Aztec Secret – Indian Healing Clay, 1 lb clay

Aztec Secret – Indian Healing Clay, 1 lb clay Serving Size – 1/8 inch Does Not Contain: additives, fragrances, animal products. How Aztec Secret Works Indian Healing Clay Clays have been used for centuries to beautify and refresh when used as a facial mask. Cleopatra used clay from the Nile river and the Arabian desert [...]

Feds demand 25 more bundles of Indian wood from Gibson Guitars

(NaturalNews) The federal government simply will not leave Gibson Guitars alone. According to a recent report in the Nashville Business Journal , federal authorities have now demanded that Gibson hand over 25 more bundles of legally-obtained Indian wood on top of the several others it already confiscated during a massive raid back in August (http://www.naturalnews.com/033454_Gibson_Guitar_armed_raid.html). Like practically every single other guitar company in the world, Gibson imports a special type of wood known as Madagascar rosewood, as well as ebony, to produce its fretboards. Gibson has long obtained this wood legally from India and other places where it is grown, and has never knowingly violated any laws in producing its guitars which, unlike many other guitar brands, are still produced in the US. But federal agents, acting on behalf of their own subjective interpretation of Indian law (which is not their job to enforce, by the way, especially when the Indian government has viewed the actions as legal), decided to target Gibson for the second time in two years, even though the company has not violated any US laws. Federal authorities claim that Gibson’s wood and ebony imports violate the Lacey Act of 2008, but both the US and Indian governments have long allowed the materials to be imported and exported without issue. You can read a full transcript of Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz’ media statement following the August raid at the following link: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/gibson-0825-2011/ You can also watch a YouTube video of his statements here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_-taqM5Sk0 Despite the fact that Gibson has never even been formally charged with breaking any law, federal officials are now demanding that the company hand over 25 additional bundles of the expensive wood, which is easily worth several million dollars. And why, exactly, are they doing this? Because the Feds allege that in order for the wood to be legal, it would have had to have been manufactured into its finished product in India rather than in the US — and it was exported from India in only a semi-finished state. Yes, outsourcing labor production is the only way Gibson can satisfy the US government at this point. And it appears that unless it complies with this ridiculous misinterpretation of the Lacey Act, Gibson can expect to be completely run out of business. According to a recent report by The Foundry , federal officials are increasingly using the Lacey Act to target legitimate businesses and “create legal traps for the wary and unwary alike.” In other words, by manipulating the interpretation of laws in varying countries, the Feds are deliberately trapping businesses and individuals with illegitimate “violations,” and self-vindicating their illegal and unconstitutional search and seizure activities that follow (http://blog.heritage.org/2011/10/03/gibson-guitar-plays-the-overcriminalization-blues/). Sources for this story include: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2011/09/28/feds-to-gibson-give-us-more-wood.html

Gibson Guitars proves the environmental police state that wants your wood products and guns

(NaturalNews) The recent US government raid of Gibson Guitars’ Tennessee manufacturing facility is now receiving widespread media coverage, thanks to a flood of reports that have appeared across the web in recent weeks, including here at NaturalNews . But beyond simply the raid itself is the reality of the new environmental police state that appears to be taking over, where personal wood products of all kinds — whether they be furniture, hand tools, or even guns made with rare wood stocks — are now threatened with arbitrary confiscation. As we mentioned previously, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) use of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Lacey Act of 2008 to invoke the Gibson raid sets a chilling precedent for the environmental police to go after others, including ordinary individuals, who may possess wood products deemed unacceptable, even if such wood products were obtained legally. You see, Gibson’s import of rosewood and ebony from India was not illegal under either US or Indian law. FWS merely decided to interpret Indian law in its own illogical way, and invoke the Lacey Act as justification for its illegal raid. And if the agency gets away with doing this to Gibson, they will surely do it again to others. The issue surrounding Gibson’s imports had to do with specifics about where it imported wood was actually manufactured, not where it was imported. But even though both the US and Indian governments approved the exports, which they do for virtually all other guitar manufacturers, FWS selectively targeted Gibson for enforcement of a law that basically does not even exist. Why did FWS do this? One reason, as we reported earlier, is to outsource remaining US jobs overseas (http://www.naturalnews.com/033506_Gibson_Guitar_American_workers.html). But another reason is to assert strict control over the use of natural resources like rare woods, which are used in a variety of products besides guitars. In other words, if FWS actions against Gibson are allowed to prevail unpunished, there is no reason why the agency cannot and will not use the Lacey Act to go after owners, traders, and sellers of other products that contain rare wood materials, which include personal handguns and rifles. Yes, when taken to its logical conclusion, FWS could theoretically invoke gun confiscation in the name of protecting the environment. The American police state truly is growing at an unprecedented rate, which is evidenced by the unveiling of this new environmental police force that is eager to confiscate personal property in the name of enforcing (fictitious) laws. If it is not stopped now, it will continue to grow until not a shred of freedom remains.

