BIRDS, BEES, GM CROPS AND

COTTON PICKING FACTS

Two issues commonly discussed on this site are GM crops and bees, even if they are a bit peripheral to hemp. Both issues are also discussed in the Summer 2007 issue of Science in Society. Dr Mae Wan-Ho weighs in on both, along with notes on the birds, including the hempophilic sparrows. Katherine Hamnett talks about cotton pesticides.

Dr Ho, a physicist, discusses the universal harmony that molecules have with each other, and in turn, the harmony that organs in the same body will therefore also have. In an article titled "Quantum Jazz, the Tao of Biology", she talks about this phenomenon in the terms of the 'liquid crystalline continuum.'

Poetically she notes: "Quantum jazz is the music of the organism dancing life into being, with every single cell, every molecule and atom taking part, emitting light and sound with wavelengths of nanometres to metres in kilometres; spanning a musical range of 70 octaves, each improvising spontaneously and freely, yet keeping in tune and in step with the whole."

Wow! I wish my high school science courses were that inspiring. Maybe they make these classes boring so people do not later in life grasp the necessary science to challenge the large companies that are trying to run our lives. Dr Ho, along with Prof Joe Cummins, goes on to speak of GM crops, with a note on GM maize 59122 being found not safe. Opposite that in the magazine is another note on GM maize, this one about MON 863, which French scientists have found to be toxic...Zut alors, quel surpris.

As to bees, this is the issue in which the report about the mobile phones placed in hives in Landau proved that they cause bees to vacate the hives. Along with bees, she speaks of birds, two subjects to which I did pay attention to in my boring 8th grade science class. Of the aves she notes that mobile phones are causing breeding and reproduction failures, specifically in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and, somewhat appropriately, White Storks (Ciconia ciconia).

Hamnett picks on cotton, telling us that 3 million cases of pesticide poisoning are reported each year by WHO. I bet they forgot to mention that in the Dow Chemical and Monsanto shareholder reports. They might also have forgotten to mention the facts that 20-90 kg of pesticdes are used per hectare on cotton plantations in Uzbekistan, which has caused 90% of the land to be contaminated. DDT and lindane blow around the region, causing cancer to the inhabitants. 43 million tonnes of pesticide-laden dust. Central Asians have the highest incidence of throat cancer in the world.

Hamnett only briefly touches, however, on the fact that cotton depletes the water, and that the Aral Sea has lost most of its volume, which means that agriculture in the region is a mess, and that migrating birds do not show up. Hamnett then promotes her own brand of 'organic cotton' as if this were some kind of answer. "It's not about choosing something else, it's about choosing the right cotton." So it's OK to destroy other people's water if you are a fashion guru sticking an organic label on the stuff. What about hemp? Oh, that's hard work for people like her, she once wore a hemp outfit from hemp made in the UK, but decided it was easier to perpetrate the cotton industry and make lots of money. However, the article was illuminating from the point of view of all the pesticide problems that cotton occasions. Too bad, though, that she and so many other gurus do not care to point to the long run solution of hemp cultivation.

KILLING BEES

This guy has some strange pets. They are also about to be rare, if not extinct, as CCD takes its toll on the hives and the EPA does nothing about it in the US. The task of working out what is wrong is largely left to apiarists and environmentalists, with sometimes little help from the press, which would rather chase stupid celebrities.

A recent study by Eric Mussen, an entomologist at UC Davis, sheds some light on this issue. He looks at GM modification of plant proteins, and draws attention to the fact that modified enzymes occur when man starts playing around with nature, and notes that a toxin produced from Bacillus thuringiensis made bees more susceptible to a parasite. Little things that work their way into the system can have disastrous results, long after Monsanto has made its money.

Mussen's study rebuts the notion that Em radiation from cell phones puts bees off, but I suspect that his observations of this are too limited to use to draw conclusions, and are in direct contradiction to Dr. Mae Wan Ho's recent study in Germany.

The more I gather information on this, the more it seems that a number of factors are responsible, and we need to limit pesticides, GM plants, and cell phone masts if we want to continue our own existence. (see previous posts for more information on bees and CCD).

REAPING WHAT WE SOW

Saint Paul believed that people reap what they sow; "be not deceived", he warned, "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap; he who sows to the spirit shall reap life, but he who sows to the flesh shall reap corruption."

A more recent warning about reaping corruption comes from a leading German zoologist, Hans-Heinrich Kaatz of the University of Jena. Kaatz talked to the Observer (UK) in May of 2000 and foretold the disaster that is now occuring with bees. He asserted: "I have found the herbicide-resistant genes in the rapeseed transferred across to the bacteria and yeast inside the intestines of young bees." [full report posted on rense.com]

At that time, the UK Agriculture Minister Nick Brown advised farmers to destroy all crops contaminated with GM. Two years later, the government was less active, as a report in the Sunday Times was to show. In that piece (15/9/02), it was revealed that GM crops tainted honey from 2 miles afield. UK government response then was to say they did not believe it was a source of concern. Five years on we have different faces in that office, and they are not much concerned either.

They might be, if they listened. A yet more recent report just might get their ear, that of organic beekeeper Sharon Labchuk, who states that among the 1,000 or so organic beekeepers who write in to her newsletter, none has had a case of CCD in their hives. Michael Bush, to whom she refers her readers, notes that the media does not tell us the real causes of this problem, and asks if media coverage will affect government response. Unfortunately, it may, the bullies in the media set the tone and the politicians dance to it.

