Are GM Crops Killing Bees?

[Douglas Caddy]

The latest information

https://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=2322&category=Environment

[Steven Gaal]

Insecticides Are Killing the Pollinators: How Bea-Killing Neonicotinoids Work

By Christina Sarich

Global Research

Natural Society

Want to understand how bee-killing neonicotinoids (a class of insecticide) work in less than two minutes, and why you should care that the EPA does nothing to reverse the damage that these pesticides have done to our pollinating insects? Watch this brief video that explains it all.

Dr. Keith Tyrell explains how this new class of pesticides, neonicotinoids, which are considered “new” in that they have only been on the market for about 20 years, are taken up by plants as they grow. These ‘neonics’ are not like old pesticides because they become part of the plant itself, making it toxic. (Neonics are taken up by the roots or leaves and taken to all other parts of the plant.)

see video

https://youtu.be/pJhTpcpjZww

Tyrell’s summary is a brief insight into why neonics are ‘bad for everything.’ The European Union has imposed a two-year moratorium on all neonics, but the US still allows them to be sprayed everywhere. In fact, the EPA has decided to allow more of these bee- and butterfly-killing chemicals to enter the environment despite clear dangers.

In fact, they are the fastest growing class of pesticides in the United States. This, even though imidacloprid and acetamiprid – two types of neonics – could possibly be impairing the developing human nervous system.

Image credit: PakalertPress

What’s worse – one study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey found that neonics are widespread contaminants of groundwater which many people use to drink or bathe in. In nine rivers monitored in the Midwest, where neonics are most heavily used, the study found clothianidin in about three-quarters of monitored sites, thiamethoxam in about one-half, and imidacloprid in about one-quarter

If numerous communities banning neonics due to pollinator-deaths, articles reporting on how the chemicals are killing millions bees, and 100+ organizations urging Obama to take action against the chemicals isn’t enough for the EPA to take action, then I’m not sure what it will take.

If you haven’t yet taken the time to understand neonics, I urge you to take two minutes and do it now.

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Edited July 7, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steve Knight]

In places where neonicotinoid pesticides have been banned, such as France and Italy, there's no evidence that honeybee populations have rebounded.

February 2014, the government of Australia, where neonics are used extensively, reaffirmed that "honeybee populations are not in decline despite the increased use of neonicotinoids in agriculture and horticulture since the mid-1990s." Its central finding was just the opposite of what many in the media have reported: The APVMA (Australian equivalent of the EPA) concluded, "[T]he introduction of the neonicotinoids has led to an overall reduction in the risks to the agricultural environment from the application of insecticides."

http://www.nd.gov/ndda/news/north-dakota-bee-colonies-hit-all-time-high

The pesticide is applied to seeds sparingly--only about 1-3 ppb [parts per billion] is commonly found in pollen or nectar after application, levels way below safety concerns.
Plants grown from a treated seed often need no further insecticidal treatment, unlike many competing chemicals. And in contrast to earlier generation insecticides that required multiple applications, when infestations are severe a single additional spraying generally suffices.

Lu steadfastly claims that bees that died in his studies were fed field realistic levels doses--statements echoed uncritically by reporters without, it turns out, cross checking with beekeepers or entomologists.

"Chensheng Lu and his team treated 12 colonies with tiny levels of neonics," Mother Jones maintained.

Tiny?

As Randy Oliver, a well known beekeeper, wrote on his Scientific Beekeeping blog, [ http://scientificbeekeeping.com/news-and-blogs-page/ ], Lu fed his test colonies a pesticide brew of about 135 ppb.
That's 100 times higher then the 1-3 ppb commonly found in pollen or nectar, a level far below safety concerns.

Rather than citing the chemicals' ppb, some reporters touted the physical size of the dose, a worthless measurement. Lu also fed bees every week for 13 straight weeks when the real world application is just a few weeks at most.

"It's hard to imagine anyone even reviewed this paper," Oliver concluded.

[taken from my posts about this subject to Facebook tinfoilers...]

[Steven Gaal]

Bees Love Nicotine, Even Though It's Killing Them

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/04/bees-love-nicotine-even-though-its-killing-them

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Decline in birds, not just bees, linked to neonicotinoid ... - CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/decline-in-birds-not-just-bees-linked-to-neonicotinoid-pesticides-1.2706542

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Aluminum contamination implicated in dementia and bee deaths

https://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/aluminum-contamination-implicated-in-dementia-and-bee-deaths/

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Neonicotinoids Hinder Bee’s Ability to Smell Flowers

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2015/06/neonicotinoids-hinder-bees-ability-to-smell-flowers/============

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A neonicotinoid impairs olfactory learning in Asian honey bees (Apis cerana) exposed as larvae or as adults

http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150618/srep10989/full/srep10989.html

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Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog

\l "

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:trbCot2kWesJ:www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

2 days ago - ... pregnancy and childhood to insecticides that target the nervous system, such as organophosphates ..... Neonicotinoids Hinder Bee's Ability to Smell Flowers.

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Aluminum is in the necture of flowers

Aluminum is in Flower nectar and depends on flower species. Australia flowers have probably less aluminum. (ITS ALL IN THE FOSTERS CANS),gaal

[Steven Gaal]

When it Comes to GMOs We Don’t Trust BBC ‘Experts’, Public Survey Reveals

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http://www.globalresearch.ca/when-it-comes-to-gmos-we-dont-trust-bbc-experts-public-survey-reveals/5461403

[Steven Gaal]

Russia Says No to GMO Seeds, Aims for Food Supply That's 'Cleanest in the World'

Russians are content to let the westerners be the guinea pigs on this one

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July 15 (NaturalNews) - The future of agriculture in Russia won’t involve genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), says the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. In order to preserve the quality and integrity of its food supply, Russia plans to stick with growing methods that protect the soil and boost yields naturally, a move that Dvorkovich says will make his country’s food among the “cleanest in the world.”

Russia does not import GMOs like most of Europe currently does, nor does it grow them. Unlike the U.S., Russia has deep concerns about the safety of GMOs and has chosen to implement an extended moratorium on their use as it looks to other, safer technologies that don’t come with the risk of birth defects, endocrine disruption and cancer.

At the recent International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Dvorkovich told listeners that Russia has “chosen a different path,” and that the country “will not use these [GM] technologies” to boost agricultural production. The announcement coincides with statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin back in 2014 about the need to “protect” Russian citizens against GMOs.

“We need to properly construct our work so that it is not contrary to our obligations under the WTO [World Trade Organization],” Putin stated.

“But even with this in mind, we nevertheless have legitimate methods and instruments to protect our own market, and above all citizens.”

Russian official: GMOs cause obesity and cancer and won’t be tolerated

This is the type of thing Americans should be demanding from their own elected leaders – an emphasis on protecting people rather than corporate profits – but, alas, the United States looks at GMOs much differently. Regardless of all the safety risks involved, America’s political puppets believe that GMOs should continue to dominate the national food market without even being labeled.

Meanwhile, Russia is leading the way in ridding its land of toxic poisons, stressing the need for agricultural policies that take a precautionary approach to controversial modalities like biotechnology that involve artificial gene splicing and toxic pesticides. The Vice President of Russia’s National Association for Genetic Safety, Irina Ermakova, had this to say recently about the issue:

“It has been proven that not only in Russia, but also in many other countries in the world, GMOs are dangerous.

Consumption and use of GMOs obtained in such way can lead to tumors, cancers and obesity among animals.”

Prime Minister: If Americans want GMOs, fine, but Russians prefer organic

Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev also made global headlines last year when he announced that Russia would no longer import any GMO products, boldly proclaiming that Russia has more than enough land and resources to produce organic food safely and cleanly without the need for corporate-owned, bio-pirated GMOs seeds and their corresponding growth chemicals.

He stated, as quoted by RT.com, “If the Americans like to eat

GMO

products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food.”

With all this in mind, the American media’s “Russia is evil” ruse becomes increasingly less convincing.

Americans would be hard-pressed to ever have a politician stand up against GMOs like Russia’s leaders have, and yet they’re the “bad guys” and we’re the “good guys”?

Perhaps it’s time for more Americans to reevaluate who’s really calling the shots in the “land of the free” and what their motivation might be to vilify a country that has chosen to reject bio-piracy and uphold true, free-market agriculture in the interest of public health and national sovereignty.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

New GMO wheat immediately fails experiments despite millions of dollars invested in biotech

Monday, July 20, 2015 by: Jennifer Lilley

(NaturalNews) What's it going to take for GMO proponents to realize that efforts to alter food are not only damaging to health but are wasting millions of dollars... money which could otherwise be spent on preserving the planet instead of destroying it?

Sadly, it's a routine that many people are compelled to tinker with, sinking big bucks in an effort to modify the foods you eat. It recently reared its ugly head when researchers from Rothamsted Research in England spent more than $4.6 million on a project dubbed "whiffy wheat." Designed with the hopes of emitting an odor to deter crop-destroying aphids, it was initially successful in the laboratory environment. However, when tested outdoors, pests such as blackfly and greenfly didn't respond as hoped and still ruined the crops. It's a finding that's been discovered time and again: GM crops don't work, and often fail to keep pests away any more than conventionally grown foods.(1)

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports in June 2015. Titled "The first crop plant genetically engineered to release an insect pheromone for defence," it blatantly states that the project was a failure. The journal notes the following:

Aphid infestation levels in field plot trials were recorded on a weekly basis throughout the growing season in spring 2012, and in spring and autumn 2013. In both years, there was no significant difference in aphid populations between the plots with untransformed and transformed wheat. The number of parasitized aphids was not different between treatments.⁽²⁾

An "epidemic of herbicide-resistant superweeds" This is hardly a startling find for many individuals, including the campaign group GM Freeze. They stress the importance of letting nature unfold as it should. Responding to this failed GM wheat experiment, Liz O'Neill, GM Freeze's director, said, "A basic understanding of evolution tell us that GM offers, at best, a sticking-plaster approach to complex and evolving problems. We know that pests are very good at adapting to their environment but, like the aphids in the trial, those promoting GM as the first-choice solution to our food and farming needs stopped listening to nature's alarm signals as soon as they became inconvenient."⁽³⁾

She went on to say that the trial was a waste of money and that such tactics are worsening situations instead of improving them. It's disturbing that, even though over 40,000 similar trials have been conducted worldwide, the only thing that's resulted are problems. Of commercially viable GM crops and herbicide-tolerant crops, O'Neill said, "Their use has caused an epidemic of herbicide-resistant superweeds."⁽³⁾

Meanwhile, we can imagine senior molecular biologist Professor Hew Jones, who worked on the trial, sitting with his head in his hands. "As scientists we are trained to treat our experimental data objectively and dispassionately, but I was definitely disappointed," Jones said. "We had hoped that this technique would offer a way to reduce the use of insecticides in pest control in arable farming. As so often happens, this experiment shows that the real world environment is much more complicated than the laboratory."⁽¹⁾

Mad scientists still determined to destroy the planet and waste money Well, Hew, that's probably because the real world environment and the laboratory setting ARE two completely different places not meant to overlap in the first place. Just a thought.

Still, GMO proponents are adamant that persistence is key, even if millions of dollars are wasted or lives are harmed. For example, it's no secret that Monsanto's GM corn (and use of their Roundup, of course) is linked to the development of tumors in rats. By now, most of us are aware of the World Health Organization's designation of Roundup's glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." It's not new information that all of these mad scientist ideas are seeping into the soil and runoff, being ingested by animals and plants that we may eat. Let's not forget that failed GM crops are destroying many farmer's livelihoods and also threatening organic farmers whose crops are sometimes contaminated.^(4,5)

All of the lab testing, spraying and changing of our environment is throwing our ecosystem and health out of whack. Unfortunately, many researchers and corporations refuse to see the truth. Instead, they drive the nail deeper, determined to control that which was never meant to be controlled.

Sources:

(1) http://rt.com

(2) http://www.nature.com

(3) http://www.gmfreeze.org

(4) http://planetearthherald.com

(5) http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.truthwiki.org/The_Green_Revolutio...

http://www.truthwiki.org/seeds_of_death_unve...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050471_GMO_wheat_wasted_money_biotech_industry.html#ixzz3gYqMA43f

Edited July 21, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Nearly All Scientific Papers Controlled By Six Corporations

Posted on July 23, 2015by Soren Dreier
Author: John Vibes

When children grow up dreaming of becoming scientists they have the purest of aspirations and if they were left to pursue their own studies they would be able to accomplish the unimaginable. Unfortunately, to become a member of the scientific community one has to jump through many bureaucratic hoops until they are eventually inducted into an establishment which is tightly regulated and directed by warmongers and control freak aristocrats.

People spend half of their lives taking classes, passing tests and filling out applications in hopes that one day they can become a scientist and cure a disease. After years of struggling to make the cut they realize that there is no funding for their charitable projects and if they dare step outside of the established guidelines they will be exiled from the scientific community.

Additionally, even when legitimate studies are done, they hardly ever reach the public or get taken seriously because most of the publishers that are considered “reputable” are controlled by just a few corporations that heavily censor the information that gets released.

A recent study conducted by Professor Vincent Lariviere from the University of Montreal’s School of Library and Information Science, and a number of other researchers, found that nearly all major scientific papers are controlled by the same six corporations.

“Overall, the major publishers control more than half of the market of scientific papers both in the natural and medical sciences and in the social sciences and humanities. Furthermore, these large commercial publishers have huge sales, with profit margins of nearly 40%. While it is true that publishers have historically played a vital role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge in the print era, it is questionable whether they are still necessary in today’s digital era,” Lariviere said.

Read More: Here

Edited July 23, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

GMO Propaganda Over Facts? BBC Panorama Falsely Portraying Bt Brinjal (Eggplant) Cultivation in Bangladesh as a Success

By GMWatch Global Research, July 29, 2015 GMWatch 28 July 2015 -

http://www.globalresearch.ca/gmo-propaganda-over-facts-bbc-panorama-falsely-portraying-bt-brinjal-eggplant-cultivation-in-bangladesh-as-a-success/5465525

See more at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/gmo-propaganda-over-facts-bbc-panorama-falsely-portraying-bt-brinjal-eggplant-cultivation-in-bangladesh-as-a-success/5465525#sthash.3NNc2frF.dpuf

[Steven Gaal]

DARK Act would cause America's crop fields to be saturated with cancer-causing glyphosate

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Friday, August 07, 2015 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

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NaturalNews) A bill pending before the U.S. Senate would not just deny consumers the right to know whether their food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs), it could also strip states of their right to limit or regulate the use of dangerous herbicide chemicals widely sprayed over fields of GMO crops.

The bill in question, which passed a vote in the House of Representatives of July 22, is formally known as H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, but has come to be known by organic and natural foods advocates as the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act. That's because far from ensuring accurate food labeling, the bill is actually designed to prevent the implementation of mandatory GMO labeling laws.

Bans any GMO labeling with teeth A clear response by the GMO industry to the recent passage of mandatory labeling law in Vermont, the DARK Act would ban state governments from adopting any law involving the labeling of GMO foods. It would ban private GMO-free labels. It would even ban the federal government - specifically, the FDA - from adopting any mandatory labeling rule.

Instead, the DARK Act would institute a voluntary GMO labeling effort administered by the federal government. Under that scheme, food producers would need to pay the government to have their food labeled "GMO free." Companies that did not want their food labeled GMO free - including all those making food with GMOs, of course - would pay nothing.

"And why should the burden of labeling fall on the producers of non-GMO foods, when the risk factor is associated with those foods that do contain GMOs?" asked the Organic Consumers Association in response.

It should come as no surprise that the GMO industry-backed bill is packaged in deceptive language. The industry-funded front group behind the bill, the "Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food," was directly lying to members of Congress, telling them that mandatory GMO labeling would cost individual U.S. consumers $500 per year in increased food costs. But that statistic comes from only a single study, paid for by the Council for Biotech Information, whose members include Monsanto. That study has been repeatedly been debunked by independent research.

Bans regulation of toxic chemicals? While most coverage of the DARK Act has focused on its impacts on GMO labeling, the law contains another, even more sinister provision: It bans states or counties from passing any laws regulating GMO crops at all. That might mean the federal government could try to block states from regulating the herbicides sprayed on GMO fields - proven toxic chemicals such as glyphosate (Roundup) and 2,4-D that have been linked to cancer, hormonal problems, suppressed immune function and Parkinson's disease.

Because most GMO crops are engineered to be resistant to these herbicides, the chemicals are sprayed in enormous quantities across the 72 percent of U.S. cropland (228 million acres) that are planted with GMOs. This includes fields within a stone's throw of schools, churches and other residential areas - to say nothing of the effects exposure to these poisons has on farm workers or on the consumers who eat GMO crops.

The DARK Act could be used to undercut efforts to protect all these people from the effects of this chemical violence.

If the DARK Act does become law, it is probably headed straight for court. That's because the law is blatantly unconstitutional, infringing on states' rights to regulate food and agriculture within their borders.

"Whatever your views on GMOs, there is no Constitutional justification for the federal government to preempt state laws in this area," the Campaign for Liberty said. "There certainly is no justification for Congress to preempt private sector efforts to meet consumer demands for non-GMO foods, while allowing those who support the use of GMOs to do so."

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050694_DARK_Act_GMOs_food_labeling.html#ixzz3i9gYlG2I

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050694_DARK_Act_GMOs_food_labeling.html#ixzz3i9gSHspG

Edited August 7, 2015 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Call off the bee-pocalypse: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/23/call-off-the-bee-pocalypse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/

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please note importation of bees and increased queen/colony breeding needed to avoid problem , gaal

[Steven Gaal]

Pesticides in paradise: Hawaii's spike in birth defects puts focus on GM crops

" Local doctors are in the eye of a storm swirling for the past three years over whether corn that’s been genetically modified to resist pesticides is a source of prosperity, as companies claim, or of birth defects and illnesses "

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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/23/hawaii-birth-defects-pesticides-gmo

[Steven Gaal]

Monsanto wants to replace the bees they are killing with genetically engineered flying ants

Monday, August 31, 2015 by: Joel Edwards

http://www.naturalnews.com/050993_flying_ants_genetically_engineered_Monsanto.html

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050993_flying_ants_genetically_engineered_Monsanto.html#ixzz3kQSasG5x

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(NaturalNews) Ecologists refer to bees and a few other select organisms as keystone species. This term is analogous to the keystone of an arch. Remove the wedge-shaped stone at the top, and the entire structure collapses.

Bees are a keystone species because they are the world's primary pollinators and are therefore crucial to the environment. While Monsanto claims bees only pollinate about a third of the world's crops, others estimate their contribution to be closer to 90%. But the startling decline of the bee population isn't just threatening our crops, it is also threatening varied and diverse wild plants across the globe that provide food for countless animal species. If we lose the bees, the loss to our ecosystems will be catastrophic.

Disappearing Bees

Colony collapse disorder is a term for deserted hives. Adult bees vacate the hive, leaving behind the queen and immature bees. The adult bees simply vanish.

The Department of Agriculture cites several possible causes for colony collapse that include parasites, viruses, predators, nutritional deficits, and pesticide poisoning. They hypothesize a probable combination of factors while reminding us that bee disappearances have been recorded as far back as the 1880s.

While we must recognize multiple factors are in play, there is no denying the fact that bees are very sensitive to pesticides, making them more susceptible to disease and interfering with their navigation. Even when exposed to sub-lethal doses of pesticides, many bees simply get lost. Unable to find their way back to the colony, they die, lost and alone. It's not just pesticides sprayed on crops that are killing the bees, the pesticides built into genetically modified crops are killing kill them as well.

Earthjustice reports a dramatic example with bumblebees that occurred in June of 2013.

On a fine June morning last year at a Target store outside Portland, Oregon, customers arrive to a startling sight: the parking lot was covered with a seething mat of bumblebees, some staggering around, most already dead, more raining down from above. The die-off lasted several days.

It didn't take long to figure out that the day before a pest-control company had sprayed a powerful insecticide on surrounding Linden trees to protect them from aphids; but nobody warned the bees to stay away. In the end, an estimated 50,000 bumblebees perished.

The tragedy at Target wiped out as many as 300 bumblebee colonies of bees no longer available to pollinate nearby trees and flowers.

Monsanto Finally Admits Culpability

For years Monsanto has masqueraded as an eco-friendly biotech company that is concerned about our dying bees.

Part of our commitment to preserving the environment includes protecting the health of honey bees. That's why we work with many groups to develop sustainable solutions for the complex issues facing honey bee health. –

Monsanto's Website

The EPA gave Monsanto, a Fortune 500 company, a $3 million dollar grant, taxpayers' money, to develop a solution for colony collapse disorder. A top scientist at Monsanto, John Leere, let the cat out of the bag when he admitted GE farming and bees can't coexist. So guess which one they consider expendable? The following quotes are from the World New Daily Report.

Latest studies have found a link between neonicotinoid pesticides that are vastly used in GE corn crops. As GE farming has become an essential part of agriculture in today's modern world, we had to develop ways to promote both the continuity of GE farming and the survival of the honey bees, a fascinating challenge?

Since GE farming and neonicotinoid pesticides are here to stay, we first tried to modify the bees as to increase their immune system to these insecticides, with little or no success.

Instead of saving bees, Monsanto intends to replace them and to profit from their demise.

Yet, we did not despair and eventually started testing on winged virgin queens and males of the ant species. Although ants usually lose their wings after the queen has been inseminated and starts to give birth to the new colony, genetic manipulation has produced a flying ant species that is strikingly similar to the common honey bee, and 50 times stronger to certain types of pesticides

.

Through genetic manipulations, we could eventually create a hybrid species that would have both the common honey bee's pollinating characteristics, as well as possess the pesticide immunization properties of certain ant species, a perfect match that would take thousands of years to develop on its own in nature.

Conclusion

So, once again, we are seeing proof of Monsanto's endgame, complete corporate control of our food supply. They admit their GMO foods and pesticides are killing our bees, but instead of putting the welfare of the entire world's food supply ahead of their corporate greed, they will create a new abomination while their poisonous plants and chemicals continue to wreak havoc on current and future biodiversity.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050993_flying_ants_genetically_engineered_Monsanto.html#ixzz3kQSsfXeT