids and were very keen to see what BC municipalities were doing with GMO and stretching the limit of how much authority municipalities have in banning substances that are federally approved.

Then there was this giant of a red bearded man that came up to shake my hand, along with many others. He found my talk on political activism within municipalities very inspiring and wished to get engaged himself in his municipality and also consider standing for election and beginning to bring change from the bottom up, and learn to kick some butt in the process, focussing on how a handful of corporations are attempting to hijack Canada.

This young man takes to heart my talk and would like to engage in the municipal election and consider working for the betterment of the community and pushing back at the attempt of Corporate takeover of Canada.

Those were in Flesherton and Owen Sound.

And now, we are in Thunder Bay. We shall only be speaking in the evening, but we already have news.

Mr. Bruce Hyer, Green Party MP, who is against Glyphosate

First, there was a call from a Canadian MP, Mr. Bruce Hyer. He was at the Thunder Bay airport. He called in to say that he could not cancel his flight since he needs to vote on an important budget bill in Ottawa, so will miss our talk, much to his regret. He is aware of the dangers of Glyphosate and has tried passing bill to restrict it, but did not succeed. He was once with NDP but is now with the Green Party.

He said I should send him an email so he could stay in contact and also so he can send me his statement or speak to me on record, so I could quote him in my blogs if I found the need. I did tell him I consider it my duty to tell them which politicians were keen to protect Canada from GMO and Glyphosate and I would like to talk about him. So far the only MP that has come out straight away in our support has been MP Alex Atamanenko, NDP, from BC.

He also hoped we could get to meet him while we are in Ottawa face to face.

And then I got interviewed on phone by CBC radio in Thunder Bay area. We shall see if my talk is aired or not. I have never learned to mince my words or not call a spade a spade. Sometimes, that is too much reality in todays mainstream media. So we shall see.

Thierry is having another radio interview this afternoon. Then we talk together in the evening. Thierry usually takes say 90 to 120 minute for his talk and question and answer. I usually take around 20 minutes to ignite the issue of Canadian sovereignty and set fire in a few politicians underpants.

Had another eventful afternoon in Thunder Bay

This involved speaking with two ladies.
.
One of them is a councillor in the municipality of Thunder Bay. Her name is Linda Rydholm. Apart from being a councillor, she is also a board member of FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities). She is interested to know the exact wordings of the UBCM motion to be GMO free that was passed last year. I shall ask Harold Steves & Allan Patton of BC to please help. She is also keen to see if their own municipality could pass resolution to be GMO free and what the wording of Richmond resolution is.

I shall try and introduce Linda with Harold and Allan and hope she can kickstart it in Thunder Bay as well as in AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario), not to mention trying to bring it to the table at the next FCM.

Linda also got a copy of Thierry Vrain‘s letter to Rona Ambrose, explaining why Glyphosate needs to be the prime focus and not GMO per se, when discussing dangers to health and safety of Canadians.
.
The other person was Kendal Donahue, food strategy coordinator working for “Food Strategy”, which, the best I could understand, is a sort of semi Govt organization with gets public funding, but is not strictly a Govt organization. She too was interested in different aspects of the GMO debate and spent some time with Thierry Vrain on the science of the item. They both would check up on my blog.

Linda cannot attend this evening talk by us since they have a Municipal meeting today, the first one after the recent municipal election. Linda got re-elected.

Kendal will attend this evening.

CBC – Up North Airs a talk with Tony Mitra

Attached is a recording of my 8 minute talk with CBC Radio that was aired on 3rd November at Thunder Bay and surrounding areas on FM.

[youtube rAxkFuyxAAk]

That is the update from the afternoon. I had a talk with Councillor Allan Patton, about the GMO free motions and his efforts in this regard in January this year. Those interested can check it out and hear Allan Patton speak about his efforts to get the GMO free motion tabled at the Federal Council of Municipalities – Blog on Allan.

Addressing the Thunder Bay people on Nov 3rd. Dr. Thierry Vrain nearest to the Camera looking at me.

That is the update from the afternoon. I had a talk with Councillor Allan Patton earlier this year, about the GMO free motions and his efforts in this regard in January this year. For those interested can check it out and hear Allan Patton speak about his efforts to get the GMO free motion tabled at the Federal Council of Municipalities as well as the wording of the GMO free motion that he push through, unsuccessfully, at FCM – Blog on Allan.

Meanwhile I am including the audio recording of his talk with me on this issue, here as well.

Mayor of Delta – where are you?

Posted on October 26, 2014 by admin

Link – blog on council members

Link – blog on school board

This is a preliminary post, of exchanges between myself and the mayor of Delta, BC, on account of GMO and pesticides. I chose the title because I am afraid the mayor is lost on the issue of GMO and is going about it in a completely wrong way, attempting to get herself and her council even more biased towards the science, the economics and the ethics of GMO cultivation in Canada. It reminds me of a ship floundering in turbulent waters, cast adrift without a helmsman or propulsion.

She also makes a false statement that the city council has no power to control GMO, and that all those that are supporting a GMO free resolution are, in essence, jumping a bandwagon that is going nowhere. What is most galling, is her assumption, or implication, that she considers it her duty to bring ‘credible reports’ on the science of GMO and then to study it, so that she, and her council can then pass their verdict and sermon on the people of Delta on what they should or should not eat. Far as I understand democracy, it should be the people that make the decision and the elected public servant that carry out people’s wishes.

I shall deal with most of these issues fully in due course. But lest I forget or miss anything, I am creating the first blog on it, calling it Mayor of Delta – where are you? I believe she is lost and along with her, the residents of Delta are drifting aimlessly, and facing collective peril with regard to our health, environment, biodiversity, food security, seed freedom and our very existence as a free and independent nation capable to charting our own course without interference and control from outside forces, and corporate greed.

But first, the letters. I had asked all candidates of Delta civil election on their position on GMO and if they would support Delta passing a resolution to be GMO free.

I have created two blogs, one for the council members and one for the school board, already. But the mayor deserves a dedicated blog. And here it is.

Tony Mitra

On Oct 26, 2014, at 6:48 PM, Lois Jackson <jacklo12@dccnet.com> wrote:

Mayor Jackson

GREETINGS: WELL, FIRSTLY MY NAME IS LOISŠ

SECONDLY, MAY I SAY THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN USING PESTICIDES NOR INSECTICIDES IN OUR PARKS FOR SEVERAL YEARS. WE BAN IT FROM BEING SOLD IN DELTA AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE łNATURAL˛ METHODS TO KEEP DOWN GARDEN PESTS. AS WITH MANY TOPICS THAT ARE BEING DISCUSSED TODAY IN THE MEDIA AND BY THE PUBLIC, GMO SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THEM. THIS ISSUE HAS NOT BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY PRESENTED TO OUR COUNCIL AND I HAVE ASKED OUR CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, MR. GEORGE HARVIE TO BRING FORWARD GOOD SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS FOR COUNCILąS PERUSAL.

I MUST ALSO SAY THAT I AM NOT A SCIENTIST NOR A CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTOR NOR CANADIAN LEGISLATOR;THESE ARE VERY COMPLEX ISSUES AND I LOOK FORWARD TO RECEIVING CREDIBLE REPORTS TO OUR COUNCILąS ATTENTION.

AS FAR AS OTHER CITIES AND COMMUNITIES ARE CONCERNED, IT IS SO EASY FOR SOME COUNCILąS TO SIMPLY JUMP AT AN ISSUE, (LOOKING FOR ATTENTION PERHAPS?) AND THEY JUMP ONTO A BANDWAGON WHICH IS EMPTYŠ EMPTY OF INFORMATION, SCIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING. OUR DELTA COUNCIL TAKES PRIDE IN ANALYZING THE ISSUE, SEARCHING OUT THE BEST INFORMATION, REFERRING IT TO EXPERTS, BEFORE WE łJUMP ONTO THE BANDWAGON˛.

AS AN EXAMPLE, I REFER TO THE ISSUE OF SHARK FIN SOUPŠ THIS WAS A FEDERAL IMPORTATION MATTER AND WE HAD NO JURISDICTION TO DISALLOW ITS IMPORTATION NOR SALE IN DELTA. WE DID HOWEVER, MAKE STRONG PRESENTATIONS TO MANY FEDERAL JURISDICTIONS WHO DID HAVE AUTHORITY. MANY COUNCILLORS AND COUNCILS CAME FORWARD CONDEMNING THE PRACTICE, HOWEVER, THE SUBJECT WAS AN EMOTIONAL ONE OVER WHICH LOCAL GOVERNMENT HAD NO JURISDICTION.

ANOTHER ISSUE WAS THE łBANNING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN VANCOUVER˛ THERE WAS NO EFFECT OF THIS STATEMENT, AND IT WAS SIMPLY A STATEMENT BY A COUNCIL WHO HAD NO JURISDICTION OVER A MATTER.