At times, some do stand up to the bullies, and this month it was Senator Chuck Grassely, a Republican from Iowa who demanded that Big Oil explain why they are not producing ethanol. In his opinion, and in that of many others' as well, Big Oil is stalling on the issue to sell us more petrol. Ethanol could be produced from farm wastes, so obviously, Big Oil has little interest in it. However, the left is just as guilty here, as they went and supported the palm oil fraud that has destroyed so many habitats in poor countries the mainstream press can ignore. The likes of George Monbiot might want to take some responsibility for their nonsense along with Big Oil.

It is becoming more and more apparent that individuals have to act on issues rather than wait for governments, right, wrong or left, to do so. This week a farmer in California took on the pesticide companies by suing them for pesticide residues which blew on to his farm, destroying his dill to the tune of $500,000. Larry Jacobs of Jacobs Farms is suing Westerm Farm Services. While the whole case may take as long as the OJ case, there is at least an injunction issued by the Santa Cruz County Superior Court to stop spraying.

Some might call this litigation unusual, but there is precedent for it in that very state, where northern orchard growers sued to limit spraying and the state granted stricter ordinances against the use of herbicides. Indeed there is solid legal basis for both cases, as Jacobs' barrister, Austin Comstock, points out: "There's a traditional concept in Anglo-Saxon law that you use your property in a way not to damage mine...if you damage mine, there's some redress there."

Sounds almost Biblical there, Mr. Comstock.

BUZZING OFF

At least the Colony Collapse Disorder cannot be blamed on cannabis (which journalists are now reporting on much in the style of Hearst's 'Reefer Madness' campaign). Hemp pollen has been found in some honey jars, but very minimally, as it is an apetallous flower which only blooms for a week or two. Evidence points in a number of other directions, such as GM crops, mobile phones, pesticides and over-breeding.

The epidemic is spreading to Europe and South America, and anyone with a desire to live more than four years is worried, but that does not seem to include the Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK, which says that they are not worried. Today is election day in the UK, so I hope that voters are and that they are voting out Hard Labour in the local elections. Not sure who to get in, but when DEFRA is the joke that it is, it is time for a change.

For more info on the fate of hymonoptera and Homo sapiens, check out Peter Dearman's excellent article on the web. Then go call DEFRA or whatever government agency is appropriate for you, (in the US, the number is 1-800-DROP DEAD, ask to speak to the 'commander guy').

TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE

Albert Einstein gives Homo sapiens four years to live if the bees buzz off, and buzz off they may well be doing. A fellow blogger, Chris Sanders, writes on his schmoo site about them, with an image of one he took with his mobile phone...which item may be the cause of the bees' demise. Dangerous tools, even when not in the hands of Naomi Campbell.

Sanders writes from the vicinity of the Post Office Tower in London (which is as much as I can tell anyone about his secret location), and that edifice may itself be sending mixed signals to the hymonoptera...unless it was not a bee at all, but a guided drone sent to seek out the secret Schmoo HQ...

Conspiracy theories aside, there is a serious problem when beekeepers lose 23 out of 40 hives. As a good deal of our agriculture is pollinated by these nectiforous creatures, we could be down to four more years. America especially has a problem with loss of hives, and it has been thought that the problem there is due to the GM crops they cultivate without even warning the people who are eating them. It is hard to tell at this point whether it is GM crops, mobile phones, both of the above, or some other issue that is now threatening life on this planet. Just what is Defra doing about it? As this unfolds, David Miliband is fiddling...or at least his wife is, as he ponders whether or not to put his hat in the ring to be PM.

On a previous post there is mention of the role of hemp in the countryside, which is being turned over to crops such as rape, cotton and wheat. There is a monocrop culture going on that stifles diverstiy and allows for these problems to exist, but much of this is over the head of people like Miliband, who is not a farmer and does not have much experience with the soil. He is a politician and believes in doing something sometime. In the meantime, the bees have had enough.

KILLER KERNELS

This is one image that is very American, a nice fresh ear of corn, about to go on a Bar-B-Q. But Americans are about to lose this to mad scientists who want to genetically modify everything into their own modified image, making man (and his food) made in the image of some big corporation.

To help along the Frankenstein model, there is now MON863, a genetically modified corn approved for use in Australia, Canada, the Philippines, the EU and the good ol' US of A. It has a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis...yummy in the tummy, but researchers are finding a whole bevy of unwholesome effects including liver damage and hormonal changes.

Bon apetit!

GM MAKES YOU SICK TO YOUR STOMACH:

HEMP FOODS ARE GM FREE

In Chapter XXIV of Hemp for Victory, there is a discussion about GM foods and what this bodes for hemp. Generally, hemp is GM-free. All the approved varieties are, and so the websites proclaiming that all UK hemp or all Canadian hemp is GM free are entirely correct in this assertion.

At some stages, hemp has been used to perform GM trials, including the fibre variety Chameleon, used in European tests several years ago. Hemp lends itself to varietal experimentation, it is much like the rose plant which gives us so many types, but is still one species.

Researching GM foods was an eye-opener, there was lots of abuse and disinformation in the industry and in print. Dr. James Watson was noted to remark that the scientists ought to play God. Idiot savants are more than happy to, and it is now a problem world-wide.

One point made in the chapter was that apiarists were having trouble with unwanted GM pollen that would travel considerable distances; GM was insinuating itself into the honey jar.

Sour as this certainly is, there is worse news. GM corn, sprayed with a GM-resistant herbicide, is now posing a problem to our stomachs. Worse, the herbicide is very close to a human protein, and can act on our nervous system. Like, it gets on our nerves. Wow, some sceintific advance. Far ****ing out.

The corn in question is Liberty Link. Get it in your gut and you may not last too long.

BTW, feel free to pass around this warning so others can take heed.

In the meantime, enjoy your GM-free hemp foods.