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Seeds of Deception Seeds of Deception Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating Jeffrey M. Smith Yes! BOOKS P.O. Box 469 Fairfield, Iowa 52556 (888) 717-7000 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I deeply appreciate the contributions that so many people made to this book—as reviewers, as sovirces, as moral support. I name only a few here. Andrea Smith, Rick Smith, Morton Smith, Nancy Tarascio, Robynn Smith, Arpad Pusztai, Ph.D., Michael Hansen, Ph.D., Brian Stains, Bill Crist, Steve Druker, Barbara Keeler, Helen Whybrow, Margo Baldwin, Pete Hardin, Joe Cummins, Ph.D., Robert Roth, Jane Akre, Steve Wilson, Ignacio Chapela, Ph.D., James Turner, Bill Freese, Betty Hoffing, Barbara Reed Stitt, Gerald Gleich, M.D., Phillip Hertzman, M.D., Rick North, Ronnie Cummins, Jeff Peckman, Joe Mendelson, Craig Winter, Bill Lashmett, Howard Vlieger, Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., David Schubert, Ph.D., Robert Cohen, Larry Bohlen, Dick Kaynor, Britt Bailey, John Kremer, and Carol Kline. CONTENTS FOREWORD by Frances Moore Lappe .................................... Hi PREFACE by Arran Stephans .................................................... v INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................1 Chapter 1: A LESSON FROM OVERSEAS....................................................5 Chapter 2: WHAT COULD GO WRONG—A PARTIAL LIST .........................47 Chapter 3: SPILLED MILK .......................................................................77 Chapter 4: DEADLY EPIDEMIC .............................................................. 107 Chapter 5: GOVERNMENT BY THE INDUSTRY, FOR THE INDUSTRY ............................................................ 127 Chapter 6: ROLLING THE DICE WITH ALLERGIES ................................... 159 Chapter 7: MUSCLING THE MEDIA ........................................................ 183 Chapter 8: CHANGING YOUR DIET ....................................................... 231 Chapter 9: WHAT You CAN Do ............................................................ 249 EPILOGUE............................................................................. 261 Appendix A: GM FOODS AT A GLANCE ................................................... 267 Appendix B: ENZYMES & ADDITIVES....................................................... 268 NOTES...................................................................................269 INDEX ....................................................................................284 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .............................................................289 FOREWORD by Frances Moore Lappe What do genetically modified seeds have to do with democracy? Everything. To me, this craze—just like the sudden emergence of grain-fed meat I first wrote about thirty-three years ago—is a symptom. It is a symptom of our silencing. Think about it: None of us called for genetic manipulation of seeds. No not one of us said, yes, this new technology will benefit me, my family, and my community. Just as with die risks of feedlot beef, now contributing to heart disease, groundwater depletion, antibiotic resistance, and more, no citizens were asked to weigh die risks of GMOs against possible gains. Yet today most of us are eating them, while kept completely in the dark as to the hazards we may be facing—for ourselves, our children, and the farming ecosystems on which our lives depend. How has this assault on democracy happened? As citizens, we've been duped and marginalized from our rightful role in momentous public choices. Surveys show that the majority of Americans share unease about the extent of corporate power within government, but that unease remains vague and unfocused. No more— for here Jeffrey Smith snaps us to attention: He offers the dramatic, fascinating, insider detail we need. He shows how a handful of corporations, led by Monsanto, has used its enormous wealth, as well as intimidation and deception, to turn Americans into nutritional guinea pigs. How we've been forced without our knowledge—as "our" government rejects citizen demands for labeling—to consume staple foods that have been virtually untested as to their effect on our health. When you read this extraordinary and courageous book, you will never see your country the same way again. You'll understand why odier nations are appalled by U.S. actions to try to bully them into accepting //; genetically modified seeds. You'll see how out-of-step we are with countries where citizens have, thank God, found their voices to bring forth intense public dialogue, raising essential questions about GMOs. Perhaps you'll conclude, as I have, that the genetic engineering craze—absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars and untold time and energy both of promoters and doubters—is yet another catastrophic diversion from the core question of any democracy: Why hunger amidst plenty? The GMO debate jumps over this question entirely, as self-interested corporations deliberately reinforce the myth that our planet's problem is scarcity from which only their products can save us. In fact, Monsanto, and other corporations seeking to make the world dependent on their engineered seeds, have had the gall to tell us we need their technology to "feed the hungry" when the bane of farmers around the world has long been overproduction, because too many people are so poor they can't afford what's already grown. Jeffrey Smith has written a powerful, desperately needed book. My fervent hope is that in the years ahead we will look back and see his seminal work as a none-too-soon alarm that helps us to find our own courage to perceive GMOs as both a threat to health as well as a symptom of a deeper crisis. Genetic engineering could turn out to be our ultimate wake-up call. Where is democracy, we can ask, when just one company, Monsanto, controls 85 percent of all genetically engineered germplasm and has the power to saturate the commercial seed supply with genetically engineered varieties—with no input from the public who must bear the consequences? Could genetic engineering be what finally shocks us into finding our voices to ask the questions we must if we are to create authentic democracy and heal our planet? - Frances Moore Lappe Frances Moore Lappe is the coauthor, with Anna Lappe, of Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. iv PREFACE byArrim Stephnns Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are the by-product of splicing genes from one species into the DNA of another, is a technology fraught with unknown and possibly disastrous consequences for our health and the environment. Those who had the most to gain, the multinational biotech companies, propounded a very convincing message through well-funded mass media, that biotechnology was the miracle that will solve world famine, reduce reliance on pesticides, or cure the diseases of humankind. Although gene-spliced plants like soy, corn, cotton, and canola were nonexistent twenty years ago, by 2002 they constituted the vast majority of the 145 million acres of GM crops planted in the four major GMO producing nations. That would cover nearly two and a half times the size of the United Kingdom, not counting all the non-GM fields that have been cross-pollinated by GM varieties. Milk in the U.S. has likewise been altered through the use of a genetically modified growth hormone injected into cows. Most of the foods in your local grocery store are now contaminated with GM food ingredients, without your knowledge or consent. As many have said, we are now in the middle of the largest feeding experiment in history and we human beings are the guinea pigs. In Seeds of Deception, Jeffrey Smith has laid out an extremely compelling case against GMOs in a comprehensive, well-argued manner. Pulling together information from a wide variety of sources, he weaves a narrative that outlines the extent to which companies (and governments) have disregarded scientific evidence of health dangers and denied consumer access to critical information. This outstanding book should be required reading for all high school students, university students, and anyone concerned about what they and their family are eating. The magic of this book is that it takes scientific information and v delivers it in a way anyone can understand, without losing the detail necessary to withstand scrutiny from contrary views. One of society's greatest tools for change is the power of knowledge. It is my sincere hope that the profound knowledge in Jeffrey Smith's book will empower us to rein in this unproven, dangerous technology. - Arran Stephens Arran Stephens is the founding president of Nature's Patli Foods, America's first-and largest-certified organic cereal manufacturer. He is also an artist, an organic gardener, and the author of Journey to the Luminous, (www.naturespath.com) VI INTRODUCTION On May 23, 2003, President Bush proposed an Initiative to End Hunger in Africa using genetically modified (GM) foods. He also blamed Europe's "unfounded, unscientific fears" of these foods for hindering efforts to end hunger. Bush was convinced that GM foods held the key to greater yields, expanded U.S. exports, and a better world. His rhetoric was not new. It had been passed down from president to president, and delivered to the American people through regular news reports and industry advertisements. The message was part of a master plan that had been crafted by corporations determined to control the world's food supply. This was made clear at a biotech industry conference in January
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