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This threat to edible corn comes on top of GE alfalfa (a major,major threat to organic agriculture) and GE sugarbeets. Please takeaction on this vital issue. Last Friday, the US Department of Agriculture announced it wouldderegulate a type of industrial corn genetically engineered toproduce an enzyme that speeds the breakdown of starch into sugar,which would increase efficiency in making ethanol. The agencyconcluded the crop does not pose a plant risk. For once, natural health advocates are voicing the same concerns asthe corn industry. The Center for Food Safety says that bio-fuelcorn "will inevitably contaminate food-grade corn 2011/02/usda-fully-deregulates-ethanol-... and could well trigger substantial rejection in our corn exportmarkets, hurting farmers." Five major US trade associations whose member companies process andexport corn and corn products agree. They say the product -- ifinadvertently commingled with general commodity corn at even verylow levels -- will have significant adverse effects on food productquality cornandsoybeandigest.com/seed/trade-associations-disappointed-.. and performance. Fears about the genetic contamination of corn echo concerns aboutMonsanto's mutant alfalfa -- that it will likely destroy organicalfalfa altogether because the crop is so invasive and its seedsare so easily spread by the wind. The danger of contamination ofnon-genetically altered species is extremely high, despitehalf-hearted attempts at "usage guidelines." Organic alfalfa, inturn, is essential for organic meat production. In an article at TruthOut www.truth-out.org/big-win-biotech-usda-deregulates-monsanto-al.. reporter Mike Ludwig noted that House Committee on Agriculturemembers pressed Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack agriculture.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1296 to fully deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa and reject the proposalto geographically isolate it from traditional alfalfa. Uponlearning that the USDA had fully deregulated the geneticallyengineered grain, committee chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) said, "I ampleased that USDA used sound science and respected the limit of itsstatutory authority to make this decision." Monsanto was one of the top contributors to Lucas's campaigncommittee in 2010. A political action committee and individualsassociated with Monsanto donated $11,000 to his campaign last year,and Lucas has received $1,247,844 from the agribusiness industryduring his political career, according to watchdog siteOpenSecrets.org .?Lucas was elected chairman of the Agriculture Committee in December. Deregulation of genetically engineered alfalfa, sugarbeets, and nowbio-fuel? corn -- what's next? We must overturn these disastrousdecisions. If you have not done so already, please see our recentAction Alert on alfalfa, which now includes both bio-fuel corn andsugarbeets, and send your message to the USDA, Congress and toPresident Obama today! TO SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT, CONGRESS, AND THE USDA ClickTHIS LINKhttps://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=656 to go to the Action Alert page. Once there, fill out the form withyour name and address, etc., and customize your letter. We have asuggested message for you, but please feel free to add your owncomments to the letter. We'd also love to hear your comments aboutthis article -- just add your thoughts below -- but remember thatthe messages below are only seen by our ANH-USA readers and notCongress, the USDA, etc. About the author: Craig Smith is the editor at the Alliance for Natural Health ( www.ANH-USA.org ). The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Titanium Rod , China Hafnium Crystal Bar, and more. For more , please visit Titanium Sheet Plate today!
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