Nearly One Million Children in U.S. Potentially Misdiagnosed With ADHD, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Aug. 17, 2010) — Nearly 1 million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest -- and most immature -- in their kindergarten class, according to new research by a Michigan State University economist.

These children are significantly more likely than their older classmates to be prescribed behavior-modifying stimulants such as Ritalin, said Todd Elder, whose study will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Health Economics.

Such inappropriate treatment is particularly worrisome because of the unknown impacts of long-term stimulant use on children's health, Elder said. It also wastes an estimated $320 million-$500 million a year on unnecessary medication -- some $80 million-$90 million of it paid by Medicaid, he said.

Elder said the "smoking gun" of the study is that ADHD diagnoses depend on a child's age relative to classmates and the teacher's perceptions of whether the child has symptoms.

"If a child is behaving poorly, if he's inattentive, if he can't sit still, it may simply be because he's 5 and the other kids are 6," said Elder, assistant professor of economics. "There's a big difference between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and teachers and medical practitioners need to take that into account when evaluating whether children have ADHD."

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder for kids in the United States, with at least 4.5 million diagnoses among children under age 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, there are no neurological markers for ADHD (such as a blood test), and experts disagree on its prevalence, fueling intense public debate about whether ADHD is under-diagnosed or over-diagnosed, Elder said.

Using a sample of nearly 12,000 children, Elder examined the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and oldest children in a grade. The data is from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, which is funded by the National Center for Education Statistics.

According to Elder's study, the youngest kindergartners were 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest children in the same grade. Similarly, when that group of classmates reached the fifth and eighth grades, the youngest were more than twice as likely to be prescribed stimulants.

Overall, the study found that about 20 percent -- or 900,000 -- of the 4.5 million children currently identified as having ADHD likely have been misdiagnosed.

Elder used the students' birth dates and the states' kindergarten eligibility cutoff dates to determine the youngest and oldest students in a grade. The most popular cutoff date in the nation is Sept. 1, with 15 states mandating that children must turn 5 on or before that date to attend kindergarten.

The results -- both from individual states and when compared across states -- were definitive. For instance, in Michigan -- where the kindergarten cutoff date is Dec. 1 -- students born Dec. 1 had much higher rates of ADHD than children born Dec. 2. (The students born Dec. 1 were the youngest in their grade; the students born Dec. 2 enrolled a year later and were the oldest in their grade.)

Thus, even though the students were a single day apart in age, they were assessed differently simply because they were compared against classmates of a different age set, Elder said.

In another example, August-born kindergartners in Illinois were much more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than Michigan kindergartners born in August of the same year as their Illinois counterparts. That's because Illinois' kindergarten cutoff date is Sept. 1, meaning those August-born children were the youngest in their grade, whereas the Michigan students were not.

According to the study, a diagnosis of ADHD requires evidence of multiple symptoms of inattention or hyperactivity, with these symptoms persisting for six or more months -- and in at least two settings -- before the age of seven. The settings include home and school.

Although teachers cannot diagnose ADHD, their opinions are instrumental in decisions to send a child to be evaluated by a mental health professional, Elder said.

"Many ADHD diagnoses may be driven by teachers' perceptions of poor behavior among the youngest children in a kindergarten classroom," he said. "But these 'symptoms' may merely reflect emotional or intellectual immaturity among the youngest students."

The paper will be published in the Journal of Health Economics in conjunction with a related paper by researchers at North Carolina State University, Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota that arrives at similar conclusions as the result of a separate study.

US Says Bankruptcies Reach Nearly 5-Year High

U.S. bankruptcy filings have reached the highest level since 2005, government data released on Tuesday show, as the economy slows and the unemployment rate hovers just below double digits.

Getty Images

There were 422,061 bankruptcy filings between April and June, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, up 9 percent from 388,148 in the prior three-month period, and up 11 percent from 381,073 a year earlier.

For the year ended June 30, there were 1.57 million bankruptcies, up 20 percent from 1.31 million a year earlier.

Consumer bankruptcies rose 21 percent to 1.51 million, and business bankruptcies rose 9 percent to 59,608.

Quarterly filings surpassed 400,000 for the first time since a record 667,431 bankruptcies were begun in the fourth quarter of 2005, when Congress overhauled federal bankruptcy laws and made it harder for people and businesses to file.

