Welch’s Fruit Juice Cocktails Contain more Corn than Fruit: 80% water and High Fructose Corn Syrup

If you buy fruit juices at your local grocery store, you might notice the Welch's brand juices sold in refrigerated cartons. Welch's calls them "refrigerated cocktails" and offers exotic-sounding flavors like Strawberry Peach, Dragon Fruit Mango Cocktail and Orange Pineapple Apple.

These products are aggressively marketed with pictures of splashy fruit and loud label claims like "Fruity and Refreshing!" But what Welch's doesn't reveal anywhere except in the fine print on its ingredients label is that these juice cocktails contain more high fructose corn syrup than fruit.

In fat, they contain so much high fructose corn syrup that the front label should actually show chunks of corn rather than the fruit they currently depict.

Is this corn syrup derived from GMO corn? See below for more...

Deceptively marketed and labeled

A Natural News investigation concludes that Welch's refrigerated cocktails are deceptively labeled and marketed. The Welch's website, for starters, hides the ingredients list from consumers, showing nutrition facts but not ingredients. High fructose corn syrup only shows up under ingredients, not nutrition facts.

The front label of Welch's Strawberry Peach product uses the phrase, "Fruity & Refreshing" in a prominent position on the label. But if this claim were accurate, it would actually say, "Corny & Refreshing" because it's made more from corn than fruit.

The front label (see picture below) also intentionally leaves out any mention of corn syrup even though high fructose corn syrup is the second most prominent ingredient of the product, right after water. It says:

Strawberry Peach flavored fruit juice cocktail blend made with apple, pear, strawberry and peach juices from concentrate.

No mention of corn.

The back label (see image below) begins with a giant, all-caps "LOVE" statement, jumping on the bandwagon of trying to associate LOVE with its product, even though no rational person would use the word "LOVE" to describe a highly refined liquid sugar that has been repeatedly linked to diabetes and obesity.

Welch's annual report admits it is aware that consumers seek to avoid HFCS

All this corn syrup is being pushed as fruit juice despite the fact that Welch's 2012 annual report openly admits the company is fully aware that consumers are attempting to avoid high fructose corn syrup.

"Our mid-priced essentials line continued to grow in FY '12 with its powerful message -- no high fructose corn syrup."

The context of this statement clearly implies that "no high fructose corn syrup" is a benefit of its essentials line of products. Yet, simultaneously, Welch's continues to promote other products that contain alarming proportions of HFCS while avoiding any mention of corn on the front label.

80% water and corn syrup!

Only when you get to the back label do you learn that these Welch's fruit juice cocktails -- which are heavily adorned with photos and words that describe and imply "fruit" -- are actually 80% water and corn syrup.

The first two ingredients are Filtered Water (i.e. tap water) and High Fructose Corn Syrup. An easy-to-miss bit of text admits, "Contains 20% juice," meaning 80% of the beverage is not juice.

Nowhere does the product claim to be free of GMOs. As the vast majority of high fructose corn syrup produced in North America is derived from genetically modified corn, it is very likely that the HFCS used by Welch's is actually GMO. A genetic test would not confirm this, however, as the heavy processing of HFCS destroys genetic integrity, rendering genetic ID tests useless.

Deceptive labeling pushes more high fructose corn syrup to children

Welch's fruit juice cocktails are depicted as if they were nothing but fruit juice. The photos, descriptive text and website text all imply they are made of nothing other than fruit juices. Nowhere on the product front label, website or promotional materials is corn depicted at all.

When consumers shop for fruit juices at their local grocery stores, they are easily misled by deceptive labeling practices such as those used by Welch's. Consumers use the pictures and prominent text on the front of the product as their primary cues to determine the composition of the product, and if that product label primarily depicts fruit and fruit juices, a typical consumer will incorrectly assume the product is primarily made of fruit and fruit juices. That same consumer will typically have no idea the product contains more corn derivatives than fruit juice.

Most consumers -- especially parents -- are actively trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup. This is often the reason why they choose fruit juice instead of sodas, as a matter of fact. Yet if they reach for Welch's juice cocktails, they are getting the exact same refined liquid sugar they were trying to avoid by choosing juice instead of soda!

Here at Natural News, we think Welch's should be ashamed of itself for pushing water and high fructose corn syrup as a fruit juice beverage. Its labeling practices deceive rather than inform consumers.

We urge you to call the Welch's comment line at 1-800-340-6870 and demand they stop selling high fructose corn syrup as fruit juice.

Corn is not a fruit. And corn syrup is not fruit juice. It is, however, often contaminated with mercury.

Demand that Welch's stop tricking consumers into thinking corn syrup is fruit juice.

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Rat Meat sold as Lamb in China, latest Food Safety Scandal

More than 900 arrested on suspicion of selling fake or tainted meat products

One suspect spiced up rat, fox and mink meat to sell at markets in China

More than $1 million in rat and small mammal meat passed off as mutton

Just as rage over the elaborate horse-meat scandal begins to quiet down a bit, news comes that traders in eastern China have been passing off rat, fox, and mink meat as lamb.

Rat meat has been passed off as mutton and sold at markets in China, police have confirmed.
Authorities cracked a crime ring that saw more $1million in rat and small mammal meat sold as mutton, in a food safety crackdown that coincides with a bird flu outbreak that has sent poultry sales plummeting in China.
One vendor was found to be using additives to spice up and sell rat, fox and mink meat as fake lamb rolls at markets in Shanghai that are frequented by tourists.

'After adding gelatine, carmine, nitrate and other substances, he sold the meat as fake lamb rolls [for hot pot] at farmers' markets in Jiangsu and Shanghai', authorities said of the suspect, who has the surname Wei.

Wei's organisation was raided in Jiangsu and Shanghai in February, which led to the arrest of 63 suspects and the seizure of 10 tons of meat and additives.
The operations sales since 2009 are estimated to add up to more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million).

Authorities have arrested 904 suspects since the end of January for selling and producing fake or tainted meat products, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
Despite persistent efforts by police, 'food safety crimes are still prominent, and new situations are emerging with new characteristics', the ministry's statement said, citing 'responsible officials'.