Doctors discover female reproductive system growing inside abdomen of Indian man admitted to hospital for stomach pains

(NaturalNews) Doctors treating an otherwise healthy Indian farmer, who was recently admitted to a hospital near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, in India, were shocked to discover that the man, identified as “Ryalu,” had a lot more than simple digestive problems in his pain-stricken abdomen. According to The Telegraph , Ryalu’s stomach pain was the result of a full set of female organs developing inside his gut, complete with uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes, a cervix, and even partially-developed vaginal tissue. According to Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrivastava, a surgeon at the hospital where Ryalu was admitted, the man appeared healthy, had fully-functional male sex organs, and was physically fit from working regularly in his fields. But upon closer inspection, the hernial sac discovered inside his body contained something entirely different and unexpected. “Usually the contents of the Hernia Sac are abdomen organs like large intestines and small intestines. But when we operated on the patient, we were surprised to find female reproductive organs,” said Dr. Shrivastava. “We have removed the organs through a hysterectomy and repaired the hernia.” Dr. Shrivastava added that while medically Ryalu is a hermaphrodite, his hormones and sexuality are obviously male. And oddly enough, Ryalu had not experienced any other serious health problems prior to his recent hospital admittance, which is strikingly unusual considering the extent to which the man’s female sex organs had developed. “The external reproductive organs of the patient were masculine and he has no problems whatsoever with his sexuality,” added Dr. Shrivastava. “He had functional male genitals and there was no formation of breasts in the patient. It’s an embryological accident at the time of embryonic formation.” One of the known contributors to, and causes of, such intersexual development is exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides and herbicides, both of which have been widely adopted by Indian farmers as part of Monsanto’s genetically-modified (GM) crop systems (http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_Monsanto_suicides.html). Conventional weed killing chemicals are also linked to sexual development problems, as was seen in a 2010 study where frogs developed ambiguous sex organs (http://www.naturalnews.com/028876_herbicides_frogs.html). Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8675043/Indian-man-has-hysterectomy-after-doctors-find-uterus.html

