Regulatory environment (the political CONTEXT) in which we are operating: address context if you are to understand what will work and what won’t, to bring about correction.
Vet my logic. Tell me where I am in error. Thanks.
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Based on experience and information collected during
– the battle against roundup-resistant (RR) wheat (GMO’s)
– my bout with tuberculosis,
here’s what I’m thinking:
– the application of poisons (Roundup / glyphosate) to living organisms weakens and sets them up for disease.
– which would explain the increase in the incidence of fusarium in crops that have been treated with herbicides.
Fusarium is a fungus.
As per the USDA web-page that discusses the seriousness of fungus and the myco toxins they produce, as well as the book on fungal infestations in the human body, myco toxins from fungus from crops enter humans through the plant food we eat. It also enters animals through feed crops; meat we eat then becomes another vector for it (although steps are taken to keep crops contaminated with things like fusarium out of the human and animal food supply. At one time there was “zero tolerance” for grain with fusarium in it.)
– with the industrialization of agriculture, things done on grand scales by people who are more and more removed from the plants and the animals and from the people eating the food, there will be more fungus entering the industrialized food supply. (more chemicals and yet again more chemicals with the introduction of gmo crops, the research that shows increased incidence of fusarium in gmo crops)
– myco toxins weaken us and set us up for disease. It used to be that if the routine sampling from a truckload of grain arriving at the elevator showed ANY fusarium, the truckload was rejected and the whole crop was destroyed.
– A high myco toxin load in my body made me susceptible to disease. My main question to the naturopath was “why didn’t my immune system take care of the TB bug?” His tests suggested that the real villain was a high level of myco toxins. There is more TB around. When I came into contact with its virulence, I succombed. It could as well have been a different disease. (We looked after the source of the myco toxins; I recovered from the TB.)
… As part of writing this email, I updated developments at the PRRCG (The Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grains) whose role we have discussed earlier. The developments at the PRRCG (described below) are extremely worrisome. I am beginning to think the only way to get the corporations out is to change the Government. The PRRCG is now a glaring example of the degree of infiltration and takeover of critical parts of the regulatory system by the corporations. Weakened regulations on fusarium is another.
The CONNECTIONS AND CONTEXT are:
(the herbicide glyphosate (“roundup” is just one of the trade names under which it is marketed) is widely used and is used in even greater quantities after Monsanto’s patent on it expired)
- The Government-Monsanto partnership has resulted in the introduction of crops such as Roundup Resistant (RR) Canola.
2. A critical part of the licensing for new crop varieties is the PRRCG, the Prairie Regional Recommending Committee for Grain. The public is not allowed in to its meetings – I attended under a press pass in 2003 or 2004. The CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) had been trying for at least 3 years to rob the plenary session of its power over which seed varieties go forward for registration. Supposedly in the interests of “stream-lining”, they wanted the grain sub-committees to be able to determine which varieties would be registered. Coincidentally, Monsanto and its bought ally, the Canola Growers Assoc (who also intervened in the Supreme Court on the side of Monsanto) have a great deal of influence in, for example, the sub-committee responsible for which varieties of canola will get registered. Today I read with dismay, that the PRRCG “voted … to dissolve the committee, effective April 1, 2005, and shift full powers to its four crop-specific subcommittees, allowing them to become independent recommending committees.” This is all part of legislative changes brought forward by Agriculture Canada that provide “rights” to Plant Breeders (which now includes large chemical-biotech corporations). It is part of the attempt to “own” seeds which are the basis of our food supply.
3. In the battle over the ownership of seeds (against RR Wheat) we learned that there is a great deal of research from different countries and in regard to different crops, but with a common denominator – the application of the herbicide glyphosate. The research shows there is a higher incidence of FUSARIUM in crops treated with glyphosate. Also in the literature, the incidence of fusarium is on the increase and spreading, especially in some locations on the prairies.
4. The introduction of herbicide tolerant crops (resistant to roundup/glphosate) leads to the use of MORE herbicides. That is researched and documented, common sense tells you the same thing, as does the experience of farmers. They now spray a field with glyphosate to kill all but the plants that are resistant to the chemical. RR Canola is now a weed. Farmers must go back and apply 2,4D to kill the plants that withstand the glyphosate/roundup application.
5. Recently I read where Monsanto is working on the development of crops that are resistant to fusarium. (Why not stop spraying them with the chemicals that weaken the plants AND the environment? Strong plants have strong immune systems that do not succumb to disease.)
6. April 1 this year it was confirmed that I have active tuberculosis (which is fortunately “encapsulated” outside the lung and not contagious, so not an immediate threat).
7. Internet information shows that TB is on the rise world-wide. I think it kills a million people world-wide.
8. With the support of the doctor in charge of the Tuberculosis Control Centre, it was arranged that I would work with conventional medicine (the TB Control Centre) AND a naturopathic doctor who came highly recommended.
9. The naturopathic doctor looked for why it was that my immune system hadn’t successfully defended against the TB (many people carry inactive TB with no ill effect). He diagnosed an internal fungal infestation, for which I was treated with anti-fungals to kill the overgrowth of myco-toxin-producing fungus in my body. I also had to keep to a diet that would not potentially introduce more myco toxins, or feed the fungus (sugar, etc.). Think of candida, a yeast (fungal) infection (I happened to have different fungal infection).
10. In learning about fungal infestations and the myco toxins they produce, from a book on the sources and effects of fungal infestations and myco toxins in the human body I came to understand that fusarium in crops isn’t just a problem for farmers, it’s a very real problem for my own health.
11. After 4 months of treatment for a fungal infestation the symptoms of tuberculosis (“the sweats”) are gone and my vitality has returned.
12. An interesting note from Slim: when people die, by law the corpse must be quickly treated or disposed of. The reason? when you die your immune system shuts down. The bad organisms in your body then enjoy a heyday. Inactive organisms come alive and rapidly multiply in the absence of that immune system. I (Sandra speaking now) recall reading a book that put forward the idea that you ARE your immune system. Without it, there is no you!
13. Extension: That’s why disease becomes rampant in the aftermath of the death surrounding hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, mud-slides, etc.