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It is bad enough that we have to deal with genetically-engineered foods, but now we are facing the prospect of something potentially even more scary: genetically-engineered trees.

Tree biotech company ArborGen is requesting an unprecedented USDA approval for its genetically-engineered (GE), “freeze tolerant” eucalyptus. If the USDA grants this approval, it will be the first-ever GE-forest tree to be commercially grown in the U.S., allowing ArborGen to plant massive, unregulated GE-tree farms.

For anyone who cares about the integrity of organic and the future of our industry, what has transpired with Carey Gillam should be of incredible concern.

Recently released court documents revealed that Gillam, a journalist and author of Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science, was the target of a carefully-crafted campaign by Monsanto to discredit her.

* Impossible Foods is “misleading consumers” about the key ingredient in the Impossible Burger.

* The Company told the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that its soy leghemoglobin was  “substantially similar” to proteins consumed daily by the global population, in the form of meat and other vegetables.

However, on the Impossible Foods website, it claims that the heme in the Impossible Burger is “identical” to the heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat and other foods. 

* The FDA told Impossible Foods that its arguments “do not establish safety of SLH (soy leghemoglobin) for consumption.” The company decided to sell the Impossible Burger to the public anyway.

* Impossible Foods relied on the expert testimony of scientists who have worked for or have links to Monsanto, the Gates Foundation, Philip Morris and all of the major biotechnology companies.

* 20 minutes after eating an Impossible Burger for the first time, a man Tweeted “went into anaphylactic shock & taken to ER.”

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One of the biggest stories in the food world over the past few years has been the Impossible Burger, the plant-based burger that bleeds when you bite into it.

The goal of the Impossible Burger is to help make a dent in climate change by offering a plant-based burger that does not come from an animal. Animals require a tremendous amount of water and feed, and also produce greenhouse gases. Because the burger is made from plants, the other thing that the Impossible Burger would do is to help alleviate the killing of animals.

A few days ago, the President’s Cancer Panel, a group of independent doctors and researchers, released its annual report called “Reducing our Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now”. Needless to say, the connection between the amount of chemicals/harmful toxins in our environment and the high incidence of cancer is incredibly strong, and decisive action needs to be taken.

In its letter to the President, the Panel “urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate lives.”

The report recommends that in order to decrease exposure to pesticides, individuals should choose “food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers” and “exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones and toxic run-off from livestock feed lots can be minimized by eating free-range meat without these medications.”

As Beyond Meat’s very successful IPO is bringing a lot of attention to the alt-protein category, it is important to take a look at what exactly are in these food products.

One popular name in this space is the Impossible Burger, a product we first wrote about in 2017 when Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents uncovered that the FDA disagreed with the company’s safety assessments of the burger’s main ingredient — soy leghemoglobin. However, the company continued selling it to the public anyhow without informing consumers about the FDA’s very serious concerns.

The issue this time around with the Impossible Burger is the amount of glyphosate that it contains.

Many people are under the impression that organic crops will just “always be there”.

Meaning, we don’t have to worry, we’ll just go to the local farmers market or Whole Foods, they’ll always have organic. These people will figure out any potential problems.

Yet, if you look behind the scenes and learn what is happening with alfalfa, a main source of feed for animals in the organic meat and dairy industries, you’ll quickly realize that the situation for organic is very dire.

For years, I have been warning about the health risks of drinking non-organic hormonal milk.

But it isn’t just the synthetic growth hormones that are worrisome.

It is also the alarming level of antibiotics that animals receive and the pesticide-soaked, GMO grains they are fed.

A recently published report from researchers at Emory University, in collaboration with The Organic Center, is validating our concerns with non-organic milk.