California’s Proposition 37 for GMO labeling makes the news in Britain

Californians vote today on whether they want GMO-containing foods labeled as such.

From Suzanne Goldenberg in The Guardian (UK):

“Monsanto and other agribusiness and food companies have spent more than $45m (£28m) to defeat a California ballot measure that would require labelling of some GM foods.

The measure, proposition 37, is one of the most contentious initiatives on California‘s election ballot on Tuesday.

If it passes, it would require labels on GM food sold in supermarkets, but would not cover restaurants. It also has a number of gaping loopholes. For example, the law would not require labels on meat from animals that were fed GM corn.

UK considers revising raw milk rules

From Food Safety News:

“…England and Wales have about 100 registered cow operations selling raw milk for human consumption, as well as 27 registered producers of raw milk from goats, and three from sheep.

Not since 2002 have any of those raw milk producers had a product associated with an outbreak of illness. In the 10 years prior to 2002, there were 20 outbreaks — mostly of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium  DT12 — which sickened 242 people and sent 36 to hospitals. There were no deaths.

Except for Scotland — where all raw milk sales are banned, the UK limits sales to the farm where raw milk is produced.   

The Monsanto leaving Britain story was apparently from 2003, details below:

From Mike Adams at Natural News.com:

“(NaturalNews) Editor’s note: We regret to inform our readers that this story is based on a Daily Mail article that we have now been informed is from 2003, not 2012. In their own search engine, Daily Mail mistakenly listed their own story as being published on February 3, 2012. We have a screen capture of this search to prove this, taken from the Daily Mail’s website search engine:
http://www.naturalnews.com/images/GMO-Site-Screen-2012.jpg

A second source, Investors.com, had also reported Monsanto’s withdrawal from the UK. In a story dated February 3, 2012 that was sourced from UPI (United Press International), Investors.com reported: (http://news.investors.com/Newsfeed/Article/140895211/201202030212/Mon…)

Monsanto calls it quits in Britain

Monsanto has failed to establish a beachhead in Britain, according to this story from British newspaper The Mail Online:

“The giant bio-tech firm Monsanto yesterday announced a major withdrawal from the UK amid intense opposition to genetically modified foods.

The company, the leading multinational behind the production of GM crops, is closing its wheat growing operation, based in Cambridge.

Officials said the move was partly due to the opposition to GM crops which has inspired the Daily Mail’s campaign against so-called “Frankenstein Foods”.

Raw milk vending machines in the U.K.

From The Guardian:

Click image to go to story in The Guardian.

“A major London department store is giving consumers the chance to buy unpasteurised milk, despite the government food watchdog’s claim that the move is illegal on public health grounds.

Off-grid U.K. couple faced with prison

From The Mid-Devon Gazette, via Gordon Watson:

British off-gridders Stig and Dinah in their garden. Photo via "This is Devon"

A COUPLE living an “off-grid” lifestyle say they face prison unless they move from their own land in Willand England and return to an existence in the benefits trap.

Stig and Dinah Mason bought Muxbeare Orchard after a sudden windfall allowed them to quit their impoverished lives on a Hertfordshire council estate two years ago

The Masons have transformed what they described as a derelict four-acre plot into a haven of self-sufficiency boasting a 400 sq m allotment, a polytunnel and greenhouses to grow fruit and vegetables, chickens for egg production and an orchard they have regenerated by planting around 14 new apple trees of various species.

There is a cocktail of 20 chemicals in your glass of milk — the Daily Mail

From David Derbyshire at the Daily Mail UK:

Graphic via The Mail Online website. Click for source.

“A glass of milk can contain a cocktail of up to 20 painkillers, antibiotics and growth hormones, scientists have shown.

Using a highly sensitive test, they found a host of chemicals used to treat illnesses in animals and people in samples of cow, goat and human breast milk. 

The start of pasteurization in the U.K.

Gordon Watson sends this:

Over the years in my political/religious activity, I learned that a Big Lie must be tracked-back to its root in order to undo it. Below is the transcript of discussion in the House of Lords, when Great Britain was considering heat-treating the milk in commercial distribution; 1946: a textbook example of how the Big Lie technique works. Most instructive for us, today, is seeing how proponents of compulsory Pasteur-ization have been singing the very same song = note for note = for 60 years.

Lord Rothschild mocks the objection that the effect of his Bill would make raw milk unobtainable for those who want it as, “totalitarian” … saying ” …nobody in his senses would attempt such a measure” … yet that’s exactly what did happen here in British Columbia.Thus, the judgment of those opposing compulsory heat-treatment, has been borne out.  

“In war, truth is the first casualty” — blocking of online donations is latest attempt to silence news from Wikileaks

We interrupt our regular programming to bring you a story about the struggle for journalistic freedom which may not make it into the mainstream American media. This is from a story Thursday in The Guardian UK newspaper. It’s maybe no surprise to anyone that raw milk fans are not the only people dealing with rogue agencies of “government”. Raw milks fans may also be interested to learn about Julian Assange’s highly unconventional childhood and youth.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of the Guardian after thousands of US military documents were leaked and exposed Photograph: Andrew Winning/REUTERS

“The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.

New pasteurization technology being proposed even for human breast milk

Thanks to Gordon Watson for bringing this story to our attention — New technology from SurePure promises safer and cheaper pasteurisation of milk. By Duncan Alfreds:

Is this a relationship in need of pasteurization? Some seem to think so. Photo via Strollerderby.

Cape Town – A South African company that has developed a new liquid purifying technology has been hailed in the UK as “most likely to succeed” at the recent Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA) conference hosted by Dairy UK.