Police confiscated more than 20,000 tones of fake or inferior meat products after breaking up illegal food plants during the nationwide operation, the ministry said.
Altogether there were '382 cases of water-injected meat, fake mutton and beef, diseased meat, toxic and harmful meat products', the statement said.
As well as rat and fox meat being passed off as mutton, inspectors found evidence of other vendors in southwestern Guizhou province mixing hydrogen peroxide solution with chicken claws, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Food safety and environmental pollution are chronic problems in China and public anxiety over cases of fake or toxic food often spreads quickly.

In April, many consumers lost their appetite for poultry as an outbreak of the H7N9 bird flu virus spread in China.

Sales dropped by 80 percent in eastern China, where the bird flu has been most prevalent, although experts stress that cooked chicken is perfectly safe.

In March, more than 16,000 rotting pigs were found floating in one of Shanghai's main water sources, triggering a public outcry.

Over-crowding at pig farms was likely behind the die-off and their disposal in the Huangpu river.

The public security ministry said police had confiscated more than 15 tonnes of tainted pork in Anhui province, although as much as 60 tones had been sold in Anhui and Fujian provinces since mid-2012.

But it was the rodent meat in particular that people couldn't stomach, with Internet users turning to the popular micro-blogging site Sina Weibo to vent their outrage.

'Rats? How disgusting. Everything we eat is poison,' one user wrote.

'We are nearly immune to hundreds of poisons, should we thank these fantastic businessmen?' another said.

China's penal code, which forbids unsafe and poisonous food, does not specify what acts are considered in violation of the law.
Adulterating baby food so that it severely lacks nutrition is also punishable as a crime under the guidelines. Negligent government food inspectors are also targeted for criminal punishment.
The supreme court said 2,088 people have been prosecuted in 2010-2012 in 1,533 food safety cases. It said the number of such cases has grown exponentially in the past several years. For example, Chinese courts prosecuted 861 cases of poisonous food in 2012, compared to 80 cases in 2010.
"The situation is really grave and has indeed caused great harm to the people," Pei Xianding, a supreme court judge, told a news conference.

"We cannot tolerate it any longer. We must punish the criminals severely, or we cannot answer to our people," Pei said.

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Thousands of Kids’ Products Contain Toxic Chemicals

More than 5,000 products, including clothing, toys and bedding, contain toxic chemicals that could be dangerous for children’s health, yet stores still stock them and consumers know little about their content, an advocacy group reported this week.

"For most products in our homes, including children’s products, we simply don’t have standards," said Erika Schreder, science director for the Washington Toxics Coalition and author of the report released Wednesday based on toxic chemical data from Washington state. "Manufacturers are allowed to use just about anything they want to."

The report, called "Chemicals Revealed," identified more than 5,000 products such as footwear, car seats and arts and crafts supplies that include developmental or reproductive toxins and carcinogens. Those include such toxic metals as mercury, cadmium, cobalt, antimony and molybdenum. Manufacturers also reported using phthalates in clothing, toys, bedding and baby products. Phthalates, hormone-disrupting chemicals, most are often used to make plastics pliable.

The Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer States, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups, looked at products sold in Washington state. The state in 2008 began requiring retailers to report whether they’re selling products that contain one of 66 chemicals identified by the state as being of high concern to children.

The legislation required major companies making children’s products to report to the Washington State Department of Ecology beginning last year. The report covers certain children’s products sold in the state from June 1, 2012, to March 1, 2013.

Major retailers who reported using the chemicals in their products include Walmart, Gap, Gymboree, Hallmark and H&M.

 

Retailers aren’t required to report the exact product, however, just product categories. The report identified Hallmark party hats containing cancer-causing arsenic, for example, but because of the limited data that manufacturers and retailers are required to disclose, it’s impossible to specify the exact party hat.

Among the other products identified in the report: Graco car seats containing the toxic flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol A, Claire’s cosmetics containing cancer-causing formaldehyde, and Walmart dolls containing hormone-disrupting bisphenol A.

The groups praised manufacturers and retailers for providing even limited data, saying that the information is critical for understanding the presence of toxic chemicals. Yet to truly protect children, Schreder said, manufacturers need to identify safer ways to make their products and stop using harmful chemicals. The organization also backs efforts to ban two fire retardants in Washington state.

To find out more, consumers must press the individual retailers and manufacturers for more information, said Sarah Doll of Safer States, which is part of a network of environmental health groups nationwide.

“The biggest thing that this does is to demonstrate a system that’s broken, and to ask for better protection,” Doll said. “You can actually go to the retailer and say, ‘I want you to ask your suppliers if these products contain those chemicals.’”

Only Maine has a similar program, but other states may follow Washington’s lead in the absence of federal rules. A federal Government Accountability Office report issued in March found that the Environmental Protection Agency is limited under the Toxic Substances Control Act authority.

Of the 83 chemicals EPA has prioritized for risk assessment, the agency initiated seven assessments in 2012 and plans to start 18 additional assessments this year and next, the GAO report found.

The report also found it may take several years to complete these initial risk assessments and, at the agency’s current pace, more than a decade to complete all 83. The EPA does not have the toxicity and exposure data needed for 58 of the 83 chemicals prioritized for risk assessment, the report found.

Two Democratic senators, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013, which would give the EPA more tools to collect health and safety information on chemicals, screen them for safety and require risk management when chemicals cannot be proven safe.

"The one saving grace of our national chemical policy is that it at least allows the states to act. Right now they are shedding the only light we have on what toxic chemicals end up in products," said Andy Igrejas, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, an organization of state groups devoted to reducing the toxicity of consumer goods.

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General Mills’ Ken Powell Maintains Opposition to Labeling GMOs

Ken Powell, chairman and CEO of General Mills Inc., restated his opposition to mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms, commonly called GMOs, at a conference in California.

The conference, called Brainstorm Green, was put on by Fortune. In an uneditedtranscript posted by the magazine, Powell said GMOs are safe and they're part of a solution to feeding the world's growing population.

Powell said he didn't have a problem with specialty retailer Whole Foods' recent announcement it would require GMO information on labels.

He said he's not opposed to Whole Foods' policy because General Mills' organic brands -- such as Muir Glenn, Cascadian Farms, Larabar and Food Should Taste Good -- that it sells to Whole Foods are GMO free.