THEREFORE, TO BE HONEST AND OPEN AND MAKING GOOD LEGISLATION ON AN ISSUE, I WILL AWAIT THE REPORTS FROM OUR STAFF AND CONTACT YOU UPON DELIBERATION OF SAME,

THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION, AS I REMAIN,

LOIS E. JACKSON MAYOR OF DELTA

I have responded to her by a holding email. But I need to single out this email to show how many ways the politicians are being less than fully truthful, and honest in their statements.

Banning of Lawn pesticides in Delta parks and removing them from stores. This is good work done. The work is not finished since anyone in delta can drive across scrott road and buy all the pesticide they need from stores in Surrey. More importantly, this banning was initiated by the municipality of Hudon, Quebec in 1991 – 23 years ago, starting a precedence for the rest of Canada. It took Delta 20 years to catch up on one issue. We do not have another 20 years for Delta to catch up with rest of BC on GMO and Glyphosate(RoundUp) issue.
Mayor says she has asked someone to bring good scientific analysis for the council’s perusal. By that statement, the mayor has exposed her lack of grasp of an issue that relates to not just “scientific analysis”, but a) with the denigration of neutral science in North America in the last two decades through industry influence, b) with impossibility of independent science labs to find problems with either GMO or Glyphosate due to “proprietary knowledge” that disallows independent scientists to honestly study their safety, just to name a few. Her statement is so outrageously absurd that I wonder if she is just ignorant, or calculating.
The mayor claims she is not a scientist nor a food inspector. That is correct. She is a public servant, and her duty is to check what the public wants. If the issue is complex, she should consider arranging experts on both sides of the argument to come to Delta and present their case, not just to the council, but to the residents of Delta, and let the people then decide what they would like their municipality to do. That, my dear mayor, would be your duty. You do not need to be a scientist nor a food inspector. You are hired to work as a public servant. Nothing more.
She belittles other towns and other politicians as if they are jumping a bandwagon and seeking popularity on fake issues. These other towns and politicians, are fighting for the interest and well being of Canada. The mayor, on the other hand, might be knowing or unknowingly sitting in the band wagon of foreign corporations hell bent on subverting Canadian food security and sovereignty. I consider it my duty to expose arrogant, dismissing replies that politicians use in this way.
Shark fin soup – I dispute her statement that it was merely federal matter. Hudson, QC defied federal approval and went ahead to ban a product in their town. They faced a barrage of court challenges for ten years and persevered, proving and setting a precedence, that municipalities have the right to ban a product or a practice, if the people there believe this is bad for their health or environment. I would have liked the mayor of Delta to strive to protect Delta people’s wish as well as the sharks future, and not hide behind an excuse.
Banning Nuclear weapons in Vancouver – I would have liked the mayor to consider pushing back at the federal Govt by having the gall to propose a ban on installations or transportation of any nuclear warhead in the municipality or through the municipal land of air or waterways. I would have loved the mayor to take this issue to the public and ask if they agree and support this, and if “yes”, to threaten to pass this law and be ready to be challenged by higher authorities. That is the right way to stand up to principles and make a difference, instead of finding excuses to shirk responsibility. She took a very bad example as an excuse to explain why she would not fight to declare Delta GMO free and strive to work with other BC municipalities to push back at this dangerous onslaught on our food, health and nature.
If I appear annoyed and outraged at the mayors response, I feel I am more than justified. At stake is Canada’s future and here is a mayor tap dancing around important and difficult issues.

IT time Canadian politicians, starting from the bottom up, stop using ignorance as an excuse for doing nothing. It is time for them to stop passing the buck by blaming federal politics and claiming Municipalities have no authority. It is time for politicians to stop misguiding the public and obfuscate this issue. It is time for them to get off their high horse and face issues squarely and without hiding behind corporations and lobby groups.

SCIENCE ? WHAT SCIENCE ? The mayor used the term ‘Credible report‘ and the fact that she has asked a city administrator, to bring forward ‘good scientific analysis‘ for the council’s perusal. The mayor also goes on to add that the council takes pride in analyzing issues, searching out the best information and referring it to experts, instead of jumping to bandwagons.

These statements are so hollow that I am going to spend some time on them.

May the mayor and her team first address the issue of how they are going to ascertain that they are getting “credible” unbiased and neutral reports on science ? Are they aware of where scientific neutrality currently lies in Canada or North America ?

Let me refresh the mayor’s memory, that Governments do not fund science research through tax payers money any more, and science is funded by the industry. And the industry has absolutely no interest in funding scientist that may find problems with their product. Not only that, they actually fire any scientist that finds problems with their products, shuts down their labs, gets their papers retracted, forces the universities to discredit them, withdraws their licence if possible, and makes their source of income disappear.
Let me remind the mayor that, due to intellectual property rights clause of patented GMO, no independent science lab is even allowed to study possible ill-effects of GMO and not allowed to publish any finding without permission of the creator of the GMO and no article that is less than flattering ever gets published because of it. Which planet is the mayor living in, when she she thinks she can get “good scientific analysis” on the subject?

So, to start with, i invite the mayor, & her team to first identify a science institute that is doing meaningful work on testing GMO, that is not funded by the industry and where the scientists are not under either industry or political control.

How about reading the book “Poison Spring” by a retired EPA scientist Mr. Vallianatos? He is an ex EPA scientist that describes how corrupt EPA is due to constant interference of the industry on one side and the White House on the other. And it is this EPA that approves “ALL” pesticide that go into agriculture including Canadian Agriculture. In fact the Canadian health ministry gloats over the fact that it works “closely” with EPA and therefore only approves those chemicals that are deemed safe by EPA.

The EPA scientist Mr. Vallianatos meanwhile states that EPA has gotten so corrupt, that any scientist that ever finds even a little bit of problem with any pesticide, is fired, or gagged or transferred and made irrelevant. Could I invite the mayor to listen to Dr. Vallianatos speaking with me on record on this issue ?

So, how about Delta Council inviting Mr. Vallianatos to Delta (he lives in California) for a first hand presentation of how pesticides are approved by EPA ?

Then we can find the next scientist that can explain how things work inside Health Canada, in approval of questionable substances. How about reading the book “Corrupt to the Core – Memoirs of a Health Canada whistleblower” by Dr. Shiv Chopra, who was fired by Health Canada because he refused to accept a questionable growth hormone for cows imported from the US for approval unless sufficient safety tests were done, despite the fact that EPA had approved it. Because he was not accepting the hormone without safety tests, he got fired by Health Canada. Dr. Chopra and his union is taking Health Canada to the supreme court for wrongful dismissal of a conscientious scientist.

How about inviting Dr. Chopra (he lives in Ottawa) to present his case to the Delta Council?

And if you like to speak with a Canadian genetic engineer and soil biologist that has worked for many years with Agriculture Canada on one side, and is also an organic farmer on the other – there is Dr. Thierry Vrain, from our own British Columbia, currently flying to Ottawa to speak with the health minister Ms Rona Ambrose on the topic of, you guessed it, GMO and pesticide and how dangerous these things are and how none of them have ever been independently tested.

So, how about inviting Dr. Vrain to advise you his take on the dangers of the pesticides that are associated with the GMO ?

And ohh, I forgot to mention – EPA does not test the pesticides, just like FDA or other bodies do not test the GMO. All these tests are “supposed to be” done by the same corporation that produces them, i.e. companies such as Monsanto. Is that a conflict of interest or not ?

How about Dr. Don Huber ? He is a professor emeritus from Purdue University, Idaho, a microbiologist and a plant pathologist among many things. He has beens studying toxic chemicals such as Glyphosate for years and is and outright critic of the GMO science that pushes this dangerous chemical on our agricultural fields. As a result, he is now being hounded by the industry, and the University is trying to discredit him, although he is respected enough outside of the industry to be funded by external sources, including being invited by a few countries to teach them and guide them to move away from GMO and chemical farming to healthy localized sustainable farming.

Dr. Huber was a biological warfare expert, employed earlier by the US military. His job was to protect Americans from biological warfare. He has told me in his own words, that, if he was a terrorist and wanted to invent a harmful bio-molecule that would slowly, steadily and greatly harm America, he could not have invented a chemical better than Glyphosate. And how the terrorists don’t have to do that, because Monsanto is selling it to everybody, supported strongly by the US Govt.

How about asking Dr. Huber to come and give you his presentation on the issue ?

How about calling scientist Dr. Nancy Swanson from Seattle, that drew those charts based on US Govt data, showing correlation between release of Glyphosate and rise of diseases such as Crohn’s, Celiac, or autism ? How about calling Dr. Anthony Samself or Dr. Stephanie Seneff of MIT artificial intelligence laboratory, who are compiling paper after paper about the mechanism by which Glyphosate in our food destroys our gut bacteria that is so important for keeping us healthy ? How about calling Anthony Samsel or Stephanie Seneff or Nancy Swanson ? I know all of them personally and can help introduce you.