Monsanto trying to take over world seed supply, nation by nation

(NaturalNews) He who controls the seed controls the food supply; and he who controls the food supply controls the world. There is no question that Monsanto is on a mission to monopolize the conventional seed market. In fact, they are steadfastly working towards the goal of creating a world where 100% of all commercial seeds are genetically modified and patented- basically a world where natural seeds are extinct.(http://www.naturalnews.com/029325_Monsanto_deception.html) Unfortunately for the global community Monsanto is accomplishing their purpose. They currently own 90% of the world’s patents for GMO seed including cotton, soybeans, corn, sugar beets and canola. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jul/26/gmcrops) Yep, the creators of chemicals that will go down in history for their toxicity and horrific side effects, is attempting to take over the world’s seed supply. Ask yourself- do you really want companies such as BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta, and Dow involved with your food? Sadly, to a large extent they already are. These Monsanto chemical and GMO cronies all share genetically engineered traits and create the patented herbicides and pesticides that GMO crops require to thrive. Monsanto is infamous for taking advantage of small farmers, and with the advent of MoU’s they are doing so with governmental license. Countries like India, Pakistan, Australia, and New Zealand have all executed MoU’s with Monsanto. MoU’s or memorandum’s of understanding permit Monsanto to use publicly owned lands to create so called demonstration farms (GMO breeding camps) which in turn -at least in the case of Rajasthan – are subsidized by the government. Monsanto literally takes farmer seeds, creates genetically engineered copycat versions, and then retains all intellectual property rights. Dr. Vandana Shiva, Executive Director of the Navdanya Trust, an Indian organization committed to organic biodiversity, states that “the MoU’s will in effect, facilitate bio-piracy of Rajasthan’s rich biodiversity of draught -resilient crops …. by failing to have any clauses that respect the Biodiversity Act and the Farmers’ Rights Act, the MoU’s promote bio-piracy and legalize the great seed robbery.” (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/dc-comment/great-seed-robbery-394). It is common knowledge that GMO seeds are much worse than conventional ones. As with all of their agreements, Monsanto shields itself from any liability- so when the Monsanto’s promises of higher yields with less work ring hollow, when farmers crops fail, or when mass suicides are committed because of crop failure and spirit crushing debt- Monsanto presses on with no worries. (http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/03/02/monsanto-shifts-all-liability-to-farmers/) Farmers that sign up for Monsanto’s seeds of destruction find themselves hooked. Year after year, no matter what prices are being charged, they are dependent on GMO seeds for new crops because GMO seeds – the bastardized versions they are – don’t regenerate. (http://www.naturalnews.com/031742_GMOs_dangers.html) Monsanto has no qualms about robbing farmers that don’t play poker with them. As a mater of fact; it makes a business of it. Conventional and organic farmers in both Canada and the U.S., who have the misfortune of having lands that border GMO farms, often end up with trace contamination in their crops, making them (if organic), unsuitable for sale. Monsanto actually uses this situation against farmers and files patent infringement claims that they often win. The result farm owners are left with exorbitant legal bills and fines often forcing them to shut down: clearing away Monsanto competition. In a savvy move for survival, a preemptive suit on behalf of almost 300,000 plaintiffs seeking legal safe harbor, has been filed in New York. (http://www.naturalnews.com/031922_Monsanto_lawsuit.html) Monsanto’s product has changed from poison to food, but it has held true to its history of violating the rights and health of people around the globe. Monsanto is a 100% committed to the sale of their seeds of destruction no matter what it takes: bullying, infiltration of high government offices with company friendly individuals, or intimidation. The organic movement has taken up the standard against Monsanto’s machinations in court as well as through grassroots education and activist efforts. The organic revolution is Monsanto’s Achilles heel, and its goal is a world without Monsanto. 1. http://www.icis.com/Articles/2002/02/12/156788/austs-nufarm-monsanto-sign-herbicides-mou.html 2. http://gmo-journal.com/index.php/2011/06/02/more-organic-growers-join-the-suit-against-monsanto/ 3. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/1500-farmers-commit-mass-suicide-in-india-1669018.html

Global food price inflation leads to world food crisis

(NaturalNews) The cost of staples from grains to meat to sugar continues to rise, raising fears of a global food crisis and ensuing political instability. In 2008, high food prices led to riots in 25 different countries. The specter of another such crisis reared its head in September when 12 people were killed in food riots in Mozambique. “The food riots in Mozambique can be repeated anywhere in the coming years,” said Indian food analyst Devinder Sharma. “Unless the world encourages developing countries to become self-sufficient in food grains, the threat of impending food riots will remain hanging over nations.” Global meat prices are currently at a 20-year high, while soybean prices are at a 16-month high. Wheat prices have risen 57 percent over the last six months, and over the same period rice prices rose 45 percent and sugar prices rose 55 percent. In the last few weeks of October alone, wheat and corn prices surged 30 percent. The price crunch has been worsened by a spate of recent climate-related crop failures worldwide, but the underlying causes are more long-term. The UN largely blames loss of arable land to urbanization, degradation and conversion to biofuels production. “Worldwide, 5 million to 10 million hectares [12 million to 25 million acres] of agricultural land are being lost annually due to severe degradation and another 19.5 million are lost for industrial uses and urbanization,” wrote UN special rapporteur Olivier de Schutter on the right to food in a recent report. “But the pressure on land resulting from these factors has been boosted in recent years by policies favoring large-scale industrial plantations. According to the World Bank, more than one-third of large-scale land acquisitions are intended to produce agrofuels.” In addition, speculation by investors has artificially inflated food prices even beyond their already alarming highs, and is likely to continue doing so. “A food crisis on the scale of two or three years ago is not imminent, but the underlying causes [of what happened then] are still there,” said Chris Leather of Oxfam. Sources for this story include: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/25/impending-global-food-crisis.

