The Ruthless Truth blog

Source: Organic Consumers

Bayer has admitted it has been unable to control the spread of its genetically-engineered organisms despite ‘the best practices [to stop contamination]‘(1). It shows that all outdoors field trials or commercial growing of GE crops must be stopped before our crops are irreversibly contaminated.

$2 million US dollar verdict against Bayer confirms company’s liability for an uncontrollable technology
Greenpeace welcomes the United States federal jury ruling on 4 December 2009 that Bayer CropScience LP must pay $2 million US dollars to two Missouri farmers after their rice crop was contaminated with an experimental variety of rice that the company was testing in 2006.
This verdict confirms that the responsibility for the consequences of GE (genetic engineering) contamination rests with the company that releases GE crops.
Bayer has admitted it has been unable to control the spread of its genetically-engineered organisms despite ‘the best practices [to stop contamination]‘(1). It shows that all outdoors field trials or commercial growing of GE crops must be stopped before our crops are irreversibly contaminated.
A report prepared for Greenpeace International concluded that the total costs incurred throughout the world as a result of the contamination are estimated to range from $741 million to $1.285 billion US dollars.(2) The verdict indicates that Bayer is liable for what could turn out to be a large proportion of these costs, as it awards damages in the first two of more than 1,000 currently pending lawsuits. The decision must be used to support all claims for losses incurred by other US farmers whose crops have suffered from GE contamination.
(1) Bayers Defense lawyer, Mark Ferguson as reported in Harris, A. 2009.
Bayer Blamed at Trial for Crops ‘Contaminated’ by Modified Rice. Bloomberg News 4th November 2009, available at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aT…
(2) E.N. Blue (2007) Risky Business. Economic and regulatory impacts from the unintended release of genetically engineered rice varieties into the rice merchandising system of the US. Report prepared for Greenpeace International, available online at http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press….

Bayer Admits GMO Contamination is Out of Control – BlackListed News

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State of Emergency Declared As Swine Flu Spreads In US

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With 20 cases of Swine Flu now confirmed in different locations around the United States, the Obama administration yesterday declared an official State of Emergency.

Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Richard Besser spoke at a White House briefing, declaring that all the cases in the US have, thus far, been mild. President Obama is being briefed on a regular basis as to the potential spread of the new strain of virus which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 81 people in Mexico.

John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, announced, “At this point, a top priority is to ensure that communication is robust and that medical surveillance efforts are fully activated.”

A press release from Reuters provided the following additional information:

[Brennan] said beefed up monitoring would enable rapid identification and notification of any new cases that might occur in the United States and Mexico.

Besser said the CDC has confirmed one case of swine flu in Ohio, two in Kansas and eight in New York. There were already seven confirmed cases in California and two in Texas. Officials emphasized that the U.S. cases are not as severe as the cases that have been identified in Mexico.

Nevertheless, the officials recommended planning for potential U.S. school closures and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the United States would release some of its stockpiles of anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. She also said the United States would declare a public health emergency to start the flow of aid to states and communities that might be affected by the outbreak.

While we at Grand Rants will continue to post appropriate additional information as it becomes available, I think it should be stated clearly at this time that while we look to federal, state and local government for information, it is incumbant upon each of us to step up and take the necessary pro-active measures at the individual level to minimize both our own susceptibility to the virus as well as its spread.

The biggest problem in the prevention of spreading any communicable illness comes from individuals who fail to act in a responsible manner either through poor hygiene practices or simply being uninformed. The CDC has made available for downloading and printing, guidelines for the steps we should all take to help prevent the spread of this and any other flu-virus. You can download these posters here.

For more information,including links to resources, please read my previous post on this topic. Michelle Malkin is also providing excellent coverage.

Gerry Ashley

State of Emergency Declared As Swine Flu Spreads In US « Grand Rants

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