Canada signed it but did not ratify it. USA & Australia never even signed it. Rest of the world (except Russia which bans GMO altogether) signed and ratified it, protecting their biological diversity from theft by Biotech corporations or accidental destruction or extinction.

How about Studying Cartagena Protocol of the United Nations, which is about protecting your biological diversity against inadvertent damage through introduced GMO. A hundred and sixty countries have signed it, but Canada has not. As a result Canada’s biological heritage is up for grabs and grabbed it has been, by the likes of Monsanto. My question to you is – who in Delta Council is going to spend time studying this protocol and raising awareness so Ottawa is forced to address it? The Protocol Head office is in Montreal, not that far away. How many Canadian politicians even know about this issue ? Canola was a Canadian invention. If we had signed the Cartagena protocol and put up laws to protect our biological inventions and heritage, then Canola would still have remained a Canadian product. Instead, it is now owned by Monsanto. So, would the Mayor and Council still feel qualified to find “credible report” on GMO ?

And even that is not enough. My question to the Delta Council is – who are they to study GMO and make a decision on if the people should eat toxic gene or toxic chemical laden food ? Who gave them the authority ?

Last I checked how democracy is to work, it should be the people that decide if they like pesticide laden food in their meals or not. Last time I checked, the duty of elected officials is to carry out the wishes of the electorate. All that the Municipality and the mayor needs to do, is to check the pulse of the people, and assist them to get both sides of the story without bias and without industry propaganda and without political or corporate interference. Is the Mayor and the Council capable to arranging that ?

Last time I checked, the only leaders that makes decision on what kind of food or anything else is good for the people, are Dictators, and not Elected politicians.

This is one problem that creeps into politics, the moment the public stops watching over politicians – the politicians forget that they are public servants, and starts thinking they might be dictators, or perhaps prophets sent down to this planet by God himself, to make all decisions for us the poor and ignorant people.

The Mayor and the corporation of Delta assumes authority, which they do not have, of deciding what GMO is and if it is good for the people. The elected officials should be joining the people’s wish across the land, to declare themselves to be GMO free and then work with other municipalities and UBCM and FCM to find ways to push back at the current agro-industry contract workers (I find it difficult to call them GMO farmers, since they do not own their seeds and are in effect contract labourers for Monsanto), to take over farming and kill all local farmers.

The farm lands are getting depopulated as the small organic farmers go bankrupt, and move to the cities to become unemployed, while huge swaths of land is coming under control of US biotech industry.

I find myself both annoyed, outraged and exasperated by the Mayors high handed and dismissive note on GMO issues, where she and the other politicians are obviously out of their depth and yet presume to study “credible reports’ without having a clue about how biased the very science has become thanks to the politicians allowing the industry to skewer our science in the first place. How blind can a politician be ?

How about calling Vandana Shiva to Delta? She did her PdD in quantum mechanics in Canada. She is coming to Ontario next month.

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If I feel annoyed and outraged by the mayor’s dismissive and arrogant email, perhaps she and other readers will understand that I have sufficient reason to be so. Ms Mayor – please consider calling both sides of the argument and let the people decide. You do not have the authority to decide for the people.

I have no doubt your team with find a lot of pro-GMO pro-industry propagandists. They are crawling all over the place. But I doubt you or your team is able to gather a credible team of scientists that can tell the people the opposing view, those that are beyond the reach of the industry and the Governments, who are willing and able to tell the people how they are being robbed off their land, their environment and their future, by what amounts to new age cobbler barons. So, please call them and let them speak to the people of Delta.

EG Vallianatos (ex EPA scientist) – California
Shiv Chopra – (Ex Health Canada scientist) – Ottawa
Thierry Vrain (Ex Agriculture Canada scientist) – Comox Valley, BC
Don Huber (Ex US Army biological warfare expert, scientist) – Idaho
Anthony Samsel (Ex Arther d’Little, scientist) – Massachusetts
Stephanie Seneff (MIT artificial Intelligence lab, scientist) – Massachusetts
Nancy Swanson (Correlation – Glyphosate & disease, scientist) – Seattle
Vandana Shiva, of Navdanya, India, who will be touring Ontario in winter.
Read Book – Poison Spring, by Vallianatos
Read Book – Corrupt to the core – memoirs of a health Canada whistleblower, by Chopra

I shall come back here later, to add more points for the mayor, the council and the people of Delta. And we shall talk about seed freedom, about farm labour, about economic viability, about local produce against food coming from California while local small farmers die off. We have a lot of ground to cover on the GMO / pesticide issue. The biggest and deepest issue is – political corruption in Canada that has brought Canada to this state of affairs, literally handing over our freedom and ability to control our destiny away from the people’s hands into those of foreign corporations.

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Feedback from a North American scientist that is fighting against Industry and Govt repression because he tried to research and speak the truth. He wishes to remain anonymous for the moment, but I expect he will come out in the open soon. Here is what he said. The formatting is mine.

Dear Tony

The big business is very good at destroying the scientists who stand against them.

This afternoon if you can wait I will feed you some more of my ideas. We need to learn how to play the game of pseudo-democracy, which is reality.

EG Vallianatos, cannot comment much – sounds interesting. I need his curriculum.
Shiv Chopra, one guy who was properly destroyed by big business. A good value.
Thierry Vrain, give him a try. Good value if he can speak well.
Don Huber, my hero; big business is trying hard to destroy his name.
Anthony Samsel, Stephanie Seneff – very imaginative and with ideas to work on for next 50 years, however, they have been the target of the most vicious attacks.
and Nancy Swanson. A remarkable person who put together a summary in which I verified a lot of the data.

A scientist is always afraid of misleading correlations. But the search for cause-effect is so often a misleading act in itself.

For example cholesterol plugs arteries but it is a symptom of damage to arteries and not a cause of damage. Mainstream medicine has not caught up yet because the pharmaceuticals have so much control over medical schools.

But various studies showed that lower cholesterol is not a predictor of reduced cardiovascular problems.

I heard a conference at Laval University that went through the whole history of cholesterol research; the very first scientists knew that cholesterol was, overall, a good molecule.

True culprits for cardiovascular problems exist; sugars, excess iron in red meat, trans fats, and probably pollutants of various kinds, which are irritant to blood vessels. But the focus on all fats and on cholesterol was led by a fraudulent scientist named Ancel Keys who published papers ignoring any data that was contrary to his hypothesis. He became so powerful that he crushed all others in his path. And big pharmacy saw a golden opportunity. The result is a 15 billion $ fraud.

Maybe I am out of context, but this is to show how far away from the truth science can go. You see, cholesterol plugs arteries THEREFORE we must lower cholesterol is a cause-effect statement in which the search for the cause was not serious and honest, and thus the true causes were obliterated in USA and in all countries that suffered their influence.

That is the problem we have. Big companies are making money, they want more, and they do not want to know anything that could bother their money-making scams.

Governments have made themselves very dubious entities in our attempts to know the truth. Canadian governments appear to be enemies of true science.

Mayor, consider investigating this, about science in Canada. And I am not joking

In the last months the federal government has emptied all scientific libraries of 99% of books, & 100% of journals. You could not find one scientists who was really consulted. Or perhaps the younger generation does not care about science…

Try to grasp the implication. Many scientific disciplines are getting lost. Of all pathologists that were used to breed disease resistant plants, perhaps only 10% remain, compared to 40 years ago. Once you get rid of those people the only solution becomes CHEMICALS.

This massacre went on everywhere, I understand. Such events of mass desctruction of scientific knowledge have perhaps no equivalent in 2000 years in the history of the world. All the history of the Canadian scientific research in agriculture is gone to the dumpster. All the documents that allow us to see what is changing over time is destroyed.

I was sleepless for days after seeing that. Sometimes, it still gets me awake at night. And if the same is going in in Health Canada, Environment Canada, everywhere… just think about this: moving Canada 40 years behind in a single sweeping move.

One of the main tools of research scientists has been burned to ashes. Books worth a fortune were destroyed; they were not offered for sale, not offered to interested scientists, just destroyed.

What a stupid, dirty, revealing way to deal with public science. And you want to bring “Credible Reports” on GMO?

Then they claim that the science behind the pesticide industry is sound science, and all I have to say, is – you bullshitters, you do not even know what science is about.

If the govt gets itself in a weaker position which I hope will be sooner rather than later – it may then be safer for a scientist or two to emerge from the shadows to talk about these horrors of Canadian science.

Ms Mayor of Delta – you are way out of your depth on the assumption that you and your office, can check best available information and make educated decision on behalf of the people, about the “science” of GMO. Study, if you like, first, on the issue of destruction of past records of Canadian agricultural documents, studies, reports and data, if you dare.