Food-based zinc and selenium from MegaFood now available at NaturalNews Store

(NaturalNews) I first met the MegaFood company at a natural products expo two years ago. We sat down and had a conversation about “food-based nutrients” versus isolated or synthetic nutrients, and it turned into a fascinating hour that left me thinking we should be doing something with the MegaFood company at some point. They really impressed me as a company that knew what they were doing with food-based nutritional supplements. Fast forward two years: Today virtually everyone in the natural health community recognizes that synthetic vitamins are all but useless , which is why conventional medical researchers always choose them to run their bogus clinical trials. That’s how they come up with those whopper headlines like “Vitamin E might kill you!” Sure it will if you’re using the synthetic, chemically-produced form that you find in many of the conventional name-brand multivitamins (which are mostly made by pharmaceutical companies anyway). Synthetic vitamins are a scam. They don’t work, and in fact, there’s evidence that they may harm you. Food-based nutrients, on the other hand, can be lifesaving! That’s why people get such amazing results from a raw food diet , which is an extremely powerful cleansing and disease reversing diet. People now get it: Nutrients should come from food , not from a synthetic chemical laboratory. And ideally, we would get all our nutrients from food. But that’s where things have gone wrong in our modern system of agriculture… Why your food is nutrient deficient Trace minerals like zinc and selenium are absolutely crucial to the proper functioning of your body. And yet, nearly all trace minerals are widely depleted in the soils that grow our food. That’s because conventional agriculture extracts these minerals from the soils, year after year, while replenishing none of them. Conventional fertilizers contain virtually no trace minerals, so after just one decade of growing crops through conventional methods, the soils are depleted of crucial trace minerals that your body needs to function. Conventional agriculture, it turns out, is almost like a strip mining operation that pulls valuable minerals out of the soil and carries them away in the food, ultimately leaving the soils depleted. Most of the carrots, cabbage, zucchini, celery and even the fresh fruits you buy in grocery stores today are but pale shadows of real food because they lacks the micronutrient nutrition that real food used to have when it was grown in natural soil. Organic agriculture is much better because trace minerals are often put back into the soils. But even then, they’re often still not present in the densities necessary to replenish the missing trace minerals in the bodies of most consumers. The very best soil to grow food in, it turns out, is soil that was recently flooded . When rivers flood, they bring fresh nutrients to the surrounding farmlands, resulting in a burst of plant growth and nutrition. The very best food you can ever eat is wildcrafted food that was grown on soils that flooded last year . But in its shortsightedness and nutritional ignorance, modern man has dammed up the rivers to “prevent flooding.” So farmlands don’t flood anymore, and nutrients are never replenished. The fields become more and more nutrient depleted, year after year, until they reach the point of chemical subsistence where they are barely scratching out a poor crop yield grown with chemicals: Pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds. That’s what most people are eating these days: Death crops grown in dead soils that lack virtually all trace minerals. And so people are dying of cancer, and strokes, and diabetes and heart disease, all while remaining clueless that the food they’re eating each day isn’t really food at all. That corn on your plate is just the illusion of corn . From the point of view of nutrition, it might as well be just “candy corn.” Getting real nutrients from food Getting real nutrition requires growing your food in the presence of trace minerals . If you can find a local organic farmer who grows food organically — while adding trace minerals back into the soil — then you have a shot at lasting health. Minerals can be put back into the soils through the use of seaweed extracts or even ocean water concentrates! In fact, it was the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 that resulted in record crop production the following year. All that ocean water replenished the soils, causing crops to grow back with such strength and vitality that many didn’t even need pesticides to ward off insects. When plants have their own inner vitality, they automatically resists pests and disease and need no chemical applications whatsoever. (How do you think plants survive in the wild, outside the farms?) Unfortunately, finding trace minerals like selenium and zinc at high levels in real food is virtually impossible today. You almost have to grow your own food and feed your soil selenium and zinc in order to accomplish this. But who has time to grow all their own food? MegaFood grows real food with selenium