Humans
suffer from hubris – we think we know better than nature,
can fix it, manipulate it, and master it. There are (at least) two major
transgressions that follow similar patterns, raise important red flags, and
most certainly do not pass the sniff test: GMOs (genetically modified
"foods") and vaccination. Here's what they have in common:
War
with Nature
Nature
has a sense to it, cultivated over billions of years of evolution. The
complexity of botanical systems, the relationship to pests, soil, and the
elements sustains optimal diversity and reproduction. It was only when we began
to industrialize the process, hijack growth with an eye toward yield, and allow
chemical companies to attempt to regulate variables of perceived adversity that
we ended up in the mess that GMO crops are in today. Now we have randomly
spliced animal DNA with bacterial vectors inserting into plant genomes,
disrupting the natural functioning of the plant, and allowing for
supersaturation with the toxic, endocrine-disrupting and gut bug slaughtering
herbicide, Roundup.
Pharmaceutical
companies and doctors think they can outsmart immune systems that have evolved
to coexist with microbes, to be primed and educated by them. We are at war with
infectious disease, and as a consequence, our fear and malice toward bacteria
and viruses have lead us to compromise and alter our immune systems with
pathogens entering our bodies through our muscles, accompanied by toxic
additives that cripple our natural immune function and cause chronic inflammation. The notion of improving
upon our human capacities, as we understand them is discussed by Sayer Ji of
GreenMedInfo as "transhumanism."
We
cannot outsmart nature, we are only just beginning to appreciate her infinite
sophistication.
Lack of
Pre-marketing Safety Study
Monsanto
claims that GMOs are simultaneously equivalent to existing foods (relieving
them of any real duty to demonstrate safety), and novel enough that they can be
patented. Despite the Frankensteinian effects of genetic manipulation on
proteins and gene expression, these foods have never been studied in a human
population, let alone assessing for long-term effects. What happens as a result
of this fast-track-to-market process is that slow-emerging trends of harm at
the population level begin to emerge. Differing patterns of chronic
disease in Europe and America at this point may have some relation to
limitations of GMO products in Europe. There is inherent difficulty in
associating cause to effect in chronic disease; however, arguing for the
importance of long-term premarketing trials.
Vaccines
have similarly, never been studied against an unvaccinated control group,
allegedly because they are assumed to be so vital to our health that it would
be unethical to withhold them even though basic epidemiology demonstrates that
hygiene and nutrition have played the most significant role in elimination of
infectious disease. They have never been studied in their current
schedule, nor have the additives (adjuvants) which include known body toxins, aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, and
polysorbate 80.
Signal
of Harm
Despite
this lack of effort and incentive to support safety data in these two arenas,
both have suffered a signal of harm that should have activated the
precautionary principal. Monsanto monitored GM and non-GM fed rats for 90 days,
and declared that changes in liver and kidney function were not clinically
significant. Seralini
et al, copied this design, but extended the observation period to
years. Take agander at what happened to these animals. The
first tumor sprouted at the 4 month mark. Multiple animal studies have
emerged mirroring this study's provocative findings. Glyphosate, the herbicide
that has been sprayed in escalating quantities, is an endocrine-disruptor that
has been linked to obesity, liver disease, birth defects, autism, and cancer. This is
the most enlightening exploration of its toxic mechanisms. Bt-toxin in GMO corn
has been found to puncture intestinal cells and circulate into fetal tissue.
Whether in the realm of
neurodevelopment, death, autoimmunity, or even susceptibility to the disease intended to provide
protection from, vaccines have been demonstrated to harm and several billion
dollars of taxpayer money have been paid out to victims through the National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Patterns of chronic illness such as atopy and autism have
been demonstrated to correlate with vaccine uptake and prospective study of
neurodevelopment in monkey's has demonstrated injury.
Suppression
of Investigation
Seralini
was silenced. His work was roundly attacked, censored from the media, and
demands from industry ties for the paper to be retracted from its journal of
publication. Several months after Seralini's paper, Richard Goodman, a former
Monsanto employee was fast-tracked to the position of Associate Editor for
Biotechnology. With Monsanto now at the helm of influential
medical journals, the prospects for publication of independent
research are diminishing.
The now
infamous Andrew Wakefield, who published a paper on the presence of
vaccine-strain measles in the guts of autistic children was stripped of his
license and maligned for fraud in a witch-hunt intended to suppress any further
investigation into this connection. Fortunately, at least 28 independent studies from around the world have confirmed
his findings.
Protection
of Corporate Profits
The
"Monsanto Protection Act" was designed to provide legal immunity to
GM technology so that citizens could never litigate on the grounds of harm
secondary to GM food exposure. In this way, corporations would be protected
above farmers and citizens.
The
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was established in 1986 to assume
liability from corporations so that any incentive to police the safety of their
product was roundly eliminated and civilians could only engage in a
non-jury-mediated "trial" of red-tape and rejection as a means of
seeking justice for injury.
Revolving
Door Conflicts of Interest
This is
where the rubber meets the road on these issues, and, truly the source of all
corruption. When those regulating a system in need of checks and balances are
the same people who have profited or are profiting from its protection and
success, we have a critical breakdown in protection of the interests of
consumers and patience. The revolving door of Monsanto and government ranges
from Michael Taylor, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods and former Monsanto Vice
President of Public Policy to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former
Monsanto attorney. Enjoy this pictoral.
The
list of interchangeable figures between the CDC, pharmaceutical industry and
Vaccine Advisory Committee features more conflicts than exceptions. Notably, in
January 2010, Julie Gerberding, former director of the CDC, became the
President of Merck's vaccine unit. In January 2011, Elias Zerhouni, former
director of the NIH became President of Sanofi-Aventis' research labs. These
relationships are known to be kindled far in advance of the job acceptance. The
most outspoken mouthpiece of today's vaccine schedule is Paul Offit MD, Merck
employee and Rotavirus vaccine patent holder. This paper
details the many layers of profit-motivation that cloud regulators' judgment.
Here's a little video if you'd rather not
read.
It is
an impossible expectation that objectivity in research support or information
dissemination could be exercised under these circumstances. These conflicts of
interest undermine any and all safety claims, and leave those engaging with
these technologies to look to research that has not been funded by corporate
agendas to help navigate true concerns about risk. These are
multibillion-dollar corporate giants with dollars to spare when it comes to
influencing legislators and regulators.
These
arenas and their implicit overlap as discussed here, are slated to unite in a
number of in-development GMO-containing vaccines. We are already part of a
vast, uncontrolled experiment, and this may add a layer of complexity that will
be the ultimate straw that broke the camel's back. If you're anything like me,
you want out of this deal you never signed up for. There is a way out. Make
informed choices, trust your instincts, vote with your wallet.
Source: GreenMedInfo
