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Genetically modified alfalfa and Roundup herbicides may create an agricultural disaster
PF Louis
(NaturalNews) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been extended to alfalfa. This could be the beginning of a disastrous domino effect on our food crop and livestock systems. The GMO hazards have gone beyond the need for labeling our consumption needs. Genetically engineered alfalfa is a far more serious threat than imagined by most.
Alfalfa's importance
Alfalfa is considered the number one forage crop. Milk from cows that graze on alfalfa is considered premium. The best horses graze on alfalfa. And of course, alfalfa itself is used for human consumption with the increased popularity of alfalfa sprouts.
Its usefulness as animal feed goes beyond grazing. Alfalfa can also be used for animals as hay or silage, which is made by storing moist crops in a silo or under plastic. That process is known as ensiling or ensilage. The silage can also be dried and made into pellets for pet food.
Silage for livestock, usually produced from corn or soy, is what is used for non-grass fed or grazing cattle and other livestock. So it's not corn on the cob or soybeans that are used in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Factory farms use silage because it's the most compact and convenient form of feed for industrial livestock.
Alfalfa has been found to be an excellent rotational crop to raise the nitrogen content of soil, which is very beneficial to other crops. Alfalfa also performs well as a conservation tillage system, where some crop is left on the surface after tilling to reduce erosion during high rain or flood periods.
Recent crop failures of GE corn and soy as well as farm animal abortion, still birth, and infertility that fed on the silage from those crops have created an ominous warning for GE alfalfa's future impact.
GMOs and glyphosates recipe for disaster
Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Purdue University, discovered a new organism that causes crop disease, livestock infertility and threatens U.S. food and agriculture. The organism was never isolated before. It can only be detected with an electron microscope.
Dr. Huber had tried to get USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to hold off from giving the green light to GE alfalfa. But Vilsack is a total Monsanto shill, and he completely disregarded Huber's warning. Dr. Huber interview: (http://vimeo.com/22997532).
This new micro-organism is a mutation out of heavy glyphosate herbicides. Glyphosate is the foundation of Monsanto's trademarked herbicide. And Roundup is the herbicide used for Roundup Ready GMO corn and soy crops.
The idea is to allow liberal spraying of Roundup to kill off weeds while the GMO Roundup Ready mutated plants resist it. At first this folly resulted in super weeds that became Roundup resistant. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028347_G...).
But the damage is much deeper. Glyphosate kills the weeds by reducing their nutrient protection against disease and allowing disease causing pathogens, such as the newly discovered one, to replace those nutrients in the soil.
Since Roundup's applications, two major crop destroying diseases have occurred with GE corn and soy. This new previously unknown pathogen thrives even better during the creation of silage. So by the time farm factory livestock is fed silage from GE corn or soy, this pathogen has gotten stronger.
Manganese,which is vital for animal birthing, is depleted by glyphosate. This manganese depletion and the new pathogen have created an epidemic of livestock spontaneous abortions and stillbirths. Decreased fertility is another result of glyphosate GMO combinations.
GE alfalfa and Roundup glyphosates and GMOs are capable of drifting from their fields to even organic alfalfa fields and infecting them. This may cripple a large sector of our food chain permanently (http://www.naturalnews.com/031138_M...)
Sources for this article include
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/...
http://www.organicconsumers.org/art...
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/...
http://ohioline.osu.edu/as-fact/dis...
http://www.naturalnews.com/z034264_GM_alfalfa_Roundup.html