and zinc MegaFood has done this work for you. They grow large batches of nutritional yeast (which, by itself, is a favorite superfood of raw food vegans) and then feed it key trace minerals such as selenium and zinc. (Nutritional yeast, by the way, is non-Candida yeast. It’s actually a superfood. I blend it into my smoothies on a daily basis. Raw foodies use it in salads and other foods.) This mineral-rich superfood is then dried and packaged for consumption in a plant-based tablet base. The result is a high-selenium superfood matrix that delivers bioavailable selenium to your body the way nature intended. Now, due to FDA regulations, we can’t talk about the health benefits of selenium without risking the wrath of armed FDA agents showing up at our doors. So you’ll have to search Google or NaturalNews yourself to learn more about selenium. But it’s one of the most important trace mineral nutrients of all for those who want to maintain healthy cellular function. Zinc is widely known to be a necessary nutrient for healthy immune function. Its many roles throughout the human body make it one of the most important trace minerals of all. But much like selenium, zinc is widely depleted in the soils that grow our food , too, leaving consumers depleted. The MegaFood company has solved this dilemma with a unique food-based supplement solution: They offer 100% whole food , soy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian dietary supplements that deliver zinc, selenium and other nutrients through real foods , not inorganic minerals. The base of these supplements is a blend of nutritional yeast, organic broccoli, organic spinach, organic ginger root, organic turmeric root and other organic ingredients. But the most important part is that the living nutritional yeast is fed the trace minerals selenium or zinc , and the living yeast incorporates those minerals and alters them into a “food format” that your body recognizes as immediately bioavailable. Starting today, we now carry MegaFood Selenium and MegaFood Zinc at the NaturalNews Store. Once again, the very large size of the NaturalNews reader base has allowed us to acquire a one-time shipment of these MegaFood supplements at an extraordinary price that you absolutely will not find anywhere else on the ‘net. Click here to see the special discount pricing for NaturalNews readers . Ingredients in MegaFood Selenium Selenium: 50 mcg Immune Health Blend; S. cerevisiae (source of naturally occurring beta glucans and glutathione), Organic Broccoli (natural source of sulforaphane): 121 mg Nourishing Whole Food Blend: Organic Spinach, Organic Ginger Root, Organic Tumeric Root, Organic Rosemary Leaf, Organic Oregano Leaf, Organic Parsley Leaf, Organic Rice Bran, Organic Carrot, Organic Beet Root Other Ingredients: Plant Cellulose, Vegetable Lubricant Ingredients for MegaFood Zinc Zinc: 22.5 mg Immune Health Blend: S. cerevisiae (source of naturally occurring beta glucans and glutathione), Organic Broccoli (natural source of sulforaphane) 21 mg Nourishing Whole Food Blend: Organic Spinach, Organic Beet Root, Organic Parsley, Organic Carrot, Organic Rice Bran 26 mg Other Ingredients: Plant Cellulose, Vegetable Lubricant Both of these MegaFood formulas are available at an incredible discount at the NaturalNews Store . For the record: Food versus supplements For the record, I’ll repeat what I’ve always said here on NaturalNews: Food is always the best source for your nutrition , and supplements are second. So if you can get zinc-rich food, or selenium-rich food from your own back yard, or from a local grower, get your trace minerals through those foods first! But if you’re eating food from the grocery stores or restaurants, then there’s little question that it’s deficient food and it almost certainly lacks the trace minerals your body craves. That’s where supplements come in. MegaFood is a unique solution because it provides nutrients in a food form , so it’s probably the closest you can get to a food source while still being available in a bottle. There are a couple of other food-based mineral tablets on the market, and I know of at least one other brand that’s also really good, but it’s also quite a bit more expensive than MegaFood. Perhaps we’ll review some of those other food-based nutrients in a future article here on NaturalNews. My only real complaint about MegaFood is that the bottles are much larger than they need to be in order to hold the number of food tablets they contain. The bottle could be half its current size and still hold all 60 tablets. (The bottle is glass, not plastic, which is good for protecting the quality of the tablets.) I’ll be mentioning this to the MegaFood company in the hope that they might reconsider either shrinking the bottle or increasing the number of tablets contained in each bottle. In the mean time, please enjoy our truly remarkable NaturalNews discount on their selenium and zinc formulas. We have these in stock right now and the prices are good while this supply lasts at the NaturalNews Store . And don’t forget to buy organic produce, too, in order to regularly get more trace minerals through your food!

