Monsanto’s Neotame molecule allowed in USDA certified organic foods

[irishspirit]

By Mary Nash Stoddard
The Aspartame Consumer Safety Network


Everyone wants to indulge a sweet tooth at this festive time of year, without suffering the inevitable consequences of weight gain. But, be aware of the hidden (not listed on ingredient labels) dangers of Neotame sweetener in almost everything consumed by humans, and now even in feed for livestock raised for human consumption.


In 1998, Monsanto applied for FDA approval for a monster molecule, “based on the aspartame formula” with one critical addition: 3-dimethylbutyl [listed on EPA's most hazardous chemical list]. Neotame is touted as being 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.


On July 5, 2002 – Monsanto’s Neotame molecule was approved by the US FDA over formally registered objections of the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and others. (Long term effects on humans are unknown.) Read the full release on The Aspartame Consumer Safety Network.
The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for:

1. USDA Certified Organic food items.
2. Certified Kosher products with the official letter k inside the circle on labels.

Ever ready to give the public what it craves – guilt-free, low calorie treats that taste as good as sugar, is the multi billion dollar sweetener industry. The sugar industry pales by comparison, in the profit generating arena. Fake sugars, in the form of Aspartame and now the Aspartame super clone, Neotame, give ‘foodies’ and fitness fanatics false hope and the empty promise that all can ‘have our cake and eat it, too.’ Not necessarily so.


http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/201...organic-foods/

[iceni tribe]

[Banshee]

This image is very very powerful. This should be spread "far and wide" ( to quote Mr. Icke). Is this image copywrited? I would like to use it. thanks.

[bearcow]

There is no way it could be in 100% USDA organic foods. There are strict guidelines for obtaining a 100% USDA organic label and they are tightly upheld. It is possible however that it could be put in a item that is 70%-99% organic as the guidelines are different. Worked in the industry for many years. Make sure you read your labels folks.

[conk]

This is an egregious crime! I am not surprised, however.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by bearcow (here)
There is no way it could be in 100% USDA organic foods.

From what I can tell, bearcow, you're right. I've just spent a few minutes searching on the web, and can't claim to have worked in the industry for years, however...

It seems that Mary Nash Stoddard "deduced" that Neotame was allowed, from its categorization as a GRAS sweetner or some such.

The claim in her article has since been refuted, by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), in a release dated January 10, 2001 Neotame Not Allowed in Organic Foods, stating:

The National Organic Program has received inquiries concerning Internet claims that the artificial sweetener Neotame is allowed in organic foods.

To clarify, it is NOT permitted in organic foods or foods labeled "made with organic [specified ingredient or food group]," nor is it permitted in organic livestock feed.

[silvervioletrubie]

Monsanto (thru the U.S gov) is clearly waging war in Europe to dominate the corn seed crop, (thanks wikileaks!), unfortunately they are wining battles here in the U.S. as well.

I found this article very relevant, and very informative. It gives a description of the "new food order" coming to our Whole Foods Store etc. It also discusses where we can find true non-gmo foods. Not surprising,.. that shelf in our market is very small and getting smaller every year due to cross pollination of Monsantos seed.

Makes me want to Buy local, Sell local, grow your own food!


"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."

Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.

Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as "natural."

Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called "natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic movement.

Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating "Natural" Fraud

Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as "natural," and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are "certified organic."

Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed "natural" foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a "natural" supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most "natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.

Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to "natural" imposters. It's no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and "natural" purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.

The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called "Natural" GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market

There can be no such thing as "coexistence" with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world's 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it."

The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont - the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.

Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don't hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers' right to know what's in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the "Revolving Door" between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.

With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We've got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.

The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.

Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to voluntarily implement "truth-in-labeling" practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances - similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you're interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here: http://organicconsumers.org/oca-volunteer/

To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation's largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely: http://www.organicconsumers.org/arti...icle_22309.cfm

And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.

Power to the People! Not the Corporations!

Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association

[dadoffourkids]

Monsanto's Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health - (Institute for Responsible Technology- January 14, 2011)

Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) is a serious plant disease that ravaged the Midwest in 2009 and '10, driving down yields and profits. More than 30% of all herbicides sprayed anywhere contain glyphosate-the world's bestselling weed killer. It was patented by Monsanto for use in their Roundup brand, which became more popular when they introduced "Roundup Ready" crops starting in 1996 and appears to be responsible for SDS among other plant diseases.

Source: http://www.responsibletechnology.org/blog/664

[dadoffourkids]

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto - (Huffington Post - January 28, 2011)

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto. In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronnie..._b_815346.html

[dadoffourkids]

Chemtrails and Monsanto’s New Aluminum Resistance Gene – Coincidence?

By Barbara H. Peterson

Why did Monsanto Develop an Aluminum Resistance Gene?

Monsanto is currently marketing an aluminum resistance gene. Here’s the spin, folks:

Small-scale, resource-poor farmers in developing countries face daily stresses, including poor soils, drought, and lack of inputs. Ongoing trends such as climate change and population growth will likely exacerbate binding stresses. A new generation of genetically engineered (GE) crop research aims to alleviate these pressures through the improvement of subsistence crops—such as cassava, sorghum, and millet—that incorporate traits such as tolerance to drought, water, and aluminum in soils as well as plants with more efficient nitrogen and phosphorus use.

Source: http://farmwars.info/?p=2927

[Fractalius]

an anagram of Monsanto, is Oh man, snot.

and not moans.

[58andfixed]

Posted by bearcow (here)
There is no way it could be in 100% USDA organic foods. There are strict guidelines for obtaining a 100% USDA organic label and they are tightly upheld.

Laws & guidelines change like a chameleon changes spots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification

"Products with at least 95% organic ingredients can use the word "organic". "

"Manipulation of certification regulations as a way to mislead or outright dupe the public is a very real concern."

"In December 2005, the 2006 agricultural appropriations bill was passed with a rider allowing 38 synthetic ingredients to be used in organic foods."

"Among the ingredients are food colorings, starches, sausage and hot-dog casings, hops, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, and gelatin."

"This allowed Anheuser-Busch in 2007 to have its Wild Hop Lager certified organic "even though [it] uses hops grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides."

- 58

[Trail]

Posted by Banshee (here)
This image is very very powerful. This should be spread "far and wide" ( to quote Mr. Icke). Is this image copywrited? I would like to use it. thanks.

Checkout http://deesillustration.com/ he has so many more incredibly powerfull images.. they are free to use but he kindly asks for a donation. Here is his statement on the Donate page http://www.r-sw.com/DavidDeesDonation/makepmt.asp

Most assume that Rense.com has me on the payroll to produce all of these political activist illustrations every week, but the truth is, no one pays me to do these. It is just that I am driven, and totally addicted to getting the message out, and offer all of this art free to anyone who will use it to wake up their friends and family up to the attacks we all are facing. The few paying art jobs I have suffer because my attention is always on producing more political art, and fighting the New World Order, but making ends meet is really difficult. If you would like to donate to this cause and help support my form of artistic activism, then please do so, I am accepting donations through PayPal. I would really appreciate anything you can do to help me pay the rent, and be sure to mention a subject or piece you would like to see me illustrate, that is the least I can do, and the most important thing I can do.

Thanks so much for your support. ~David

I think he's a real hero!!! I love that guy and sending him all the best intentions.. he's doing great work!!

[Ami]

I was reading Inelia's website today - www.ascension101.com - and she had an article called "The Global Elite - What can YOU do?"

http://ascension101.com/ascension-in...an-you-do.html

She says:
'...focus on them and tell them, "your time is up, all your darkness leaves this universe now", with love and compassion.'

This immediately came back to me after I read this post about Monsanto.

Thank you Inelia, I now know how I'm spending my evening.

[Magdalena]

Back to Aspartame.

The pink Ribbon is an in New York registered International operating society of worldwide operating against breast cancer, and yet in the power drink sell in The Netherlands, aspartame is an ingredient to sweeten. I can not combine the goal they want to achieve and the means used.

[TigaHawk]

This makes me very very angry as well.

For someone that goes out of their way to eat organic.... finding out that the poisons in the food which you're trying to avoid, are still inthere.....


just makes me feel... uh.... lovely.

[Steven]

"The world according to Monsanto" a documentary from Marie-Monique Robin

http://www.bbc5.tv/eyeplayer/video/w...rding-monsanto

The future of food and seed from Vandana Shiva



Namaste, Steven

[Merkaba360]

The insanity never ends in HELL.

I would never put it past em to sneak poisons in so called 100% organics. Pretty much everything is a lie, why not this? Sounds like they can call 95% organics 100%.

Glad i'm a healer. Should be people dropping like flies before i get nervous.

Bring it on!! wake up more people.

[Lancelot]

Posted by Fractalius (here)
an anagram of Monsanto, is Oh man, snot.

and not moans.

and -

man host - NO

[Revere]

Personal Story....

My fatehr is a diabetic and use to love to drink diet sodas full of Aspertame. Probably 4-6 cans a day. He has various problems. He would get eye bleeds more and more. He then kicked his soda habit and the eye bleeds stopped. He has not had a bleed in many months maybe even over a year or so. I later heard that aspertame effects the eys as well. True? Does anyone know. Thanks.

-R-