Pardon my French, Ms Mayor – you are either unbelievably naive or extraordinarily out of your depth here, both on your ability to grasp the science and the business model behind GMO and on what authority you may have in making a decision on it.

Its not that the mayor has not received mails and appeals from concerned citizens on this and related issues before. I have personally written to her several months ago, and put that up on my blog goo. The mayor did not see it fit to respond to it. Her actions do not show any evidence that her office had attempted to study up on it.

.. This is a link to my letter to the Mayor in May 2014 which she did not bother to respond to, and displays no evidence that she cares about.

Podcast : Lisa Fraser of Burnaby, BC, tries to get candidates to explain their stand on GMO. She talks to Tony Mitra about it.

Politicians that should and should not win elections

Posted on October 23, 2014 by admin

It’s a dog’s life !

Link to mayor Jackson blog.

Link to the School Board Election.

Fighting GMO and pesticide is the most important issue and threat facing Canada, only next to Climate change, and is related to it as well.

Fighting GMO requires standing up against the most powerful corporations and financial giants in a system that is skewered to siphon off more and more tax payers money to accumulate in the hands of ever more powerful few.

GMO surrenders Canadian food sovereignty and food security into the hands of a few foreign (US owned) corporations, and by extension, to US hegemony.

If a candidate is willing to stand up to those challenges and odds, it is my judgment that he or she can easily also handle all the other minor challenges that will come up, such as roads or parks and water service and schools and crime.

Many politicians are, when it comes to GMO, either incredibly stupid, or lying through their teeth, in my opinion, borrowing and modifying a comment originally made by Dr. David Suzuki.

And so, I focus on local Municipal elections, the only one where people can interact with their candidates and with their elected representatives, and have a reasonable chance of influencing the electoral outcome. It is the only level where corporate funding is not always working against you in overwhelming odds.

And thus, I asked the candidates by email on their stand on GMO. I attended the candidates meeting in Landner on the 23rd. I placed a question asking if they would support the resolution to declare Delta GMO free and follow the lead of other BC Municipalities.

I had the opportunity to hear the candidates, and interact with a few of them. I shall come back to fill this blog more with details – but meanwhile here are a few candidates and what I think about their candidacy, in pictures.

Its time to influence the elections to favour the concerns of the people, instead of greed of a few corporations. it is time to kick the bums off our Government. Its time to bring honest and incorruptible politicians that are not scared to call a spade a spade into our municipal governments. These honest people should protect Canadian land, air, water and people, who will promote small farmers that use their own seeds and traditional methods of growing healthy local food for the local people. We need an agriculture system where the money stays in the community, and not what we have now, eating our vegetables than come from California and Mexico, and eating pesticide laden unhealthy junk food produce that fatten the wallet of US corporate honchos and make Canadians sick, while driving Canadian small farmers into bankruptcy and extinction.

Time to boot the bums off our Government, save Canada and our future generation. Nothing more and nothing less.

Mayor Lois Jackson has finally sent a response in writing and in bold letters.

I consider her response not only wrong in many ways, but also arrogant, dismissive and snide. Another issue is that she seems to indicate that it is the duty of the council of Delta to understand the science of GMO and then pass a judgment on it. This indication, if true, is another item I shall deal with separately, as to what should be the duty of a mayor and a city council on complex issues that are not just related to science, but also to seed freedom, food security, patenting of life forms by foreign corporations and using them to make all local competitive crops go extinct, and killing off all small farmers in Canada, and handing over the food industry to the stranglehold monopoly of a handful of foreign corporations, to name just a few. I suspect the Mayor, as an educated person capable of rational thinking, can easily understand these factores even if she does not understand GMO or pesticides in our soil and water and food, since the effects of this business model has been eating into Canadian agriculture for about 20 years now. And Canada does not have another 20 years for our politicians to finally come to grips with the situation.

These are not new questions since I sent emails to her in the past on these issues too, and never got a response. I wonder why she bothered to respond, that too in such an arrogant way, at this juncture. I am going to have fun responding to that letter in fuller detail on a separate blog. I take note of some of the terms she used, such as “Looking for attention“, “Bandwagon“, “Empty of information“.

The content of the letter deserves a more detailed response from me and will be covered in a separate blog all its own. Here I copy her message so the public can read it already, and form their own opinion on her attitude in dealing with questions that may be uncomfortable for her. I am also being requested by organizers in Ontario and Quebec to bring with me the letters from Councillor Bishop and Mayor Jackson as well as my replies (I have not yet penned my reply to Mayor Jackson, except a brief holding message, but hope to do so soon), in our workshop and presentation to the people, on how one might ask questions to local politicians and what kind of response might be expected. Quote

GREETINGS:
WELL, FIRSTLY MY NAME IS LOISŠ

SECONDLY, MAY I SAY THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN USING PESTICIDES NOR
INSECTICIDES IN OUR PARKS FOR SEVERAL YEARS. WE BAN IT FROM BEING SOLD IN DELTA AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE łNATURAL˛ METHODS TO KEEP DOWN GARDEN PESTS.
AS WITH MANY TOPICS THAT ARE BEING DISCUSSED TODAY IN THE MEDIA AND BY THE PUBLIC, GMO SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THEM. THIS ISSUE HAS NOT BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY PRESENTED TO OUR COUNCIL AND I HAVE ASKED OUR CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, MR. GEORGE HARVIE TO BRING FORWARD GOOD SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS FOR COUNCILąS PERUSAL.

I MUST ALSO SAY THAT I AM NOT A SCIENTIST NOR A CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTOR
NOR CANADIAN LEGISLATOR;THESE ARE VERY COMPLEX ISSUES AND I LOOK FORWARD TO RECEIVING CREDIBLE REPORTS TO OUR COUNCILąS ATTENTION.

AS FAR AS OTHER CITIES AND COMMUNITIES ARE CONCERNED, IT IS SO EASY FOR
SOME COUNCILąS TO SIMPLY JUMP AT AN ISSUE, (LOOKING FOR ATTENTION PERHAPS?) AND THEY JUMP ONTO A BANDWAGON WHICH IS EMPTYŠ EMPTY OF INFORMATION, SCIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING. OUR DELTA COUNCIL TAKES PRIDE IN ANALYZING THE ISSUE, SEARCHING OUT THE BEST INFORMATION, REFERRING IT TO EXPERTS, BEFORE WE łJUMP ONTO THE BANDWAGON˛.

AS AN EXAMPLE, I REFER TO THE ISSUE OF SHARK FIN SOUPŠ THIS WAS A FEDERAL IMPORTATION MATTER AND WE HAD NO JURISDICTION TO DISALLOW ITS IMPORTATION NOR SALE IN DELTA. WE DID HOWEVER, MAKE STRONG PRESENTATIONS TO MANY FEDERAL JURISDICTIONS WHO DID HAVE AUTHORITY. MANY COUNCILLORS AND COUNCILS CAME FORWARD CONDEMNING THE PRACTICE, HOWEVER, THE SUBJECT WAS AN EMOTIONAL ONE OVER WHICH LOCAL GOVERNMENT HAD NO JURISDICTION.

ANOTHER ISSUE WAS THE łBANNING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN VANCOUVER˛ THERE WAS NO EFFECT OF THIS STATEMENT, AND IT WAS SIMPLY A STATEMENT BY A COUNCIL WHO HAD NO JURISDICTION OVER A MATTER.

THEREFORE, TO BE HONEST AND OPEN AND MAKING GOOD LEGISLATION ON AN ISSUE, I WILL AWAIT THE REPORTS FROM OUR STAFF AND CONTACT YOU UPON DELIBERATION OF SAME,

THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION, AS I REMAIN,

LOIS E. JACKSON
MAYOR OF DELTA

Unquote

Syliva Bishop told me she will work to set up a lab in Delta, to test Glyphosate (poison in Monsanto’s RoundUP weed killer) in human body fluids and all food items grown and sold in Delta.

I was hesitant to make this entry, since it is not an easy task, and I was not sure if she is able to deliver on that. Its easier to propose a resolution for GMO free Delta and it is easier to vote for it, whether the motion passes or not. It is far more difficult to actually set up a pathbreaking biotech lab to be set up and get running. However, I am making this entry here for future tracking on her promise. Meanwhile, my vote remains a thumb down.

Heather King gets my vote

Heather King deserves to win – in my view

I asked each candidate, a day earlier, about their stand on GMO.

Heather King responded with : Tony,

Thank you for asking this question. I have first hand experience with the ill effects of GMO in our food, caring for my mother. I had read the book – Wheat Belly and realized the full extent of GMO and it’s potential effects on our health. In particular my mom suffered from acid reflux to the point that she was unable to eat. At 94 pounds it was alarming and medication was not helping her. After reading this book I took both her and myself off wheat and other GMO foods. The results were staggering. After just one week, she no longer had acid reflux. She has gained a bit of weight but feels so much healthier now. So do I.