GM cotton has not improved yields, but it has ruined sustainable agriculture

(NaturalNews) Remember the promises made by Monsanto that genetically-modified (GM) crops would bring higher yields and a better quality of life to the world? A recent study put forth by anthropologists from Washington University (WU) in St. Louis has revealed that Bt cotton, a type of GM cotton that produces its own insecticide, is causing significant problems for sustainable farm management, while offering little to no actual increases in yield. First introduced in India in 2002, Bt cotton has been the source of much controversy because it simply has not lived up to its promises. A recent report in the U.K. Independent , for instance, explains that at least 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the past decade because of losing everything to Bt cotton failures (http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_Monsanto_suicides.html). And now, further research is showing that the “frankencrops” are exacerbating other problems on farms, including the rise of damaging pests not warded off by the cotton’s built-in insecticide. “[W]e are seeing erosion of benefits (with Bt cotton) as non-target pest populations are booming,” says Glenn Stone, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts and Sciences at WU, and author of a paper on the issue that appears in the journal World Development . “It has also brought a quickening of technological change and undecipherability, which is the real underlying problem.” Though Bt cotton appears to have brought about a slight increase in yields, based on certain statistics, Stone explains that yields were already on the rise prior to the introduction of Bt cotton. And the same problems that plagued agriculture prior to Bt cotton — many of which were caused by other unsustainable farming practices — have only become worse now that Bt cotton is the norm in many Indian villages. “I would love to see Bt seeds as a real solution to these farmers’ insect problems, as many have claimed, but this may be a bit naive,” he writes. “Each new technology — hybrids, then pesticide after pesticide — brought about short-term gains but further eroded farm management.” At least with conventional cotton varieties, farmers were able to save and reuse seeds, and operate independently from the control of powerful biotechnology giants like Monsanto. Now, those who have adopted Bt cotton are stuck in Monsanto’s clutches with little to no remedy. Sources for this story include: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/wuis-nfi020711.php