Powell said virtually every product in the grocery store contains GMOs, and he doesn't think it's a good idea to label those as having GMOs.

 

General Mills spent about $1 million lobbying with other food manufacturers to defeat a measure in California that would have required GMOs to be disclosed on food labels, according to the story.

If such a rule was implemented on a state-by-state basis, it would cost consumers more because manufactures would have change how they manage their supply chains, Powell said.

He added that there wouldn't be room to include GMO information on product labels.

 

"Consumers tell us, and I think they're right, that they want to know about the ingredients, they want to know the nutrition information of that product, they want to know if there's a safety thing, if there's peanuts in there or something like that. They need to know these things. But we should restrict the use of that label for this important information, and limit it to that. If we broaden it to other things that could be anything, I mean it could be anything, causes that we have, things that we believe in, we'll need to add pages to the label, and we simply don't think we should do that."

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Non-Prescription Ways to Treat ADHD Symptoms

For many children the medications can work successfully in diminishing the symptoms of ADHD. Yet there are instances where the medications don’t work as well as parents had hoped or they have so many side effects that the medication is stopped. What can be of great benefit is to use a multi-treatment approach combining non-prescription methods with medication if necessary.

Sensory Integration Techniques

It is believed by many special educators and developmental therapists that children who have disorders such as ADHD or autism may also have what is called Sensory Integration Dysfunction (sometimes also called Sensory Processing Disorder): that the child is unable to process input from their senses in the same way that most people do. The child may be under or over-sensitive to various environmental stimuli

Green Play Settings

There are several studies which show that children with ADHD have improved functioning and fewer ADHD symptoms when they are exposed to natural settings such as fields, woods, and parks.Behavior Management Strategies

Aside from medication, behavior management strategies are often one of the first lines of defense used to help a child who has ADHD. Restructuring and modifying a child’s environment can greatly reduce a child’s stress and reduce many of the symptoms associated with ADHD. Behavior management strategies can help a child to make sense of their world so that they can better understand cause-and-effect and be able to predict consequences for behavior.

 Healthy Diet and Exercise

This is advice we hear for the general population, but it may be especially important for children who have ADHD. There are many diets out there touted as being helpful for diminishing the symptoms of ADHD including the Feingold Diet or the Gluten Free Casein Free Diet (GFCF diet). Studies also support taking Omega-3 fatty acids and utilizing exercise, especially yoga, to help control ADHD symptoms.

 Good, restful sleep

According to a recent study, researchers reported that over 73% of a sample of children having ADHD also experienced some sort of sleep problem, whether it was difficulty falling asleep, restless leg syndrome, nightmares, feeling tired upon awakening, or breathing difficulties during sleep.

Dietary Approaches

A number of diets have been suggested for people with ADHD. Several well-conducted studies have failed to support dietary effects of sugar and food additives on behavior, except possibly in a very small percentage of children. Still, various studies have reported behavioral improvement with diets that restrict possible allergens in the diet. Parents may want to discuss with their doctor implementing an elimination diet of certain foods that would not be harmful and that might help.
Additives and foods that parents and studies report as possible triggers of behavioral changes include:

• Any artificial colorings (particularly yellow, red, or green)
• Other chemical additives -- for example, BHT or BHA
• Milk
• Chocolate
• Eggs
• Wheat
• Foods containing salicylates, including all berries, chili powder, apples and cider, cloves, grapes, oranges, peaches, peppers (bell & chili), plums, prunes, tomatoes
•  

 Feingold Diet.
The most well-known diet for ADHD is the Feingold diet, a salicylate- and additive-free diet, which requires rigorous vigilance over a child's eating habits. This diet also prohibits aspirin, which contains salicylates. Some parents report success with this diet, although it may be difficult to impose. It is certainly wise, in any case, to avoid food with artificial colors and flavors and to provide a healthy balance of fresh, natural foods. Essential Fatty Acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish and certain vegetable oils, are important for normal brain function and may have some benefits for people with ADHD. It is not clear if supplements of fatty acid compounds, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaneoic acid (EPA), provide any advantages.
Zinc.
Zinc is important for the metabolism of certain neurotransmitters that play a role in ADHD, and deficiencies may be associated with some cases of ADHD. Long-term use of zinc, however, can cause anemia and other side effects in people without deficiencies and it has no effect on ADHD in these patients. In any case, testing for trace minerals, such as zinc, is not standard procedure when evaluating children suspected to have ADHD.
Sugar. Although parents often blame sugar for causing children to become impulsive or hyperactive, evidence does not show that sugar plays a role in hyperactivity.

Feedback Approaches

Techniques that use biologic or auditory feedback may be effective tools for improving children's attention.

Other Non-Drug Therapies

A number of alternative approaches are tried by children and adults with mild ADHD symptoms. For example, daily massage therapy may help some people with ADHD feel happier, fidget less, be less hyperactive, and focus on tasks. Other alternative approaches that may be helpful include relaxation training, meditation, and music therapy. Based on existing evidence, these treatments may be helpful for symptom management but are not proven to benefit the underlying disorder.
Herbs and Supplements.
A number of parents resort to alternative remedies as an alternative to psychostimulants and other drugs. These products include St. John’s wort, ginkgo biloba, panax ginseng, melatonin, and pine bark extract. Based on existing evidence, however, none can be recommended, particularly for children.
Generally, manufacturers of herbal remedies and dietary supplements do not need FDA approval to sell their products. Just like a drug, herbs and supplements can affect the body's chemistry, and therefore have the potential to produce side effects that may be harmful. There have been a number of reported cases of serious and even lethal side effects from herbal products. Always check with your doctor before using any herbal remedies or dietary supplements.
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Foods that Protect Skin from the Sun‏

Aside from slathering on sunblock and opting to sit in the shade, your diet can also play an important role in protecting your skin from the sun's harmful rays. So read on and stock your kitchen with these!

New research suggests some foods have the power to guard skin from the damage caused by the sun's UV radiation. While a salad is no substitute for sunblock, these healthy foods could add inner protection against sunburn and wrinkles at the cellular level.