I will take a leadership role in this for Delta.

If elected, I will put forth a resolution to make Delta GMO free. I don’t know if you are aware, but I put forth the motion when I was on Delta Council to eliminate cosmetic pesticides in Delta and that motion passed I’m pleased to say.

Now all you need to do is help me become elected as a Delta Councillor again and we can make this happen.

Please call me if you would like to help

Thank you again Tony

Heather King

IT time Canadian politicians, starting from the bottom up, stop using ignorance as an excuse for doing nothing. It is time for them to stop passing the buck by blaming federal politics and claiming Municipalities have no authority. It is time for politicians to stop misguiding the public and obfuscate this issue. It is time for them to get off their high horse and face issues squarely and without hiding behind corporations and lobby groups.

Lori Mayhew gets my vote

Lori Mayhew is another candidate that responded in writing:

Hi Tony. Thank you for your email.

This is an easy question for me: I am against GMOs and the use of pesticides, and I would support a resolution to make Delta a GMO free community.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Lori Mayhew

Candidate for Delta Council

Nicholas Wong and Lori Mayhew get my vote.

Nicholas Wong gets my vote

Then there was Nicholas Wong. He responded : Hi Tony,

I have friends who have been directly effected by Monsanto and have developed cancer as a result of their pesticides. Farmers are particularly at risk from direct intoxication due to many of the pesticides and chemicals that they use. It stands to reason that this transfers into the food supply. This is not even touching on the issue of GMOs. I am not entirely certain that genetic manipulation is bad as a whole, but the way that the industries involved have refused regulation and surround themselves in secrecy is unacceptable. For that reason, I am entirely in support of having Delta join the list of municipalities declaring themselves GMO free. I will not support an indefinite ban, but, without proper health assessment and regulation, we have no way of protecting the population from its many potential harms and evils.

The facts you present are more than enough of a reason to support outlawing all GMOs until they pass sufficient health panels and demonstrate that they are not doing us irreparable harm. I hope that this answers some of the issues. Thank you so much for approaching me with the question and I will look for you in the crowd tomorrow. Thanks so much, Nicholas Wong

Johann Ackermann gets my vote

Johann Ackermann gets my vote

Not every candidate had time to respond to my original question in a day, but some of them responded later, such as in the morning of 24th October. Johann Ackerkann is one such and he was clear enough in his email. He mentioned Harold Steves, a hero in not only my eyes, but by an increasing number of Canadians in and outside of BC. He also mentioned that the shifty answer by Ian Paton blew him away. This is what he wrote: Tony,

Please accept my apology for not replying sooner. Getting home after 10 PM every day is tiring. Yesterday at the all candidates meeting when I heard Ian Paton’s reply to the question I was blown away by his stand on this.

You mentioned Harold Steves who is a hero in my books. We need more people like him.

Enough said, I am for standing with Richmond (I grew up in Richmond) and other municipalities against GMO. Concerning pesticides and other chemicals being used in farming, I am totally on board to ensuring we don’t poison our children with these pesticides. As also mentioned yesterday, just because the Provincial or Federal government have control over certain things does not mean that we should lie down and take it. As the last level of government, it’s the council’s obligation to stand up and be counted when the health and safety of the community is at stake. I am the employee Health and Safety co-chair and this is something very dear to my heart.

Thank you for asking the question.

Sincerely,

Johann Ackermann

Jennifer Thoss gets my vote

Hi Tony,

I think I answered you regarding GMO’ but I see no reference in your email below. Is this your comment on twitter? (Screen shot attached-SantanuMitra)

I am confused, please let me know.

Thanks,

Jennifer Thoss

PS- I am totally on board with Delta going GMO free!!

This screenshot received from Jennifer Thoss by email.

Ian Paton does not get my vote

Ian Paton does not get my vote

Ian Paton was one that did not respond by email. However, the next day, October 23rd, during the Council Candidates meeting with the public – he did come across my question. I had penned the question to be fielded to the candidates – that many municipalities in BC had passed resolution to be GMO free, where BC lead the nation, but Delta was lagging behind. Would the candidate join the rest of BC and declare itself to be GMO free as well.Mr. Paton responded like a true politician – regretfully. In other words, he remained slippery and evasive, opting to support GMO labelling, which is not on the table in Canada, and he as a council member has no control over it. On the other hand, the item he has some control over, i.e. passing a resolution in Delta to be GMO free, he did not support it and considered such a resolution to be fluffy. So, supporting labelling, which is not on the horizon and which he cannot influence – is not fluffy, but the one he can do something about – is.

I personally have come across quite a few politicians that talk like that – promising nothing, committing to nothing, never taking a clear stand on issues, and wanting your vote nonetheless. Usually such politicians are to be found higher up in the hierarchy. It was surprising for me to come across such a one at the Municipal level. in my view, Ian Paton is a candidate that deserves to be an unemployed politician.

A response from Ian Paton :

Apparently if you know absolutely nothing about farming or GMO , but answer yes to your question ( which is the easy way out ) then you are a fantastic Council prospect ( i.e. Heather , Lori , Nich ) OR if you are a candidate (8 of them ) that never got asked the question or did not respond , that gets you a free pass ( no comment apparently all okay ) However ian Paton who knows a bit about the subject who answers with an intelligent and realistic answer ( including being in favour of labelling of GMO grown food ) , and stating that Municipalities are helpless to take any action on this topic , which is totally approved and regulated by the Federal Agriculture Ministry … Is labelled by Mr . Mitra as a terrible candidate ( even though I think I have done a ton of good things for Delta farmers in the past 4 years ) Since you are so in love with Richmonds GMO free movement , let us know how that is working out ? Does Richmond have GMO inspectors going farm to farm packing guns and mobile testing labs ? Maybe get them to check on the 3000 acres of ” Roundup ready ” cow corn that is still grown over there year after year after year with nothing their Municipality can do about it .

Mr . Mitra .. Sure makes our service to the community worthwhile when getting trashed by people like you … Ian Paton

Response from Harold Steves, Farmer and a Councillor, Richmond – who spearheaded the GMO free resolution in Richmond, and is still working on furthering the clean agriculture movement – and a hero not just for British Columbians, but concerned citizens across Canada. The Richmond “ban” on GMO’s has been immensely successful. The ban was not aimed at GMO cow corn that was already in production at a couple of dairy farms in Richmond. They were exempted as non conforming uses previously permitted.

Chemical agriculture is the norm in the dairy industry. As the corn is used as silage to feed cows there is little chance that the chenical residues sprayed on the plants will get into the food chain outside of these farms.

The GMO ban was complimentary to Richmond’s ban on cosmetic pesticides. As 99% of GMO’s are designed for pesticide use banning both GMO’s and pesticides is doubly effective.

Richmond collects lawn clippings, leaves and other yard waste for composting through an anaerobic digester at Harvest Power in Richmond. Methane gas, normally produced by composting, is burned to produce electricity and CO2. The remaining compost is so clean and free of herbicides and pesticides that it can now be used on organic farms and gardens to produce food. At the same time an equivalent amount of CO2 is sequestered by the plants grown on the composted soil.

Vicky Huntington – Delta MLA was present

With Heather King & independent MLA Vicky Huntington

Independent Delta MLA Vicky Huntington was in the hall, introduced to me by Heather King. I had in fact had previous correspondence with Vicky, but only on email and twitter and never face to face. I had asked her about the use of RoundUp pesticide in Delta agriculture and the latest measurements of the level of Glyphosate in our soil and water, and the report that some farmers were overusing it in hope of killing super weeds and might be crossing the prescribed limit. I also asked about the issue that there are no labs in Canada that are geared to test out urine, blood and mothers breast milk, or our food such as wheat, corn, milk, cooking oil, bread, meat or processed food, for presence of Glyphosate.

Vicky had previously welcomed me to see her at her office, but I had not managed to find the time somehow. We decided we would catch up with each other soon. Anyhow, I reminded her that all my correspondence with her over the months and years have been always either GMO, or the herbicide RoundUp and its active ingredient Glyphosate, and its use in Delta farming, and the fallout from that in the health of the people that are involved in farming and those that live near the farm lands, and the wildlife that use the ground water, etc, and the question of if the city should monitor the toxicity level in our soil, water and especially in the crops that are sprayed with RoundUp. More on this later, on a some other blog, or podcast, or video. Thierry Vrain write to health minister Rona Ambrose

Meanwhile, my friend Thierry Vrain, retired genetic engineer, soil biologist, ex Agriculture Canada scientist and organic farmer as well as partner in our joint GE talk tour across Canada, is off to Ottawa to meet with Canada’s health Minister Ms Rona Ambrose to discuss GMO and pesticides in Canadian food and environment next Monday, Oct 27th.

