September, 29 2011, 11:52am EDT

From Lab to Plate: A Primer on GE Food
Food & Water Watch Publishes Overview on Genetic Engineering’s Implications for the Food System, Environment and Human Health
WASHINGTON
Food & Water Watch today released a report that provides scientific and political background behind the introduction of genetically engineered food in the United States, and its potential impact on consumers, the environment and farmers. The report, Genetically Engineered Food: An Overview, outlines how the genetic engineering of crops and animals for human consumption is not the silver bullet approach for feeding a growing population that the agribusiness and biotechnology industries claim it is. Conversely, studies find that GE plants and animals do not perform better than their traditional counterparts and raise a slew of health, environmental and ethical concerns.
"Through glitzy advertising campaigns and scientists whose research is paid for by the industry, agribusiness and biotechnology companies try to persuade consumers that genetic engineering is the only hope for feeding a growing population, which is completely untrue," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. "Before consumers accept genetically engineered food, they need to consider the risks and potential consequences involved with radically manipulating the genetic makeup of plants and animals."
The report outlines the potential risks of GE foods including increased food allergies and unknown long term health effects in humans; the rise of superweeds that have become resistant to GE-affiliated herbicides; the ethical and economic concerns involved with the patenting of life and corporate consolidation of the seed supply; and the contamination of organic and non-GE crops and livestock through cross-pollination and seed dispersal.
It also documents how the lack of coordination, oversight and enforcement from a patchwork of federal agencies - the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency - has put human and environmental health at risk.
"Public opinion surveys show that many people do not want GE food in their diet and the vast majority of those polled are insistent that GE food must be labeled, at minimum, so they can make informed choices," said Hauter. "Lax enforcement, uncoordinated agency oversight and ambivalent post-approval monitoring have allowed GE plants and animals to slip through the cracks and into our food system without the public's knowledge."
Biotech firms' long-promised high-yielding and drought-resistant GE seeds remain commercially unavailable while the most prevalent GE crops - Roundup Ready crops - require much more herbicide as resistant superweeds evolve, lowering farm yields and leaving farmers no choice but to use other chemicals with proven health risks like 2,4-D (an Agent Orange component) and Atrazine.
Additionally, the report reveals that biotech companies block independent research on GE foods and press for lighter regulatory oversight. Records show that between 1999 and 2009, $547 million was spent on lobbying and campaign contributions to ease GE regulatory oversight, push GE approvals and prevent GE labeling.
The report concludes with several recommendations including a moratorium on new U.S. approvals of GE plants and animals; a policy that would more rigorously evaluate potentially harmful effects of GE crops before their commercialization; improved agency coordination and increase post-market regulation; and mandatory labeling of GE foods.
The report can be downloaded at: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blog/reports/genetically-engineered-food/
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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'Authoritarian Theater' Meets 'Pure F*cking Idiocracy' as Trump Promises White House UFC Match
"Americans, you won't have healthcare, Medicaid, public schools, nursing homes, rural hospitals, or SNAP," said one critic. "But, you'll get UFC fights on the White House lawn. America F-Yeah!"
Jul 05, 2025
Critics of President Donald Trump's announcement of a planned Ultimate Fighting Championship event on White House grounds to celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial next year took to social media Friday to call the proposal something "straight out of 'Idiocracy'"—the comedy cult classic about a dumbed-down 26th-century America—and condemn what one detractor called "authoritarian theater."
"Every one of our national park battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250," Trump said at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Thursday. "We're going to have a UFC fight—think of this—on the grounds of the White House."
Yearning for a time when every new day isn't exponentially dumber than the day before.
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— Dave Vetter (@davidrvetter.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 2:57 AM
While Octagon aficionados cheered the prospect of a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fight card, many observers couldn't help but notice parallels with the plot of Mike Judge's 2006 film "Idiocracy," a satirical skewering of issues including the erosion of White House decorum in a future when IQs have plummeted and a sports drink corporation owns the country, whose voters elect Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, "five-time ultimate smackdown champion and porn superstar," as president.
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Yet another social media critic joked that "'Idiocracy' was actually a documentary from the future, sent back in time as a warning to us all."
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"Americans, you won't have healthcare, Medicaid, public schools, nursing homes, rural hospitals, or SNAP. But, you'll get UFC fights on the White House lawn," New York Times opinion contributor Wajahat Ali wrote on Bluesky. "America, F-YEAH!"
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As catastrophic flooding left scores of people dead and missing in Texas Hill Country and President Donald Trump celebrated signing legislation that will eviscerate every aspect of federal efforts to address the climate emergency, officials in the Lone Star State blasted the National Weather Service—one of many agencies gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency—for issuing faulty forecasts that some observers blamed for the flood's high death toll.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more—including as many as 25 girls from a summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County—missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.
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"The camp was completely destroyed," Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic, told the AP. "A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary."
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said during a press conference in Kerrville late Friday that 24 people were confirmed dead, including children. Other officials said that 240 people had been rescued.
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After media reports & experts warned for months that drastic & sudden cuts at the Nat Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability & endanger lives during the storm season, TX officials blame an inaccurate forecast by NWS for the deadly results of the flood.
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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 5, 2025 at 3:19 AM
"Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service," Kidd reiterated. "You all got it; you're all in media. You got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."
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Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts' deadly consequences.
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Writing for the Texas Observer, Henry D. Jacoby—co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change—warned that "crucial data gathering systems are at risk."
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As Inside Climate News noted of the new law:
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Al-Maghazi Services Club announced al-Lili's death in a Facebook tribute offering condolences to "his family, relatives, friends, and colleagues" and asking "Allah to shower him with his mercy."
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) said that "on Monday, a drone fired a missile at Muhannad's room on the third floor of his house, which led to severe bleeding in the skull."
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