Monsanto connected to at least 200,000 suicides in India throughout past decade

(NaturalNews) When India’s seed economy was forced by the World Bank to become globalized in the late 1990s, economic conditions within the nation’s agricultural sector almost immediately took a nosedive for the worst. Much of the common Indian seed stock turned from saveable heirloom varieties to patented, genetically-modified (GM) varieties that expire after a single use and require the application of expensive and cumbersome pesticides in order to grow, which plunged many Indian farmers into abject poverty. And nearly 25 years later, the devastating effects of this corporate takeover of Indian agriculture has resulted in countless suicides, 200,000 of which have occurred just in the past ten years. According to a recent report in the U.K. Independent , many Indian farmers have lost their farms and land over the past several decades. One of the primary causes is failed investments by farmers that banked heavily on the success of newly-introduced GM crops. Multinational biotechnology giants like Monsanto and Syngenta promised farmers that GM crops would bring incredible yields at lower costs, and save the country from poverty. But in reality, many of the crops ended up failing, leaving millions of Indian farmers with absolutely nothing. “One farmer every 30 minutes (commits suicide) in India now, and sometimes three in one family,” explained Palagummi Sainath, an Indian journalist, to the U.K. Independent . Left with nowhere to turn and a complete loss of their livelihoods, many farmers are literally drinking their crop pesticides. And since many of these suicides go unreported or unnoticed, actual rates could be even higher than those reported. Years of drought and poor agricultural policy are also to blame for the widespread failure of agriculture in many Indian regions, but it all appears directly connected to the introduction of GMs in the 1990s. The U.K. Independent report states that the Indian government removed cotton subsidies in 1997, which resulted in a significant profit loss for many cotton farmers. But during that same year, GM varieties of cotton were also introduced, which many attribute directly to the crop failures that left the agriculture sector largely in ruin. “Every suicide can be linked to Monsanto,” explained scientist Vandana Shiva to the U.K. Independent . After subsidies were lifted, the cost of cotton production rose dramatically, especially when GM cotton was introduced because it required the application of expensive pesticides and herbicides. Natural varieties of cotton, on the other hand, do not necessarily require chemical applications to grow and flourish. And since farmers can save and reuse natural seeds every year, all is not lost during years of poorer yields because farmers can often try again the next year. But in the GM crop paradigm, the stakes are far higher. Farmers must borrow large sums of money to invest in GM technology. They do so based on promises that yields will increase and profits will soar. But when the promises fail to pan out and farmers are unable to keep paying for the expensive pesticides, they typically end up losing everything, including access to reusable heirloom seeds. So, many end up killing themselves because they literally have nothing left. The introduction of GM agriculture in India shifted the agricultural economy from one of biodiversity to monoculture, which is hugely significant in India’s agricultural failures. Rather than grow a variety of different heirloom crops that each respond differently to periodic changes in climate — which Indian farmers have always done prior to the introduction of GM crops — many farmers began to grow only one single GM variety. And when conditions turned out not to be favorable for that crop, both economically and in terms of climate conditions, disaster ensued. In fact, one statistic from a government report in India states that more than 90 percent of known suicide victims were in debt, which was largely brought about when farmers took the plunge into GM crops from their former methods. The globalization of agriculture in general has dramatically increased poverty in India, as crop subsidies in other nations began to affect Indian agriculture, driving down crop profits. Indian farmers have lost billions of dollars over the years from having to compete in the global agricultural marketplace rather than grow their own biodiverse crops to feed their own people. Global powers have literally robbed India of its self-reliance and self-sustenance in the name of “ending poverty” by thrusting upon them a system of monopolized agriculture controlled and operated by companies like Monsanto. And unless India somehow secedes from the global system of corruption, conditions will only become increasingly worse for its people. Sources for this story include: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/indias-hidden-climate-change-catastrophe-2173995.html

Obama’s Evergreen Revolution a ploy to push GMOs

(NaturalNews) The Obama Administration is working towards a second “Green Revolution” in agriculture known as the “Evergreen Revolution”. This sequel to prior agriculture industrialization efforts in India in the mid-20th century is being heralded by some as the next step in sustainable food production for the populations of the world. But a closer look reveals that one of the primary thrusts of the initiative is to push GMOs both in India and around the world. In a recent Joint Session of the Indian Parliament, President Obama briefly explained his plans in the new Evergreen Revolution, which include exporting India’s “hard-earned expertise” in agriculture, much of which was wrought during the first Green Revolution. But now, the goal is to allegedly improve upon these efforts and bring them to other developing areas like Africa that seem to be on the verge of an agricultural revolution. But the main problem with the efforts is that they include exporting the same genetic modification technology that was thrust on India, but this time to the nations of Africa. In fact, a series of leaked reports from Wikileaks recently revealed that Africa is on the U.S. radar for GMO expansion efforts, which highlights the real agenda (http://www.naturalnews.com/030683_GMOs_Africa.html). A recent Scientific American report on the subject explains that a former chief scientist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is pushing the Obama Administration to focus heavily on GMOs in its efforts with the program. Gale Buchanan is a huge supporter of GMOs and is quoted as saying that the only way the Evergreen Revolution is going to have a “real, revolutionary” impact is if it makes GMOs its top priority. And since Buchanan has already expressed support for the initiative as it is, it is likely that GMOs are already part of the plan. Sources for this story include: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/08/remarks-president-joint-session-indian-parliament-new-delhi-india http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=farming-the-future-gm-crops

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