I have had past exchanges on email with Ms Abrose. These have not been encouraging from my point of view, but then I realize she is, in my judgment, incapable of and disallowed from making independent judgment on the safety of GMO and pesticide. Should she dare to do that, she will likely be fired on the spot. So, in effect, the minister is more like a face, a front, or a puppet, designed to make you feel good when you get to meet her or get an answer from her. Other than that, I do not believe she can or will change Canada’s policy of selling our rights, our food security and our seed freedom, to a handful of powerful foreign agro-industry corporations.

Nonetheless, I wish Thierry success, and am copying this email he recently sent to the minister, as a supplement to this page. It might prove educating to those that have the time to go through and decipher Thierry’s message.

To the Honorable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health

A briefing paper on herbicide pollution and GMO labeling

from Dr Thierry Vrain:

Minister,

The confusion about the safety of GMOs is quite simple to address. The only GMOs in our agriculture are Glyphosate Modified Organisms also known as RoundUp Ready crops and the only GMOs in our food supply are from those crops. RoundUp Ready crops are engineered to be sprayed with the herbicide RoundUp and this technology has become so successful that RoundUp has become a major pollutant (1). This chemical pollution is antibiotic, it impacts the microbiome, impairs CYP enzymes, and depletes food of essential mineral micronutrients. As a background paper for the impact of this pollution I offer my speaking notes to the American College of Nutrition conference last week in San Diego (Texas). Most of the studies I cite were published in the last five years.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient of the herbicide RoundUp, a new molecule created in 1960 by Stauffer Chemicals – a US company with a business of cleaning industrial pipes and boilers of mineral scales. The mineral deposits (same as in electric kettles) are called scales, and the pipe cleaning chemicals are called descaling agents. Glyphosate was patented in 1964 in the US as a powerful and very broad spectrum descaling agent (2). Meaning, it binds to metals indiscriminately and does a great job at “dissolving and preventing minerals from being reactive or bioavailable in solution”. When the descaling solution was disposed of in nature, it was obvious that it killed plants. The chemical company Monsanto promptly bought the molecule, patented it as a herbicide in 1969, and got it commercialized in 1974 (3). This molecule is making history because glyphosate has become the most successful agricultural chemical in North and South America wherever RR seeds are used. The farmers using this technology get simpler and cheaper weed management and despite higher input bills and sometimes disappointing yields, and with weed resistance spreading fast, they adopted it in troves (4).

Glyphosate is antibiotic, a powerful and broad spectrum antibiotic (6). The mode of kill is again alleged to be very selective. The glyphosate molecule impairs the functioning of the shikimate pathway in bacteria the same way it does in plants. Only one enzyme is affected in a pathway that animals do not possess. The antibiotic patent describes its effectiveness to kill bacteria at 1 ppm and this was confirmed last year in Germany (7). At this point I usually spend a minute or two explaining why a low level antibiotic diet for the rest of your life is not a good idea. I describe the recent interest of the medical field in a large joint research project involving many Universities to decipher the huge community of thousands of species of bacteria that call us home. The Human Microbiome project is the equivalent of the Human Genome project in its scope. We are vastly outnumbered, roughly ten to one – one hundred trillion bacterial cells call our lower intestine home. They are forever sending signaling molecules to each other and to all human organs, particularly the brain. All animals depend on their symbiosis with these bacteria, and humans are no exception. They are the teachers of our immune system, they make many neurotransmitters for our brain, and have a strong connection to the heart and the whole digestive tract. They literally feed us all kinds of molecules that we require – we call them essential, like vitamins and such. They digest and recycle most of our food. Most human organs rely on molecular signals from the microbiome for normal functioning. As goes the microbiome, so does its human shell. A recent review of the medical literature on celiac and other diseases shows the link to imbalances of the microbiome that are fully explained by the antibiotic properties of glyphosate (8). And the same authors published another review of the impact of glyphosate on the CYP enzymes and the microbiome. Samsel and Seneff have suggested that glyphosate’s suppression of CYP enzymes and its antibiotic effect on the human microbiome are involved in the etiology of many chronic degenerative and inflammatory diseases that have grown to epidemic proportions since 1996, since the advent of the RoundUp Ready technology (10).

Glyphosate accumulates in the lungs, the heart, kidneys, intestine, liver, spleen, muscles, and bones … and chronically ill people have higher residues in their urine than healthy people.”(22)

Minister, your reassuring words have been quoted widely. “Currently, there is no… scientific evidence, that says genetically modified foods are unhealthy. It is impossible for us to mandate a label, because our labels have to be based on evidence that it is an unhealthy product for Canadians.” I hope you have found here the scientific evidence you require to act and that you join over 60 governments in the world who have found this evidence compelling enough in the past few years, to legislate some form of protection from labeling to banning RoundUp Ready crops and the herbicide RoundUp.

Respectfully,

Dr. Thierry Vrain

thierryv@telus.net

Literature cited

1 Battaglin W.A., Meyer M.T., Kuivila K.M., Dietze J.E. 2014. Glyphosate and its degradation product AMPA occur frequently and widely in US soils, surface water, groundwater, and precipitation. J. Amer. Water Res. Assoc. 50, 275-290.

2 U.S. Patent 3,160,632 Stauffer Chemicals 1964

3 US Patent 3,455,675 Monsanto Chemicals 1969

4 Fernandez-Cornejo J., Wechsler S.J., Livingston M. and Mitchell L. 2014. Genetically Engineered crops in the United States. USDA Economic Research Report No. (ERR-162) 60 pp. http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1282246/err162.pdf

5 EPA 2013 MCL (US Environment Protection Agency legal Maximum Contaminant Levels). http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/pdfs/factsheets/soc/glyphosa.pdf

6 U.S. Patent Number 7,771,736 Monsanto Chemicals 2010.

7 Shehata, A.A., Schrödl, W., Aldin, A.A., Hafez, H.M. and Krüger, M. 2013. The effect of Glyphosate on potential pathogens and beneficial members of poultry microbiota. Curr. Microbiol. 66:350-358.

8 Samsel, A. and Seneff, S. 2013. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II. Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdiscip. Toxicol. 6: 159-184

9 Nelson, D. 2013. A world of cytochrome P450s. Philo. Transac. Royal Soc. London B 368 No 1612.

10 Samsel, A. and Seneff, S. 2013. Glyphosate’s suppression of cytochrome P450 enzymes and amino acid biosynthesis by the gut microbiome: pathways to modern diseases. Entropy 15: 1416-1463.

11 http://www.examiner.com/gmo-in-seattle/nancy-swanson

12 Gasnier, C., Dumont, C., Benachour, N., Clair, E., Chagnon, M.C. and Séralini, G.E. 2009. Glyphosate-based herbicides are toxic and endocrine disruptors in human cell lines. Toxicology 262: 184-191.

13 Benachour N. and Seralini, G.E. 2009. Glyphosate induces apoptosis in human umbilical, embryonic, and placental cells. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 22: 97-105.

14 Koller, V.G., Fürhacker, M., Nersesyan, A., Mišík, M., Eisenbauer, M. and Knasmueller, S. 2012. Cytotoxic and DNA-damaging properties of glyphosate and Roundup in human-derived buccal epithelial cells. Arch. Toxicol. 86: 805-813.

15 Thongprakaisang, S., Thiantanawat, A., Rangkadilok, N., Suriyo, T. and Satayavivad, J. 2013. Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cell growth via estrogen receptors. Food Chem. Toxicol. 59: 129-136.

16 Senapati ,T., Mukerjee, A.K. and Ghosh, A.R. 2009. Observations on the effect of glyphosate based herbicide on ultrastructure (SEM) and enzymatic activity in different regions of alimentary canal and gill of Channa punctatus (Bloch). J. Crop Weed 5: 236-245.

17 Paganelli, A., Gnazzo, V., Acosta, H., López, S.L. and Carrasco, A.E. 2010. Glyphosate herbicides produce teratogenic effects on vertebrates by impairing retinoic acid signaling. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 23: 1586-1595.

18 Vecchio, L., Cisterna, B., Malatesta, M., Martin, T.E. and Biggiogera, M. 2004. Ultrastructural analysis of testes from mice fed on genetically modified soybean. Eur. J. Histochem. 48:448-454.

19 El-Shamei, Z.S.; Gab-Alla, A.A.; Shatta, A.A.; Moussa, E.A.; Rayan, A.M. 2012. Histopathological changes in some organs of male rats fed on genetically modified corn. J. Am. Sci. 8: 684-696.