Broccoli

This super-food, along with cabbage and brussel sprouts, contains isothiocyanates, enzymes that have been shown to be anti-carcinogenic. They are also believed to boost the production of protective enzymes that defend cells against UV damage. Win win!

 

Tomatoes

"Lycopene, a potent antioxidant found in tomatoes, has many sun-protecting benefits," explains Los Angeles-based dermatologist, Dr. Annie Chiu. A German study recently examined the benefits of store-bought tomato paste. After only 10 weeks, subjects who ingested the paste experienced significantly less redness from the sun compared to those who did not.

Coconut Oil

We've all heard about beauty products with coconut oil in them, but did you know that if you eat this must-try miracle food it can nourish your skin from the inside out? "Coconuts contains lauric acid, which has antimicrobial properties, and the saturated fat in coconut oil also protects the skin from UV damage from the sun," says Dr. Lipman.

Goji Berries

Animal studies suggest that these berries "may provide significant protection against oxidative stress induced by UVA radiation and may reduce sunburn-induced inflammation and swelling.

Green Tea

Instead of coffee, opt for this antioxidant-rich beverage. "Green tea contains polyphenol antioxidants, which are UV protective," says Dr. Chiu. A double-blind, placebo controlled study demonstrated that consumption of green tea over 12 weeks significantly decreased sun-induced redness in the skin.

Oranges

Need another reason to stalk up on citrus? "Vitamin C abundant produce protects against UV light exposure and can reduce inflammation associated with sunburns," explains Dr. Chiu. It is also known to decrease the activity of enzymes activated by UV exposure. Meaning: your skin's collagen will stay strong and firm looking.

 

Mushrooms

Fungai is abundant in beta-glucan, which may provide photoprotective qualities by decreasing UV-induced oxidative stress, explains Dr. Chiu.

Dark Chocolate

Satisfy your sweet tooth with dark chocolate or cocoa, both of which are rich in flavonoids. "Flavonoids have powerful antioxidant activity that can help inhibit harmful UV-triggered chemical pathways that may lead to skin cancer," says Dr. Chiu.

Collared Greens Salmons

Chow down on leafy greens! According to Dr. Frank Lipman, an expert in integrative medicine, they contain beta-carotenes, which contribute to the growth and repair of body tissues and may also protect your skin against sun damage.

Salmon

“Foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids are known to reduce inflammation,” says New York-based dermatologist, Dr. Dennis Gross. This is particularly helpful for those who suffer from chronic skin conditions like eczema, as the omega-3s help to maintain a healthy cell membrane and hold in moisture.

 

Carrots

Carrots—or any other red, yellow, and orange fruits and vegetables—are packed with carotenoids, and studies show they reduce sunburn intensity.

Walnuts

Like salmon, walnuts are high is essential fatty acids that could guard against sunburn.

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The Data is Very Strong: Marijuana Plant Extract Stops Cancers From Spreading

The data is very strong and there's no toxicity associated with a compound found in cannabis could halt the spread of many forms of aggressive cancer, scientists say.

The first research to show marijuana's anti-tumor properties was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Los Angeles in 2007 demonstrating that THC may activate biological pathways that halt cancer cell division or block development of blood vessels that feed tumors.

It then became a target of synthetic research into THC for drugs such as ImClone System Inc.'s Erbitux and Amgen Inc.'s Vectibix.

Researchers have now found that the compound, called cannabidiol, had the ability to ‘switch off’ the gene responsible for metastasis in an aggressive form of breast cancer. Importantly, this substance does not produce the psychoactive properties of the cannabis plant.

The team from the California Pacific Medical Center, in San Francisco, first spotted its potential five years ago, after it stopped the proliferation of human breast cancer cells in the lab.

Last year they published a study that found a similar effect in mice. Now they say they are on the verge of publishing further animal study results that expand these results further.

Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. CBD (Cannabidiol), one of the main constituents of the cannabis plant has been proven medically to relieve many diseases including the inhibition of cancer cell growth.

Recent studies have shown it to be an effective atypical anti-psychotic in treating schizophrenia. CBD also interferes with the amount of THC your brain processes, balancing the psychotropic effect of marijuana. That is precisely why the power of raw cannabis is turning heads.

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, study co-leader Dr Sean McAllister, said: ‘The preclinical trial data is very strong, and there’s no toxicity. There’s really a lot or research to move ahead with and to get people excited.’

While he, along with colleague Dr Pierre Desprez acknowledge that they are some way off from turning their finding into a pill, they are already developing human trial models. They hope to eventually test the drug in combination with current chemotherapies.

Professor Desprez had previously found that a protein called ID-1 seemed to play a role in causing breast cancer to spread. Meanwhile Dr McAllister had discovered the cannabidiol had anti-cancer potential.

The pair teamed up to see if they could treat a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer called ‘triple negative.’ This form, which affects 15 per cent of patients, doesn’t have three hormone receptors that the most successful therapies target. Cells from this cancer have high levels of ID-1.

When they exposed cells from this cancer to cannabidiol they were shocked to find the cells not only stopped acting ‘crazy’ but also returned to a healthy normal state.

They discovered that the compound had turned off the overexpression of ID-1, stopping them from travelling to distant tissues.

Other potentially treatable cancers are forms of leukaemia, lung, ovarian and brain cancers, which also have high levels of ID-1.

Dr Desprez has a particular reason for wanting to create a treatment as quickly as possible – his sister was recently diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at the age of 41.

Her condition is currently receptive to hormone therapies but Professor Desprez fears it could recur in a form that lacks hormone receptors.

He said: ‘I want to be ready for that. There is a deadline.’

Cannabis is a Class B drug that is illegal to have, give away or sell. “If cannabis were discovered in an Amazon rainforests today, people would be clambering to make as much use as they could out of the potential benefits of the plant,” said Donald L. Abrams, MD, Chief of Hematology and Oncology at San Francisco General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the University California.

Dr. Abrams is widely known for his research on medical cannabis applications. “Unfortunately, it carries with it a long and not so long history of being a persecuted plant,” he added.

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Bhutan – The World’s First 100% Organic Nation

The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan drew international attention a few years back for saying gross national happiness should trump gross domestic product when measuring a nation's progress.