"We know the causes of bankruptcy are principally job losses and health care, with the overlay of the foreclosure crisis," said Deborah Thorne, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio University. "It feels very unsettled, and I'm not surprised the numbers are going up. Until we get our feet on the ground, provide decent-paying jobs, and do something with the housing crisis, bankruptcies will continue to go up."

According to her website, Thorne has co-authored several publications with Elizabeth Warren, a candidate to run the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Last Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve said high unemployment, reflected in July's 9.5 percent rate, as well as modest income growth, falling home prices and tight credit amid a contraction in bank lending were factors contributing to a slowdown in economic growth.

Nevada had the highest rate of filings on a per capita basis in the last year, with 11.74 per 1,000 people, while Alaska had the fewest, with just 1.58 per 1,000.

Among the most populous states, California ranked 7th in per capita filings, while Texas was 48th, New York 41st and Florida 15th.

Copyright 2010 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

US Fed kicks off Treasury purchases by buying $2.55 bln

 NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve bought
$2.55 billion of Treasuries on Tuesday in the first operation
of a program to take up government debt using cash from
maturing mortgage bonds it holds.

 The central bank announced the Treasury purchase program
last week, saying it was intended to keep its holdings of
domestic securities steady. When announcing the program at the
end of its August policy meeting, the Fed significantly
downgraded its economic outlook.

 The Fed on Tuesday bought Treasuries maturing between
August 2014 and February 2016. Dealers submitted $20.95 billion
of Treasuries for consideration in the purchase. For details
see [ID:nTAR001261].

 The Fed has said it intends to buy about $18 billion of
Treasuries from mid-August through mid-September, which equals
the amount of principal payments from the Fed's agency debt and
agency mortgage-backed securities holdings through the period.

 The central bank also said last week it intends to buy
primarily in the two-year to 10-year note area.

 "They came in at $2.5 billion, which seems reasonable for
the first round -- we would expect that $2.5 billion to $3
billion will be the norm for the target sector that the Fed has
outlined," said Ian Lyngen, senior government bond strategist
at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.

 "You will probably see much less buying in (Treasury
inflation-protected securities), the long bond and the front
end," Lyngen said.

 Last year, the Fed embarked on a program to buy about $300
billion of Treasuries in an effort to lower interest rates like
those on mortgages to combat the worst U.S. recession in seven
decades.

 But rates actually rose during the program, with 10-year
Treasury yields climbing to about 3.40 percent at the end of
October, 2009, from about 2.80 percent in late March 2009. At
the time, investors pulled money from lower-risk government
debt and bought stocks on rising optimism over a speedy
economic recovery.

 Treasury debt yields have been falling steadily since early
April as worries over contagion from a debt crisis in Europe
and fears of a faltering U.S. economic recovery have reignited
safe-haven buying of bonds. Ten-year Treasury note yields hit a
17-month low of 2.56 percent on Monday.

 Some analysts saw the program of buying Treasuries with
maturing mortgage debt continuing until the Fed is confident
about the strength of economic recovery.

 "It is going to continue until the Fed is ready to remove
accommodation, and when they are ready to remove accommodation,
(ending the program) will be one of the first steps," Lyngen
said.
(Reporting by Chris Reese; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform: Would it add $5 trillion to US debt?

The Obama administration held a conference Tuesday about how to reform mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Reform could involve adding Fannie and Freddie's roughly $5 trillion in obligations, in effect, to the federal balance sheet.

• 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (r.) and the National Urban League's Marc Morial watch as PIMCO's Bill Gross speaks during the Obama administration's Conference on the Future of Housing Finance in the Cash Room of the Treasury Building in Washington, Tuesday. The Obama administration turned its focus on what to do with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Jason Reed/Reuters

Former Pakistani Intel Chief Fears World War Three Is Imminent

hamid gul

Former Pakistani General and intelligence chief Hamid Gul appeared on the Alex Jones Show yesterday for a full hour in what turned out to be a fascinating extended interview, addressing the major geopolitical issues that are shaping modern history.

Gul, who served as the director general of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence during 1987-89 and worked with the CIA in the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, is a wealth of knowledge on the so called ‘war on terror’.

Gul spoke on a host of issues, beginning with his version of events surrounding the recent Wikileaks expose of US and Afghan military intelligence.

“My version (of events) is not going out to America, I’ve been denied the visa to travel to America. These people will not let me into America because they are afraid that I will speak the truth. People will listen to the truth…” Gul stated in response to the claims that he is personally “quarter backing” attacks on US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Fareed Zakaria (of CNN), he recorded me for twenty minutes and he put out only six minutes of my version.” Gul continued.