20 Séralini, G.E., Clair, E., Mesnage, R., Gress, S., Defarge, N., Malatesta, M., Hennequin, D. and de Vendômois, J.S. 2014. Republished study: Long-term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize. Environ. Sci. Eur. 26:14

21 Clair. E, Mesnage, R., Travert, C. and Séralini, G.É. 2012. A glyphosate-based herbicide induces necrosis and apoptosis in mature rat testicular cells in vitro, and testosterone decrease at lower levels. Toxicol. in Vitro 26: 269-279.

22 Kruger, M., Schledorn, P., Schrodl, W., Hoppe, H.W., Lutz, W. and Shehata, A.A. 2014. Detection of glyphosate residues in animals and humans. Environ. & Anal. Toxicol. 4:2

23 Zobiole, L.H., Kremer, R.J., de Oliveira, R.S. and Constantin, J. 2012.Glyphosate effects on photosynthesis, nutrient accumulation, and nodulation in glyphosate-resistant soybean. J. Plant Nutri. Soil Sci. 175: 319

I shall fill this out more in the next few days. Watch this space.

Catherine Colvin – a unique journey in the path of detoxification

Posted on August 16, 2014 by admin

Here is a remarkable story of Catherine Colvin of Minnesota, USA.
Sick from possible excessive exposure to harmful chemicals, she had a series of debilitating illnesses from childhood.

Catherine Colvin

By the time she was in her 40s, the doctors had given up on her, suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, Thyroid, and blood cancer to name such a few. She was looking towards another 2 or 3 years to live under lingering pain and disability.

She lost her job, her medical insurance and her support system from the healthcare industry. That was in 2006. She should have been dead long before today.

and yet, she survived, and is well on her way to curing herself, without funds, without medical insurance and without western medicine, so to speak.

Her primary tactic was to remove synthetic chemicals from her life and her lifestyle. Her second line of defence was to study alternative medicine practiced by just about everybody except the western medical profession. And she lived to tell the tale.

She was a military child, and was exposed to a chemical environment from childhood.
She had allergies, small cysts on skin, asthma. She got sick after vaccines
Her mother had her on birth control to her at 13
She wen anemic at 14
She developed endometriosis symptoms at 14 though not diagnosed until 19
Doctors recommended that she should have a hysterectomy because it was the only cure and she would never have children anyway. She did not have the hysterectomy at the time, thankfully – and eventually got to be a mother of two healthy sons – now, 29 and 34.
She had multiple sclerosis from childhood.
In 1989 she finally had a hysterectomy
In 2005 She was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Same year, 2006 she was confirmed to have multiple sclerosis
Also in 2006, she was diagnosed with acute paraproteinemia – a blood cancer.
She was to face life expectancy of next 2 to 3 years. She should not be alive today at all.
She lost her high paying job. She lost her medical insurance. Doctors stopped speaking with her. She only had to wait for death.
But she outlived all expectations, and cured most of her illness, without the medical establishment, without insurance and mostly without western medicine.
The most effective treatment she did – was remove synthetic chemicals from her life.
She learned what alternative treatments, usually outside the U.S. such as Chinese, Indian, African, Latin American and American Indian treatments.
Changed diet drastically – eating things that were easy to digest and beginning to heal her gut microbiome.
She avoided trans fats, sugars
She went on celiac diet for about 6 months
She detoxed herself with the lemonade diet or Master Cleanse for a few months and now twice yearly
She used mega-doses of zero toxicity supplements such as liposomal vitamin C which she can now make at home, vitamin D, E, K, A, the B’s and others.
She mixed her own RO (reverse osmosis) water with baking soda and sea salt and trace minerals
She used dehydrated greens 3 times daily as a drink
She used 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide to dilute and use for soaking in baths and washing vegetables
And she went organic – organic – organic.
Within months most of her symptoms where receding. Her blood cancer started curing itself. Today, it is undetectable.
Multiple sclerosis started healing. She could walk a block without collapsing.
She tried every unconventional treatment. She found out that, for her thyroid, in some nations, patients are given a diet of the thyroid gland of a cow or pig, chopped up and raw. She found the same treatment used in the west for pets, such as thyroid issues for a pet dog or cat – but not humans.She ordered thyroid gland from an organic grass fed cow, for her imaginary “sick dog”. Then she ground out the meat, and ate it raw herself, along with enzymes to help her digest it (she had gone vegetarian by then, so she needed help to digest raw meat). Her thyroid problem is fast improving.
She removed chemicals from her life by tossing out store sold soap and makes her own, for washing her clothes, her dishes and even herself.

Today, she has not only outlives expectations, her blood cancer cannot be detected, her sheer tiredness is gone. She has a spring in her step. At 53, she is healing and aging at the same time. Far as I can tell, she is going to outlive me and many others of our generations.
.
This is the story of my friend Catherine Colvin of Minnesota, USA.

I am editing my interview with her – for a two part podcast.

The picture above is a recent one – well on her way to healing.

Introducing – Catherine Colvin – who defied death by stepping away from western medicine, diet, and to a large extent, rejecting the traditional western lifestyle – though she kept the motorcycle.

Is Croplife Canada trying to keep RoundUp under the carpet?

Posted on August 5, 2014 by admin

Dr. Thierry Vrain and self had a few presentations, talks and question and answers in Manitoba last month, including one in the town of Steinbach. The talk from Dr. Vrain was about Glyphosate and how dangerous it can be for our soil, water, food and in our body.

I spoke about Canada not having a single lab in Canada were we can test our body fluids and food for presence of Glyphosate, as well as how citizen’s grassroots actions, and political engagement at the Municipal level, can push back at this relentless encroachment of corporations into our rights to good health, environment and food.

Meanwhile, the president of Croplife Canada, wrote a letter to the editor of the Southeastern Manitoba newspaper – The Carilloon, which was posted by the paper. The letter basically criticizes Dr. Vrain, but misses his presentation completely.

The content of his letter is as attached.

I found this to be a misrepresentation of facts, considering the fact that Dr. Thierry Vrain focusses on Glyphosate, the weed killing chemical in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide, rather than Gene transfer technology in GMO. Mr. Menzies appears to be either unaware of Dr. Vrain’s presentation or may be willfully attempting to sidetrack the main issue of Dr. Vrain’s talks – which is damages to health and environment brought on by Glyphosate, the molecule in RoundUp herbicide suspected to be robbing the mineral nutrients from soil and food as well as killing our micro-biome, the colony of our gut bacteria that are so vital to our well being.

Since Mr. Menzies appears to be so generous in offering his views about it, albeit sidestepping the herbicide, I thought it might be proper to bring the focus back where it was supposed to be – on Glyphosate the weed killer in our food.

Dr. Thierry Vrain

Dr. Vrain has sent a letter to the publisher. I shall copy that here for the people around the world, as Dr. Vrain’s response does throw more light on the issue. Here is what he said :

Dear Sir,

Mr Ted Menzies, President of Crop Life Canada, has not been made aware of the Food Safety and Sustainable Agriculture Forum that took place last month in Beijing. Over 300 scientists from China, the USA, the UK, Russia, France, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Peru, met to review and discuss scientific studies of engineered crops and food. These were not anti GMO activists and conspiracy theorists with an agenda, they were biologists and biotechnologists, and medical doctors and veterinarians, and there were also farmers, and social and food safety activists, and representatives of NGOs. The broad consensus was that the RoundUp Ready technology that was invented to boost the sales of the herbicide RoundUp is not sustainable because of the chronic toxicity of the herbicide. The technology has been very successful and revolutionized agriculture since 1996, particularly in North America and a few countries of South America, but it is deeply flawed. This chemical is now spread (and sprayed) all over the food supply in North America and a few other countries, it has become as common as a food additive. It is also in the air, the rain, the water and of course it bio-accumulates in our body organs. There is a large body of science showing severe chronic toxicity in animals and pointing the finger at many of the degenerative and inflammatory diseases that we have seen become epidemic since RoundUp has been sprayed on RoundUp Ready crops. Many countries including political allies of the USA (64 at the last count) have now legislated some form of regulation of engineered crops and foods, or banned them altogether.

The fact that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada personnel seem to have caved in to political pressure or lobbying to keep ignoring the latest science is not reassuring at all. Studies from the US Department of Agriculture show that engineered grains are depleted of metal micronutrients. Just like they would if they contained residues of a powerful and broad spectrum chelating agent that binds the missing minerals. Studies from many countries show that glyphosate is also antibiotic (at one part per million, as cited on the 2010 US patent). Does this mean that people are fed low level antibiotics like industrial chickens and cattle? Business as usual is not acceptable anymore, this was the strong message from the Forum that took place in Beijing last month.

Cui bono ? Mr Ted Menzies finds it disconcerting that I am not getting paid and still consider it my civic duty to protect the health and safety of Canadians and raise the alarm. Who is this technology good for if it depletes the food of essential mineral nutrients and threatens our health?