If you're going to prioritize happiness, the Bhutanese thinking goes, you'd better include the environment and spiritual and mental well-being in your calculations. (Not everyone in Bhutan is happy, and many leave as refugees, as Human Rights Watch and others have noted.)

But Bhutan, which has only 700,000 people — most of whom are farmers — has another shot at international fame if it can make good on a recent pledge to become the first country in the world to convert to a 100 percent organic agricultural system.

Last month at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley said his government is developing a National Organic Policy because the country's farmers are increasingly convinced that "by working in harmony with nature, they can help sustain the flow of nature's bounties."

Going all-out organic is a lofty goal for any country given that many farmers — and poor farmers in particular — covet chemical fertilizers and pesticides to enrich their soil, boost production and keep diseases and pests at bay.

But Andre Leu, an Australian adviser to the Bhutanese government and the president of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, says it's very doable.

"I don't think it's going to be that difficult given that the majority of the agricultural land is already organic by default," Leu tells The Salt.

Indeed, the synthetic chemicals and fertilizers that are used so widely in countries like the U.S. are only available and affordable to a few of Bhutan's farmers who are widely dispersed across the rugged and mountainous terrain sandwiched between India and China. But very few of the organic-by-default farmers have been certified as such by third-party institutions. (Certified organic food, by the way, makes up less than 1 percent of the world's calories, and is mostly available to wealthy consumers.)

According to the World Food Program, Bhutanese farmers mainly grow rice and corn, as well as some fruits and vegetables, including potatoes and oranges.

But as demand for food has grown in recent years, the country has been forced to import rice and other foods from India, and today Bhutan is a net food importer.

One of the few products Bhutan exports to the U.S. is red rice; Lotus Foods sells it to chains like Whole Foods. Bhutanese red rice is more nutritious and tastes nuttier than white rice, its boosters say, and is well-suited to pilaf, as Monica Bhide reported for NPR's Kitchen Window earlier this year. The rice does not have organic certification, but Lotus Foods says it been grown without the use of pesticides or other chemical inputs for centuries.

The Ministry of Agriculture says the organic program, launched in 2007, is not just about protecting the environment. It will also train farmers in new methods that will help them grow more food and move the country closer to self-sufficiency.

The ministry is now training extension workers in organic methods and giving farmers who go organic priority for government assistance.

Not everyone is so sure that a 100 percent organic Bhutan is a great idea. Leu says he's found some resistance among researchers at the Ministry of Agriculture who've been trained in conventional farming techniques abroad.

And an article last year in the Bhutan Observer notes that many farmers who grow export crops like apple, Mandarin orange, and potato already rely heavily on chemical fertilizers and could be reluctant to give them up.

Still, Leu is optimistic that Bhutan's burgeoning organic agriculture research centers will eventually be able to come up with organic methods to boost yields and manage the problems of these crops.

"All these problems are solvable, they just need a few more years of research to come up with some more effective solutions," Leu says.

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You Won’t Believe What’s in Your Turkey Burger

Back in August 2011, the agribusiness giant Cargill recalled a stunning  36 million pounds of ground turkey tainted with antibiotic-resistant salmonella that had come from a single processing facility in Arkansas, a failure that eventually sickened 136 people and killed another. The company shut down the plant, tweaked its process (mainly by adding to and "intensifying" its system of spraying meat with antimicrobial fluid), and quickly reopened it. Within a month, the company had to recall another 108,000 pounds of ground turkey from the same plant, because it was infected with the same strain of super-bug salmonella.

Have things gotten any cleaner in the world of Big Turkey since those events? Cargill says it has cleaned up its act, but recent research suggests that ground turkey still has an antibiotic-resistant-pathogen problem. The latest evidence comes from Consumer Reports, which has just published the results of testing it did on 257 samples of ground turkey picked up from retailers around the country, produced by a variety of processors, including Cargill. CR contacted Cargill with the results, and got the following response:

"As we've publicly stated over the past year and a half, no stone was left unturned in our efforts to determine the originating source of salmonella Heidelberg associated with the ground-turkey recalls, yet to this day we do not know the origin of the bacteria linked to outbreak of illnesses," said Mike Robach, vice president of corporate food safety and regulatory affairs for Cargill in Minneapolis. He provided a long list of steps that Cargill has taken since the outbreak to make its ground turkey safer.

Even so, the results of Consumer Reports' tests won't make you eager to order that next turkey burger: "More than half of the packages of raw ground meat and patties tested positive for fecal bacteria."

Overall, 90 percent of the samples tested by CR researchers carried at least one of the five bacteria they looked for—and "almost all" of the bacteria strains they found showed resistance to at least one antibiotic. The two fecal-related bacteria strains—enterococcus and E. coli—showed up the most frequently:

 

Consumer Reports

You'll  note from the above charts both good and bad news about salmonella, the source of that 2011 Cargill outbreak. Happily, salmonella was rare in the meat CR tested—just 12 samples contained it, or 5 percent of the total. Unhappily, though, the salmonella they did find tended to be of the super-bug variety—eight of those samples carried salmonella resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics. And there's evidence of lingering problems at that Arkansas plant of Cargill's—one of the multiresistant salmonella strains came from there, CR reports.

Consumer Reports also tested samples of ground turkey labeled "organic," "no antibiotics" and "raised without antibiotics." (Under USDA code, meat labeled organic must come from animals that were never treated with antibiotics.) The bacterial strains that turned up in these products were much less likely to be antibiotic-resistant.

 

The Consumer Reports study comes on the heels of a troubling analysis of Food and Drug Administration meat-testing data performed by Environmental Working Group. Every year, the FDA randomly selects samples of meat from retailers, tests them for resistant bacteria, and publishes the results in a manner that's nearly indecipherable (try it yourself—latest report, released in February, is here). EWG slogged through the results (report here) and found that 81 percent of ground turkey samples contained traces of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

All of which shines a harsh spotlight on the FDA's "voluntary" approach to curbing antibiotic use on farms. Between 2003 and 2011, antibiotic use on US livestock farms soared from 20 million pounds per year to 30 million pounds—a jaw-dropping 50 percent leap. These facilities now suck in 80 percent of the antibiotics consumed in the United States. The great bulk of these drugs are used not to treat sick animals, but rather to make them grow faster and keep them alive until slaughter under tight, filthy conditions.

Meanwhile, there's the US Department of Agriculture's imminent plan to slash the number of inspectors it places on poultry-industry kill lines (chicken and turkey) while simultaneously allowing those same kill lines to be sped up.

Source:

www.motherjones.com

http://worldtruth.tv

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Huge Victory Against Fluoride in Australia

Nearly 200,000 Australians have been released from the medical slavery that is artificial water fluoridation thanks to a major governmental policy change.

The Liberal National Party (LNP) government of the Australian state of Queensland has not only cut $14 million of funding that had previously been used for fluoridation, but has also decided to allow local councils to decide for themselves whether or not to fluoridate, a move that has already prompted the northern city of Cairns to end its water fluoridation program.

As reported by The Australian, former "One Nation" member of parliament (MP) Rosa Lee Long, who is now mayor of the north Queensland Tablelands Regional Council, successfully lobbied LNP to end a longstanding policy that compelled local communities to fluoridate without approval from local residents.

The government of Queensland last year also ended a policy that required larger communities to fluoridate their water, which is similar to existing fluoridation mandates in California and elsewhere.

So by the middle of March, Cairns' more than 150,000 area residents will no longer be exposed to fluoride chemicals in the water, making it the seventh community in Queensland to end water fluoridation so far this year. Murgon, Wondai, Kingaroy, Nanango, Blackbutt, and South Burnett have all ended their water fluoridation programs since January which, combined with the area population of Cairns, represents nearly 200,000 people who will no longer be forcibly medicated with an unapproved drug.

“If people want to have access to fluoride, they need to take that up with their dentists,” said a local Cairns council spokeswoman about the policy change. “The decision has been made ... [fluoride] shouldn't be forced on people without consent."

Australian health authorities admit water fluoridation is 'involuntary medication' of public

The Australian Dental Association (ADA) and various members of the establishment government in Australia raised their usual fear-mongering in response to the landmark decision -- children's teeth will rot out of their heads without fluoride, has been their response, which mimics the same tired and unproven argument used by many American officials to defend the outdated and dangerous practice of water fluoridation.

But Queensland's LNP has remained steadfast in its decision, declaring forced water fluoridation to be "involuntary medication" of the public, regardless of someone's own personal opinion on the efficacy and safety of fluoride. This declaration is key, as it highlights a reality about fluoride that few people are willing to admit -- fluoride is a chemical drug that has never been proven safe and effective, but that is routinely added to water supplies without informed consent.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) likewise admits that water fluoridation is akin to forced medication, as the agency's official stance on the chemical is that it is an "unapproved drug" when added to water supplies. It is a fact that the FDA has never approved fluoride as a safe and effective water supplement, which means adding it to public water supplies is an illegal administration of a drug without FDA approval, and without the informed consent of every person exposed to it.

You can learn more about the dangers of fluoride by visiting the Fluoride Action Network (FAN)

Source:

Natural News 

www.theaustralian.com.au

www.hangthebankers.com

www.fluoridealert.org/content/communities

http://worldtruth.tv

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Minority Groups Backing Portland’s Pro Fluoride Measure Were Paid $143,000‏

The campaign advocating fluoridation of Portland’s drinking water has trumpeted the support it’s received from minority organizations, ranging from the Urban League of Portland to the Latino Network.This widespread support, backers say, shows just how important fluoridation is to the constituents of these groups.And the support flows the other way, too: in the form of big cash paid to groups who have endorsed the pro-fluoride campaign, Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland. As first reported at wweek.com, Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland has doled out at least $143,000—about a third of what it has spent so far—to seven organizations that favor  the May 21 referendum to fluoridate the city’s drinking water, Measure 26-151.The move is highly unorthodox for a political campaign: Typically, groups that endorse a measure contribute money, not receive it.
Oregon’s free-wheeling campaign-finance laws place virtually no limits on how campaigns spend their money. But the state’s undue-influence law prohibits campaigns from paying individuals or organizations in exchange for their political support.Dan Meek, a public-interest lawyer active in campaign-finance reform, says it is unusual for groups to endorse a campaign and then receive money from that campaign. “This is a new approach,” he says.Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland says the payments were intended to help the organizations promote Measure 26-151, and were not given in exchange for the groups’ support of the pro-fluoride effort.
“Fluoride and dental health are really important to low-income communities and communities of color,” says Healthy Kids, Health Portland campaign manager Evyn Mitchell.  “We are trying to provide capacity to the groups that will do the outreach.”
Mitchell says the groups that got money were active supporters of fluoridation for more than a year before the campaign began.

Nonetheless, the payments have raised eyebrows, including at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which endorsed a “no” vote on fluoridation and did not receive a check from the Healthy Kids campaign.
“We were scratching our heads about these so-called minority groups,” says Cliff Walker of the NAACP’s Portland chapter. “It was suggested that people were getting paid.”
Measure 26-151 requires the city of Portland to begin fluoridating its drinking water by March 2014. Currently, Portland is one of the nation’s largest cities not to add fluoride to its water supply. Health experts say fluoridated water cuts down on tooth decay, especially among children.
The City Council approved fluoridating the water supply last fall, including plans to build a $5 million fluoridation plant.
But opponents—who argue fluoridating the water is costly and unhealthy—gathered enough signatures to force a 2014 public vote on the idea. The council responded by moving up the vote to the May 21 election.
Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland has so far received about $587,000 in campaign contributions.
The biggest source of donations to the campaign is the Northwest Health Foundation, which has given $215,000. The foundation’s president and CEO, Nichole Maher, is closely involved with the pro-fluoridation campaign.
Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland turned around and paid $20,000 each to the Urban League of Portland, the Latino Network, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Center for Intercultural Organizing, and the Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization. The Oregon Latino Health Coalition got $5,000. Another group, the Native American Youth and Family Center, has been paid $37,810.
Maher says the groups getting money from the Healthy Kids campaign lack the resources to educate voters and improve turnout. Providing them modest financial support, she says, is appropriate.
“We are really proud of the strategy for fluoride and for building a better electorate in Portland,” Maher says. “Let’s give these communities some credit for being part of the conversation from the beginning.”
Before Maher took the top job at the Northwest Health Foundation last year, she served as executive director of NAYA Family Center, the biggest recipient of Healthy Kids’ contributions to nonprofits.
She says the NAYA Family Center is also acting as an agent for the Coalition of Communities of Color, which is also doing fluoride outreach, and that NAYA passed the $17,810 contribution through to CCC. “[NAYA] had a strong relationship with the Northwest Health Foundation long before I got here,” Maher adds.

Matt Morton, NAYA’s executive director, says any implication that the payments his group received are a quid pro quo is “offensive.”
Morton says NAYA’s support for fluoride and better dental health long precedes payments from the campaign. He says NAYA is using the money for voter activation, engagement and education on dental health.
“Campaigns don’t often engage communities of color because we are not high-frequency voters,” Morton says. “But the strength of this campaign is that it was built from the ground up.”
The Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons, executive director of APANO, echoes Morton. He says his group was involved in fluoridation efforts long before the campaign began.

Santos-Lyons says APANO has not received a contribution from a political-action committee before, although it has been active in a number of ballot measures. He says APANO is using the contribution to hold four fluoride forums and hire an organizer.
“I hope this sets a precedent that to win, you need to actually work with organizations like ours,” Santos-Lyons says.
Maher says spending campaign money on the various groups makes sense and is a tactic long overdue in Portland political campaigns. She says low-income and minority Portlanders would benefit most from fluoridation because they suffer more cavities and other dental problems.

But the arrangement could run into trouble with the state’s campaign-disclosure laws for a couple of reasons.
First, the law requires campaigns such as Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland to disclose what services are being provided in exchange for the money.
“If [Healthy Kids] has no contract with the organizations and the organizations aren’t required to do anything, you could construe that as a problem,” Meek says.
Filings with the State Elections Division say only that the $143,000 paid to groups will be spent on “yard signs, buttons, etc.”
But there’s a problem with that disclosure: Mitchell, manager of the Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland campaign, acknowledges to WW there is no requirement for the groups to produce such materials.
“We have partnership agreements in writing,” Mitchell says. “It’s a basic agreement that they will provide organizing support for the fluoridation issue and attend weekly check-ins.”
Mitchell declined, however, to provide copies of any of the written agreements she says Healthy Kids has with the various groups.
If the groups spend the money to campaign independently for Measure 26-151, state law could require them to disclose how they spent the money. “If the recipient groups are indeed doing ‘outreach services’ for the measure, they should each be registered as a political committee,” Meek says. None of the groups has done so yet.
Morton and Lyons say there’s no need for such filings. Both say that their organizations, which are non-profits, are allowed to engage in limited political activities, and their work on fluoride is well within such bounds.
Meek, who has filed ballot measures aimed at reforming Oregon’s campaign-finance laws, says the big checks to fluoridation supporters are a sign the system is broken.
“This illustrates another big loophole in Oregon campaign-finance laws: pushing money into the hands of agents, who are then not required to report how they spent the money,” Meek says.
Maher disagrees. She says the fluoride issue represents in part a long-overdue recognition that political campaigns need to reach out to minority voters. “Portland is changing,” Maher says, “and the electorate is changing.”

Money With Teeth
Supporters of Measure 26-151, which would require fluoridation of Portland’s drinking water, have far outraised opponents. The other side, Clean Water Portland, has seen nearly half its money come from out-of-state donors. (See related story here.)
PRO:
Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland
Raised to date: $587,000
Cash on hand: $192,000
Top Five Donors:
Northwest Health Foundation: $215,000
Oregon Dental Association: $67,500
CareOregon: $50,000
FamilyCare: $50,000
Washington Dental Service Foundation: $50,000
CON:
Clean Water Portland
Raised to date: $190,000
Cash on hand: $83,000
Top Five Donors
James Garvey: $43,000
Roger Burt: $11,000
Carl and Roberta Deutsch Family Trust: $10,000
Daniel Deutsch: $10,000
Abundant Living Information Services: $9,000
Source:
Source: Oregon Elections Division

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Are You Ready for the Genetically Modified “Frankenapple”?

Move over frankenfish, frankensoy, frankencorn, frankentomatoes and frankencotton.

The Frankenapple – or Arctic Apple – is genetically modified to never brown, but the side effects are unknown.

I’m talking about a new genetically modified “food” manufacturers call the Arctic Apple.

This genetically modified apple contains a synthetic gene that prevents it from browning or bruising. Even after you bite it or slice it.

Thanks to the biotech industry’s relentless quest to control our food, McDonald’s, Burger King and even school cafeterias will soon be able to serve up apples that won’t turn brown when they’re sliced or bitten into. A new, almost entirely untested genetic modification technology, called RNA interference, or double strand RNA (dsRNA), is responsible for this new food miracle. Scientists warn that this genetic manipulation poses health risks, as the manipulated RNA gets into our digestive systems and bloodstreams. The biotech industry claims otherwise.

Of course, like any non-organic apple, the new GMO Arctic® Apple will be drenched in toxic pesticide residues, untested by the U.S. Food & Drug Association (FDA) and likely unlabeled. And of course these shiny new high-tech apples will be cheap, priced considerably lower than a pesticide-free, nutrient-dense, old-fashioned organic apple that turns a little brown after you slice it up.

When the Biotech Industry Organization gathers  in Chicago for the 2013 BIO International Convention, BIOTECanada will present its “Gold Leaf Award for Early Stage Agriculture” to Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. (OSF), purveyor of the Arctic® Apple, slated for approval in the U.S. this year. We hate to upset the biotech apple cart, but a pesticide-intensive GMO apple, produced through a risky manipulation of RNA, doesn’t deserve a place on our grocery shelves, much less in the agriculture hall of fame.

That said, the Arctic “Frankenapple” is expected to be approved this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), responsible for protecting agriculture from pests and diseases. It does not require approval by the FDA, which is responsible for human food and animal feed.

Just one more bad apple
Apples, that is, apples that haven’t been certified organic, already are on the list of Should-Be-Forbidden fruits. They reliably top the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list, for both the volume and the stunning array of pesticides consistently found on them. According to the Pesticide Action Network’s analysis of the most recent USDA data, apples tested positive for 42 pesticides, including organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides. Both are endocrine disruptors, both have suspected neurological effects, and both are considered especially toxic for children. (Organophosphates are the basis for nerve gases used in chemical warfare, and have been linked to the development of ADHD in kids.)

Given the grim report card of non-organic apples, some might say it really doesn’t make any difference if we start tinkering with the apple’s genes and RNA. After all, unlike the case with GMO corn or salmon, scientists aren’t injecting pesticides or genes from foreign plants or animals into the genes of apples to create the Frankenapple. While most existing genetically engineered plants are designed to make new proteins, the Arctic Apple is engineered to produce a form of genetic information called double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The new dsRNA alters the way genes are expressed. The result, in the Arctic Apple’s case, is a new double strand of RNA that genetically “silences” the apple’s ability to produce polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that causes the apple to turn brown when it’s exposed to oxygen.

Harmless? The biotech industry, OSF and some scientists say yes. But others, including Professor Jack Heinemann (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Sarah Agapito-Tenfen (from Santa Catarina University in Brazil) and Judy Carman (Flinders University in South Australia), say that dsRNA manipulation is untested, and therefore inherently risky. Given that the dsRNA from our food, and presumably the Frankenapple, will enter the bloodstream and cells of consumers, safety research should be done BEFORE this GMO apple is put on the grocery shelf to prove that the dsRNA that enters consumers' bodies will not harm them. To date, no such research has been reported, so the Frankenapple is flying in the dark.

On the contrary, recent research has shown that dsRNAs can transfer from plants to humans and other animals through food. The biotech industry has always claimed that genetically engineered DNA or RNA is destroyed by human digestion, eliminating the danger of these mutant organisms damaging human genes or human health. But many biotech scientists say otherwise. They point to evidence that the dsRNA present in food survive digestion in the stomach and intestines and actually enter the bloodstream and tissues of the body, where it can influence the functioning of the eater's cells.

 

There are indirect health consequences, too. Turns out the chemical compound that is shut off in the engineered fruit through RNA manipulation, in order to make it not oxidize or brown, is a chemical compound that also fights off plant pests. What happens when the apple’s ability to fend off insects is compromised? Growers will need to spray greater amounts, of possibly even more toxic pesticides, on a crop already saturated with at least 42 types of pesticides. Those pesticides will eventually find their way into our bodies, either because we ingested the fruit, or breathed the air or drank the water where the pesticides were sprayed.

Testing? What testing?
So what’s the trade-off? Non-organic apple growers will prosper as more moms buy more apples for more kids who will, the industry alleges, be healthier for it.  It makes for a good public relations story, but no matter how you wrap it up or slice it, taking apples that are already saturated in pesticides, and genetically engineering them for purely cosmetic purposes, does not a healthy snack make.

The pro- and anti-GMO movements will debate whether or not the GMO apple is safe for human consumption. The fact is, we’ll never know until they are properly labeled and safety-tested. As with every other GMO food ingredient or product sold in the U.S., the Arctic Apple will undergo no independent safety testing by the FDA or the USDA. Instead, the USDA will rely on OSF’s word that the apple is safe for human consumption. And without any state or federal mandatory GMO labeling laws in place, OSF will not be required to label its Frankenapple, meaning that consumers or children harmed by the dsRNA modified apple will have great difficulty identifying the mutant RNA that harmed them.

The controversy and debate surrounding dsRNA and the Arctic Apple has just begun. But there is no longer any debate about the dangers that pesticides and pesticide residues on non-organic apples pose to humans, whether we directly ingest these toxic residues by eating an apple, or whether we’re exposed to them through contaminated air and groundwater as a result of acres of orchards being sprayed to control increasingly resistant insects and diseases.

What about the argument that a kid eating a few slices of apples can’t consume enough of any one of these pesticides to cause any real risk to their health? Debunked. Recent studies reveal that during apple season, kids exhibit spikes in the level of pesticides found in their urine, spikes that exceed the U.S. government’s “safe levels.” Kids who live in apple-growing regions show even higher spikes. And those 42 varieties of pesticides? The government establishes “safe levels” for each one – but it doesn’t test for the potential effect of ingesting 42 different pesticides, all chemically interacting with each other, and ingested all at once. And there is good evidence that these interactions often potentiate harmful effects.

 

From biodiversity to monoculture
How did we get to the point where it takes 42 pesticides to keep an apple crop healthy? Michael Pollan best explains it in his book Botany of Desire. Turns out that apples have an extreme tendency toward something called heterozygosity, which means genetic variability. This trait accounts for how, left to its own devices, the apple can “make itself at home in places as different from one another as New England and New Zealand, Kazakhstan and California.” Pollan writes: “Wherever the apple tree goes, its offspring propose so many different variations on what it means to be an apple – at least five per apple, several thousand per tree – that a couple of these novelties are almost bound to have whatever qualities it takes to prosper in the tree’s adopted home.”

Today, you’d have to visit the apple orchard museum in Geneva, New York, to find all the varieties of apples that used to thrive in the wild. Over time, in our quest to control the taste, texture and appearance of apples, we’ve eliminated all but a relative few varieties. We’ve gone too far, says Pollan. By relying on too few genes for too long, the apple has lost its ability to get along on its own, outdoors.

Enter the agro-chemical companies. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Agricultural Chemical Use Program, apple growers in states surveyed in 2011 applied carbaryl to 46 percent of their acreage, at an average rate  of 1.566 pounds per acre for the crop year; chlorantraniliprole to 45 percent;  and chlorpyrifos to 44 percent. Apple growers applied glyphosate isopropylamine salt (trade name RoundUp, the same herbicide used on 75% of all GMOs and shown to cause birth defects) to 25 percent of acres at an average of 1.604 pounds per acre for the crop year. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Arctic Apple has been in development for over a decade, the company says. OSF submitted a petition for deregulation to the USDA in May 2010. The USDA, which must hold two public comment periods, concluded the first on Sept. 11, 2011. It’s expected to open the second public comment period this spring or summer, and OSF hopes the GMO apple will be approved for growing and selling in the U.S. this year.

Source:

www.organicconsumers.org

http://worldtruth.tv

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