“That is not fair, because I was informed, and especially the things I said which were stark realities, and he wanted obviously to keep the American people in dark about these things.”

Gul asserted that Afghan intelligence is “still infested by the old Communist die hards”, who have an axe to grind against him, owing to his role in ousting the Soviet Union from the region. Gul added that it is a ridiculous notion to believe that he, at 74 years of age and retired, has any role in the military failures of the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Speak the truth, you have failed because your own policy makers have not come up with the recipe that was required. Your own Generals were not up to the tasks which were given to them, so why don’t you accept the failure rather than rub the blame on someone else?” he said.

“This is diabolical nonsense, and if this is the kind of intelligence that America is basing its policies on in this region, then God help America. This is false, it is totally fabricated and I’ll tell you who are the elements involved in it.” Gul said.

The retired General blamed the fact that the military is heavily dependent on private contractors, even for intelligence gathering – contractors who only have an incentive to expand the wars and further profit from them.

“How can they be so foolish, the CIA, the FBI, and to top it all there is this Task Force 373, which has been indulging in massive civilian casualties. They have been killing people left right and centre. Every time they are given the information, they have bombed wedding parties, they have bombed funeral processions, they have bombed innocents, and they have even bombed the hospitals.”

“So you can imagine that the intelligence based on the information provided by security contractors has resulted in this massive violation of human rights, it has been anti-human, it has destroyed everything that the American people and the American Constitution ever stood for.” Gul urged.

“They think that anyone criticizing their policy is the enemy. This is totally wrong, this is a misconception. We work together with the CIA, we work together with the Americans, I have a lot of friends there, I respect them and my advice could also be useful.” Gul said.

The former ISI chief, who trained with British intelligence officers, spoke of an “ultra-Imperial club” of British, Israeli and Indian intelligence that is “leading American policy making by the nose” and “does not want America to flourish inside their hearts”.

“The American people are exploited for this dark agenda. It is only a handful of people, they a clique only by my assessment, who are indulging in this exercise.” Gul added.

Gul also noted that the real agenda in the middle east is multifaceted.

Gul says the global clique’s ‘war on terror’ on one hand allows for the corporate empire that now controls America to establish itself in the centre of the region to tap the Caspian oil basin. Secondly, Gul believes it is an operation to prevent China from moving into the region. Thirdly, it functions to prevent any new power from emerging in the region based on the Islamic principles of egalitarianism, equality and freedom.

“If these principles are adopted then Imperial powers will really have no place to hide.” Gul stated.

And finally, it seeks to provide a security shield to the State of Israel by promoting destabilization inside neighbouring countries.

“This is going to hurt them more than it is going to hurt us.” Gul said, speaking of how the actions of the global cabal are running against the grain of ancient codes of honour for the people of the region.

“This evokes even stronger sentiments than the religion,” Gul stated. “Therefore these people are not going to forgive all this, and I’m afraid that we will have lost this region forever to America, to the West… and this struggle is going to end with a very big disaster for American reputation, for their honour, for their self respect, and we don’t want to have this done, I can assure you I am genuinely telling you this.” Gul added.

“If they get embroiled in Pakistan they will keep on staying here for a long time. If they expand this war, a fight is going to be put up against America, whether in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. The larger the area of conflict and the longer the period of conflict, the established power, the one that is equipped with more firepower, cannot win – this is a lesson from history – it is immutable.”

“My fear is that if Pakistan is put to the corner and pushed against the wall – Pakistan being an Islamic state – could also declare international jihad.” Gul noted with great trepidation.

“Now if that Islamic state declares international jihad, it becomes binding on the muslims of the rest of the world to come out in support of jihad. It will change modern history altogether if that call is given.”

“They would have us believe that Iran is our enemy. Iran is not our enemy. There has been no hostility between Iran and Pakistan… This is an utter lie, it is only to malign Iran. But I tell you Israel is hell bent to draw America into a wider war attacking Iran. If they go in unilaterally to attack some targets, even drop a few bombs here and there, I think it will flare up a conflict that it will not be able to control.” Gul stated, following up with a harrowing prediction of what will follow.

“America is likely to get sucked into this war, and this may turn out to be the third world war. It would be a disaster of the first order, it must be avoided at all costs.”

“I don’t know if Russia or China could be held back. This could be an inferno that would consume so many things, and corporate America would be the biggest sufferer – where are they going to sell their gold and how are they going to pick up the oil?” Gul stated.