Dr. Thierry Vrain

And then here is what I wrote to the editor of the same paper, today, August 5th 2015:

Dated: August 5, 2014

Dear sir,

As a concerned citizen, I write to you drawing attention to apparent misinformation posted by Mr. Ted Menzies, President of Croplife, in his letter as published in your paper recently.

Dr. Thierry Vrain speaks primarily about Glyphosate, the active ingredient contained in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide, and not GMO or gene transfer technology. Mr. Menzies sidesteps the main presentation about the effects of RoundUp herbicide in our food and environment, and attempts to falsely drag Dr. Vrain into a debate on if GMO is good or bad. Is that not falsification of facts?

I would encourage Mr. Menzies to provide peer reviewed science papers that actually prove that presence pesticides in general, or Glyphosate in particular in our food, is good for our health.

I would further like Mr. Menzies to either provide proof that Glyphosate is not an antibiotic although it is patented by Monsanto to be such, or that glyphosate does not damage the micro-biome in our gut in spite of being an anti-biotic.

I would be delighted if Mr. Menzies can further provide data where Canadian citizens can have their blood, urine, and food tested for presence of Glyphosate, to check if levels of this poison has crossed minimum safety limits imposed by USA, by Europe, and other countries. I would also encourage Mr. Menzies to furnish data on what safety limits the Canadian Government might have set on presence of Glyphosate in our food, and if Croplife, or Health Canada or anybody has conducted thorough testing of Canadian food for presence of Glyphosate and if so, where those results are available.

Lastly, I would recommend that Mr. Menzies to actually attend one of Dr. Vrains talks and tries to absorb the content of his presentation, and then write his views on it.

Tony Mitra
(address, phone # & email)

Eric Rempel with Tony Mitra

I was happy to note that Dr. Vrain’s letter was published by the paper, along with another letter from Mr. Eric Rempel, who I had the pleasure of meeting in Manitoba, and who is perhaps planning to stand for election in the local Municipal Council, and do in his neighbourhood what Harold Steves did for Richmond. Below is the copy of his letter to the editor.

I wrote a follow up note to the editor, not necessarily wanting them to publish my comments, but rather, advising them of this blog and its readership, and inviting the editor or other staff to consider posting their own view on this blog, about mainstream media, social media, citizen journalism and alternative media in this new age of internet that has essentially placed the printed newspapers in an almost existential crisis. Add to it the fact that many of the large news-media conglomerates are, by definition, under control of a shrinking body of media corporations that exert a disproportionate amount of influence on what is published and what is not. In the process, free press as we understood it two generations ago are fast becoming a thing of the past.

So here is what I wrote to the editor.

To: The Editor, Mr. Grant Burr
The Carillon,
377 Main Street
Steinbach, Manitoba R5G 1A5
Phone: 204-326-3421

Dear Mr. Burr,

cc: Dr. Thierry Vrain, Eric Rempel

Subject: Glyphosate, GMO, and the letter to editor by Mr. Ted Menzies, president of Crop Life, Canada.

This is a follow up of my previous email to you dated 5th of August, 2014 on the subject.

I am a citizen journalist, writer, blogger (www.tonu.org), podcaster, videographer and food security activist, and have covered this issue on my blog at http://www.tonu.org/2014/08/05/invisible-glyphosate/. I accompanied Dr. Thierry Vrain on the cross Canada GMO talk tour, speaking after Dr. Vrain, on citizen action issue on Glyphosate Testing, and on grassroots level political activism to counter an unholy alliance between foreign biotech corporations and our political system in Canada.

The blog itself is reasonably popular on a global scale, getting between 1,500 to 2,000 hits a day, mainly from North America, but also from clusters in Western Europe, Asia and elsewhere, and is being picked up even in remote and unlikely locations such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Pago Pago island, Turkey, Peru, Hawaii and Guyana . The most recent statistics (past 48 hours) from the server in a visual map is included below for your record.

I was happy to note that you have included at least two of the letters sent to you presenting an opposing view to Mr. Ten Menzies’ note, since Mr. Menzies clearly has a conflict of interest, since he is the president of Crop Life, and since Crop Life benefits from sale of both GM crop seed as well as RoundUp herbicide.

From Dr. Vrain’s point of view, largely supported by an increasing number of citizens, scientists, organic farmers, naturopaths and food security activists, it is the pesticide in general and Glyphosate in particular, that is the 900 pound gorilla at our dinner table and more clearly identifiable as the toxic element in our environment and food.

It is perhaps for this reason, that the industry would prefer to sidestep any debate on Glyphosate (the poison in RoundUp herbicide, the most used poison in the world today) in our food and in our body, and try to shackle the debate on the narrow topic of GMO and gene transfer.

I send this note to you for your information, not necessarily requesting you to post this comment in your paper, but rather, to encourage you or your staff to read up on the blog, and perhaps offer your own comments, which I shall be happy to append at the bottom of the blog, should I receive any.

I do not have Mr. Ted Menzies’ email, but in case you do, you are welcome to pass him this note, in case he should wish to offer any counter argument.

This letter, like most things we citizen journalists often write, will be for public consumption, and therefore may be included at the bottom of the same blog, and also freely circulated through internet, etc.

I am copying this note to Dr. Thierry Vrain and Mr. Eric Rempel, whose letter you were gracious enough to print.

This is for your information. Congratulating you for maintaining a balanced view on the topic, and airing both sides of the argument.

Wishing you and your paper a prosperous future.

Tony Mitra
(Contacts)
PS – I have a habit of not proof reading my letters, so please excuse any typo.

I would also invite the editor of the newspaper, The Carillon, to offer his comments if he so wishes, on this blog. I do not have the contact details of Mr. Ted Menzies, president of Crop Life Canada. In case any of the readers has his contacts, you are welcome to invite Mr. Menzies for his comments as well.

In case anyone is interested to write a letter to the newspaper, The Carillon, which presumably covers South-eastern Manitoba, their contacts as displayed on their web site is:
Editor : Mr. Grant Burr
The Carillon, 377 Main Street, Steinbach, Manitoba R5G 1A5Phone: 204-326-3421Fax: 204-326-4860

To better present what Dr. Thierry Vrain talks about, we should shortly have a copy of his presentation video on the internet for the general public to see.

We intend to self-label our food

Sample letter 1

To : Doctor, or Nurse, or Hospital etc

From : Your name

Date :

I am concerned that my corn, soy or wheat based food may contain traces of a herbicide called glyphosate. I would like to get my body fluids and possible fat tissue sample tested for the presense of glyphosate to see if I am accumilating any of it in my body.

If I supply you with the samples, can you please arrange to get them tested?

I would prefer for the results of the tests to be sent to me personally, as well as to your office.

Samples I wish to test: Urine (2 samples), blood(1 sample), milk (1), bread(1), cooking oil(1) – (Please modify this letter and the list of items you wish to test, to suit your situation).

Appreciate your prompt action in this.

Thanking you,

Name & address

Sample letter 2

To : Doctor, or Nurse, or Hospital etc

From : Your name

Date :

I wish to test some samples for Glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Round-Up herbicide and is being liberally sprayed on much of my food, both GMO and non GMO. I am concerned that this Glyphosate is migrating into my body, and may adversely affect my health.

If I supply you with the samples, can you please arrange to get them tested?

I would prefer for the results of the tests to be sent to me personally, as well as to your office.

Samples I wish to test: Urine (2 samples), blood(1 sample), milk (1), bread(1), cooking oil(1) – (Please modify this letter and the list of items you wish to test, to suit your situation).

Appreciate your prompt action in this.

Thanking you,

Name & address

Hi Tony:

We will look into the method once there is a demand, we cannot allocate resources to the development of a method for which there is no market at the moment. Also it will be a non-accredited method at this point.

Thanks.

Moms Across America, USA Zen Honeycutt, Founder

From Grace Joubarne East coast, Canada

Evaggelos Vallianatos Ex EPA Scientist and author of “Poison Spring”

Stephanie SeneffSenior Research ScientistMIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

MP Bruce Hyer Responds:

CBC – Up North Airs a talk with Tony Mitra

Link – blog on council members

Link – blog on school board

Link to the School Board Election.

Mayor Lois Jackson has finally sent a response in writing and in bold letters.

Syliva Bishop told me she will work to set up a lab in Delta, to test Glyphosate (poison in Monsanto’s RoundUP weed killer) in human body fluids and all food items grown and sold in Delta.

Heather King gets my vote

Lori Mayhew gets my vote

Nicholas Wong gets my vote

Johann Ackermann gets my vote

Jennifer Thoss gets my vote

Ian Paton does not get my vote

Vicky Huntington – Delta MLA was present

Moms Across America, USA
Zen Honeycutt, Founder

From Grace Joubarne
East coast, Canada

Evaggelos Vallianatos
Ex EPA Scientist and author of “Poison Spring”

Stephanie Seneff
Senior Research Scientist
MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory