Author Archives: Maria

Pamm Larry and the California proposition to label genetically modified food

A snapshot in time of one of the most unexpectedly successful political campaigns over the right to know what is in our food
In a David VS Goliath fight a grassroots group joined by organic food, farm and environmental organizations, is facing some of the most powerful corporations, including Monsanto, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, and Dow over the deceptively simple issue of labeling GMO foods. Almost one million Californians made it possible for the labeling proposal to be placed on the November 2012 ballot as Prop. 37, however as of production of the program on September 25, over $30 million have already been committed by the GMO industry and pesticide producers to defeat Prop 37.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Winonah Hauter: THE FALSE PROMISE OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD

On the same day as organic farmers met in Santa Rosa, CA, for the second annual Heirloom Seed Expo the 60 day comment period ended for twelve new genetically engineered products. While a growing number of family farmers, medical professionals, and plant scientists are warning of the health risks of GMO plants and animals, the Obama administration has sped up their approval process.
The sense of urgency was also heightened by another development. GMOs, mostly corn and soy, have been planted in the US for almost 20 years. However that corn and soy have been mainly used for animal feed, ethanol or for starch and corn sugar that has been added as ingredient to processed foods for humans, junk food and [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)

Vandana Shiva: The Seed at the Heart of Freedom (TWO of TWO)

Rebroadcast by huge popular demand: Vandana Shiva speaks in favor of regulating, labeling and banning genetically modified plants and animals. When the Indian physicist and ecologist found that global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, she started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming. Shiva’s books include Biopiracy, Stolen Harvest, Monocultures of the Mind, and Water Wars. Her many awards include the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.” She spoke in September 2011 at the Heirloom Seed Expo organized by Baker Creek Seeds along with many independent seed companies, farmers and schools.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

Vandana Shiva: The Seed at the Heart of Freedom (ONE of TWO) 

By huge popular request this is a Re-broadcast from October 2011 as antidote to the $25 million raised by NO on Prop 37. California Prop. 37 on the November ballot, requiring the labeling of GMOs, has the attention of the country and even the world. YES on 37 collected $3 Million, NO on 37 is funded by Monsanto, DuPont, Pepsi, BASF, Dow, Nestle, Coca-Cola and others to the tune of $25 million. Vandana Shiva addresses science and politics of GMOs in a passionate, convincing way without mentioning Prop. 37.
Shiva was recorded in September 2011 at the first national Heirloom Seed Expo held in Santa Rosa, CA. 10,000 people had come on short notice to see plants and seeds that [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Scientific Freedom in the Age of Biotechnology (TWO of TWO)

With John Losey and Ignacio Chapela: The science of biology is being transformed by corporations who sponsor a new field of scientific research and industrial production called biotechnology. The biotech industry claims their products are safe and genetically engineered corn and soy area already grown all across the US. Rice wheat and potatoes are scheduled to follow soon.
John Losey discovered that Monarch butterfly caterpillars can die when they eat pollen from engineered corn plants. The industry waged an unsuccessful campaign to suppress his report.
Ignacio Chapela found that engineered corn has already invaded the cradle of corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. A campaign was begun to discredit him and he was denied tenure in spite of the full support of his [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Scientific Freedom in the Age of Biotechnology (ONE of TWO)

This program is about academic freedom, independent thinking, corporate intervention into science, the buying of academia, the collusion of regulatory agencies with the very corporations they are to oversee and maybe – most frightening of all – the invasion of the DNA, the inner spaces and the self organization of life.
Arpad Pusztai was an advocate of genetic engineering until his research with rats showed serious damage to their immune system and organ growth when they were fed with genetically engineered potatoes. He was fired from his job as Principal Scientific Officer at the Rowett Institute in Scotland, a job he had held for 30 years.
Tyrone Hayes did research on the effects of Atrazine, the world’s most widely used agricultural chemical [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Yastel Yamada: The Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima (TWO of TWO)

The Skilled Veterans are alerting the international community to the serious problems with the cleanup at Fukushima Daiichi. 11,400 fuel rods are stuck in damaged buildings, and in Unit 4 100 feet up in the air. If they were to lose cooling during the 20 year plus removal to safe storage a fire could spread 85 times the amount of Cesium 137 of the Chernobyl accident around the globe.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Yastel Yamada: The Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima (ONE of TWO)

They are willing to work on fuel removal in the most dangerous areas of Fukushima Daiichi to protect younger workers from high radiation doses. They said they are elders, were no longer having children and might die of natural causes before some of the long latency cancers would make them seriously ill.
Now 700 plus members strong, they are retired workers from Fukushima, and engineers and technicians from other branches of industry. They made this extraordinary offer only four weeks after the Fukushima disaster. However 14 months later TEPCO has not yet given them permission to work.
Yastel Yamada is cofounder and Director of their organization, the Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima. Through August 2012 he is on a speaking tour [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

TO THE MEMORY OF Chernobyl, Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (FOUR)

This last of four programs presents important information on the plight of the children of Chernobyl who – to this day – need vacations in uncontaminated areas to detoxify their bodies from some of the embedded radioactive substances that they absorb in every day life, substances such as cesium, cobalt, thorium, plutonium etc. Also explained is the danger of contaminated food, and how to set up ongoing projects, under control of local communities, to deal with the persisting radiation and find methods to measure the burden of internal radiation.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

TO THE MEMORY CHERNOBYL – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (THREE)

How has the radiation affected – and continues to affect air, water, the soil, plants and animals. How does radiation move, disperse, bio-accumulate and enter the food chain. Specific examples are from studies on rivers and lakes, wild and domestic animals, birds, fish, fungi, bacteria, viruses, studies that show that they were all affected, in varying degrees, but without exception.

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TO THE MEMORY CHERNOBYL – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (TWO)

This extensive section on health effects offers a whole new view of the consequences of radiation induced disease. Yes, there are cancers to specific organs, but there are also diseases that affect body systems such as the whole endocrine system, not just the thyroid, or the immune system, the respiratory and the reproductive systems. – Also a brief explanation of “half life” “hot spots” and why background radiation is different from radiation from nuclear processes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

TO THE MEMORY OF CHERNOBYL – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment (ONE)

The Chernobyl reactor explosion is referenced to minimize the impact of Fukuchima. The WHO and the IAEA, whose mission is to promote nuclear power, claim that “there is no scientific evidence of increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality rates .. that could be related to radiation exposure from Chernobyl.” There are good arguments that the death toll is near 1.9 million.

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Helen Caldicott: IMPACT OF RADIATION FROM NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS (ONE archival only)

Helen Caldicott says that 200 new elements are made inside a nuclear reactor, all intensely radioactive, some lasting seconds, some 17 million years. Many of them are carcinogenic, some are mutagenic. In this speech she explains how radiation induces cancers and mutations, and describes the effects of the four most significant isotopes present in nuclear power plants: radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium-239.
This a an extremely timely excerpt of a one hour lecture given in 2009. Helen Caldicott was then campaigning against the pro-nuclear power stance of the Obama administration. She spoke to create awareness of the terrible danger from nuclear reactors and demanded that no new plants be built and the existing reactors be closed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

1979 Archive SHUT DOWN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS (TWO of TWO)

With Jane Fonda, David Brower, Dick Gregory, Grace Paley, Abbie Hoffman, Kurt Vonnegut, Governor Jerry Brown and Barry Commoner. This is the second part of an amazing historic document that raises all the questions that confront us today: nuclear reactors as ticking time-bombs with potential for catastrophic accidents. Do we have the right to spread nuclear waste and nuclear radiation that will poison the planet tens and hundreds and even hundreds of thousands of years into the future?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)