The General urged that if the world is to avoid such devastating conflict, people everywhere must not accept the propaganda being thrown at them by the elite clique attempting to shape global affairs.

“There is no clash of civilizations, this is a mindset that has been created unfortunately. …As far as Islam is concerned, why is it being looked upon as an enemy, as an adversary? Islam encompasses Christianity and Judaism, it is not an entity in itself, but actually it encompasses all the three religions of the book, so there has to be amicable peace among us.”

“There is no need for the dark impulse in the American system. I won’t say the American people, because they are so good, it is in the American system that the dark impulse has to be removed – and it can only be removed by the American people.”

Gul previously appeared on the Alex Jones show to share his contention that the 9/11 attack was an inside job, laying out details that were censored during a CNN interview on the same week.

Gul reiterated his stance on the 9/11 attacks, that it was a black operation to be used as a pretext for entering Afghanistan and using it as a launch pad to enter Pakistan and dominate the region.

Gul also spoke about the evidence that the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks were a Western controlled intelligence operation that was to be blamed on Pakistan, a claim he made shortly after the attacks which has since been vindicated by mainstream reports that US and Indian undercover agents were involved in the attacks.

The General also spoke on the death of former Pakistan leader Benazir Bhutto, reasserting his previous analysis that Bhutto was eliminated by a neocon controlled assassination squad after she “became rebellious” toward globalist interests.

http://www.infowars.com/former-pakistani-intel-chief-fears-world-war-three-is-imminent/

Gilad Atzmon: BBC Panorama, An Exemplary Work of Clumsy Journalism

BBC’s Panorama failed yesterday in its attempt to cover the Israeli Massacre on the Mavi Marmara. 'Death on the Med' is an exemplary work of clumsy journalism. It broadcasted video footage stolen from peace activists on board. It repeated Neocon terminology by referring to Islamic driven political activism as 'Islamism'. It promised to provide some new evidence. But, instead, it recycled footage presented by the Israeli military that has long since been proven (and admitted as) faked.

To Watch BBC Panorama;

Pt 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXrzF0IOQYE

Pt 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfo91FQVr7M

The BBC also failed to present its viewers with clips that have been available on the world wide web for months now. Namely footage of the moment an Israeli 'commando' executed Furkan Dogan, aged 19, on the upper deck. No mention either that Furkhan was not a terrorist but merely in his senior year at Kayseri High School, where he was awaiting the results of his university entrance exams. He hoped to become a doctor.

Watch IDF commandos executing Furkan Dogan, a clip BBC skipped for some peculiar reason:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6c10ntFZk

Instead, we heard Israeli commandos repeating the usual stories about IDF soldiers shooting passengers only in the limbs. And that dear friends only after extreme 'provocation'. As we all know 9 peace activists died on the Mavi Marmara, peppered with IDF bullets- to the head and chest area.

The BBC also reported one Israeli commandos assertion that he was 'badly wounded'. If you are bothered to see the documentary you will see a footage of a single Israeli soldier’s hands lightly scratched. Yet we won’t see medical records to prove (as asserted) 'severe blood loss' nor did the soldier offer to show his no doubt serious scars to Ms Corbin. Did she even due her basic duty as a documentary maker and ask to see evidence of such injuries?

The BBC found a footage of a ‘potential shaid’. A Turkish passenger is presented saying that if needed, he would confront the Israelis because peace for Palestinians is being ignored on the international stage. He said that he would even be willing to give his life for the proud cause of justice and freedom. A reasonable, honourable statement. Especially in retro-perspective taking into consideration the fact that the Gaza Flotilla was attacked in international waters.

There is one very positive aspect to the BBC documentary. It gave us a glimpse into the Israeli desperation. Never in the past would Israel's leaders consider letting anyone near its Fleet 13 commando unit. Now, their bored, probably terrified recruits put on glamorous Hollywood style mock 'boardings' for even a lowly (once upon a time despised) BBC crew. Proof - the Israelis are losing ground.

Interestingly, the Israeli Commandos being interviewed by Panorama were kept hidden from the camera, their anonymity safely preserved. All viewers of the pathetic Hasbara attempt glimpsed were silhouettes or profiles.

We should know why.

Being war criminals they have much to hide.

Watch Israeli Hasbara footage exposed as a studio generated fake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW2R4Iw5afc

Print Article Email Article Share Article

Genetically Manipulated Crops: The GMO Catastrophe in the USA. A Lesson for the World

Recently the unelected potentates of the EU Commission in Brussels have sought to override what has repeatedly been shown to be the overwhelming opposition of the European Union population to the spread of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in EU agriculture. EU Commission President now has a Maltese accountant as health and enviromnent Commissioner to rubber stamp the adoption of GMO. The former EU Environment Commissioner from Greece was a ferocious GMO opponent. As well, the Chinese government has indicated it may approve a variety of GMO rice. Before things get too far along, they would do well to take a closer look at the world GMO test lab, the USA. There GMO crops are anything but beneficial. Just the opposite.

What is carefully kept out of the Monsanto and other agribusiness propaganda in promoting genetically manipulated crops as an alternative to conventional is the fact that in the entire world until the present, all GMO crops have been manipulated and patented for only two things—to be resistant or “tolerant” to the patented highly toxic herbicide glyphosate chemicals that Monsanto and the others force farmers to buy as condition for buying their patented GMO seeds. The second trait is GMO seeds that have been engineered genetically to resist specific insects. Contrary to public relations myths promoted by the agribusiness giants in their own self-interest, there exists not oné single GMO seed that provides a greater harvest yield than conventional, nor one that requires less toxic chemical herbicides. That is for the simple reason there is no profit to be made in such.

Giant super-weeds plague

As prominent GMO opponent and biologist, Dr Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in London has noted, companies such as Monsanto build into their seeds herbicide-tolerance (HT) due to glyphosate-insensitive form of the gene coding for the enzyme targeted by the herbicide. The enzyme is derived from soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Insect-resistance is due to one or more toxin genes derived from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). The United States began large scale commercial planting of GMO plants, mainly soybeans and corn and cotton around 1997. By now, GM crops have taken over between 85 percent to 91 percent of the areas planted with the three major crops, soybean, corn and cotton in the US, on nearly 171 million acres.

The ecological time-bomb that came with the GMO according to Ho, is about to explode. Over several years of constant application of patented glyphosate herbicides such as Monsanto’s famous and highly Roundup, new herbicide-resistant “super-weeds” have evolved, nature’s response to man-made attempts to violate it. The super-weeds require significantly more not less herbicide to control.

ABC Television, a major US national network, made a recent documentary about the super-weeds under the rubric, “super weeds that can’t be killed.”[1]

They interviewed farmers and scientists across Arkansas who described fields overrun with giant pigweed plants that can withstand as much glyphosate as farmers are able to spray. They interviewed one farmer who spent almost €400000 in only three months in a failed attempt to kill the new super-weeds.

The new super-weeds are so robust that harvester combines are unable to harvest the fields and hand tools break trying to cut them down. At least 400000 hectares of soybean and cotton in Arkansas alone have become invested with this new mutant biological plague. Detailed data on other agricultural regions is not available but believed similar. The pro-GMO and pro-agribusiness US Department of Agriculture has been reported lying about the true state of US crop harvest partly to hide the grim reality and to prevent an explosive revolt against GMO in the world’s largest GMO market.

Superweed

One variety of super-weed, palmer pigweed can grow up to 2.4 meters high, withstands severe heat and prolonged droughts, and produces thousands of seeds with a root system that drains nutrients away from crops. If left unchecked, it takes over an entire field in a year. Some farmers have been forced to abandon their land. To date palmer pigweed infestation in GMO crop regions has been identified in addition to Arkansas, also in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Mexico, Mississippi and most recently, Alabama and Missouri.

Weed scientists at the University of Georgia estimate that just two palmer pigweed plants in every 6 meter length of cotton row can reduce yield by at least 23 percent. A single weed plant can produce 450 000 seeds. [2]

Roundup toxic danger being covered-up

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the US and the world at large. Patented and sold by Monsanto since the 1970s under the trade name Roundup, it is a mandatory component of buying GMO seeds from Monsanto. Just go to your local garden store and ask for it and read the label carefully.

As I detail in my book, Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation, GMO crops and patented seeds were developed in the 1970’s with significant financial support from the pro-eugenics Rockefeller Foundation, by what were essentially chemical companies—Monsanto Chemicals, DuPont and Dow Chemicals. All three were involved in the scandal of the highly toxic Agent Orange used in Vietnam, as well as Dioxin in the 1970’s, and lied to cover up the true damage to its own employees as well as to civilian and military populations exposed.

Their patented GMO seeds were seen as a clever way to force increased purchase of their agricultural chemicals such as Roundup. Farmers must sign a legal contract with Monsanto in which it stipulates that only Monsanto Roundup pesticide may be used. Farmers are thus trapped both in buying new seeds from Monsanto each harvest and buying the toxic glyphosate.

France’s University of Caen, in a team led by molecular biologist, Gilles-Eric Seralini, did a study that showed Roundup contained one specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA. Seralini’s team demonstrated that POEA in Roundup was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than even the glyphosate itself. Monsanto refuses to release details of the contents of its Roundup other than glyphosate, calling it “proprietary.” [3]

The Seralini study found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns! The French team studied multiple concentrations of Roundup, from the typical agricultural or lawn dose down to concentrations 100,000 times more dilute than the products sold on shelves. The researchers saw cell damage at all concentrations.

Glyphosate and Roundup are advertised as “less toxic to us than table salt” in a pamphlet from the Biotechnology Institute promoting GMO crops as ‘Weed Warrior.’ Thirteen years of GMO crops in the USA has increased overall pesticide use by 318 million pounds, not decreased as promised by the Four Horsemen of the GMO Apocalypse. The extra disease burden on the nation from that alone is considerable.

Nonetheless after introduction of Monsanto GMO seeds commercially in the USA, use of glyphosate has risen more than 1500% between 1994 and 2005. In the USA some 100 million pounds of glyphosate are used on lawns and farms every year, and over the last 13 years, it has been applied to more than a billion acres. When questioned, Monsanto’s technical development manager, Rick Cole, reportedly said the problems were “manageable.” He advised farmers to alternate crops and use different makes of herbicides produced by Monsanto. Monsanto is encouraging farmers to mix glyphosate with its older herbicides such as 2,4-D, banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway for links to cancer and reproductive and neurological damage. 2,4-D is a component of Agent Orange, produced by Monsanto for use in Vietnam in the 1960s.

US Farmers turn to organics

Farmers across the United States are reported to be going back to conventional non-GMO crops instead. According to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture, retail sales of organic food went up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997.[4] The market is so active that organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in consumer demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products.

The new UK Conservative-Liberal coalition government is strongly backing lifting a de facto ban on GMO in that country. UK Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof. John Beddington, recently wrote an article in which he misleadingly claimed “The next decade will see the development of combinations of desirable traits and the introduction of new traits such as drought tolerance. By mid-century much more radical options involving highly polygenic traits may be feasible.” He went on to promise “cloned animals with engineered innate immunity to diseases” and more. I think we can pass that one up, thank you.

A recent study by Iowa State University and the US Department of Agriculture assessing the performance of farms during the three-year transition it takes to switch from conventional to certified organic production showed notable advantages of organic farming over GMO or even conventional non-GMO crops. In an experiment lasting four years—three years transition and first year organic—the study showed that although yields dropped initially, they equalized in the third year, and by the fourth year, the organic yields were ahead of the conventional for both soybean and corn.

As well, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) has recently been published, the result of three-year deliberation by 400 participating scientists and non-government representatives from 110 countries around the world. It came to the conclusion that small scale organic agriculture is the way ahead for coping with hunger, social inequities and environmental disasters. [5] As Dr Ho argues, a fundamental shift in farming practice is needed urgently, before the agricultural catastrophe spreads further across Germany and the EU to the rest of the world.[6]

Endnotes:

[1] Super weed can’t be killed, abc news, 6 October 2009. See also,Jeff Hampton, N.C. farmers battle herbicide-resistant weeds, The Virginian-Pilot, 19 July 2009, http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/nc-farmers-battle-herbicideresistant-weeds

[2] Clea Caulcutt, ‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands, Clea Caulcutt, 19 April 2009, http://www.france24.com/en/20090418-superweed-explosion-threatens-monsanto-heartlands-genetically-modified-US-crops

[3] N. Benachour and G-E. Seralini, Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells, Chem. Res. Toxicol., Article DOI: 10.1021/tx800218n

Publication Date (Web): December 23, 2008.

[4] Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, Marketing U.S. organic foods: recent trends from farms to consumers, USDA Economic Research Service, September 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB58/

[5] International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, IAASTD, 2008, http://www.agassessment.org/index.cfm?Page=Press_Materials&ItemID=11

[6] Ho MW.UK Food Standards Agency study proves organic food is better. Science in Society 44, 32-33, 2009.

F. William Engdahl is the author of Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation