Penn Jillette and Teller, from the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! TV show, calls in the latest episode organic food for “bullshit” (see video below). Penn and Teller’s main point why organic food is “bullshit” is simply because it “might mean you’re getting your food from giant corporations or China.”

But what Penn and Teller fail to mention is that the so called “Food Policy Analyst Expert”, Alex Avery, is paid by the Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute is an American conservative, religious and free market think tank. Simply put, they are corporate lobbyists. And the prestigious-sounding Hudson Institute is funded by giant corporations such as Monsanto, the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) food.

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Photo credit: Uncleweed

The day has finally come for industrial hemp. Hemp products are reaching mainstream markets and becoming more and more popular. However, although hemp crops have been around for literally thousands of years, the benefits of this important crop are still being overshadowed by its controversial stigma as marijuana. 

What is Hemp?

Hemp (also known as Cannabis sativa L.) is a diverse plant encompassing over 500 varieties. This article refers to industrial hemp, used for food, cloth and other commodities, as opposed to marijuana.

Contrary to popular belief, marijuana and hemp, though related, are not synonymous. The levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana) are less than 0.3% in hemp. Conversely, industrial hemp contains a relatively high percentage of another chemical called CBD, which actually impedes psychoactive effects of marijuana. Therefore, eating hemp, smoking hemp or using hemp products will not get you high.

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As early as 1998, the dangers of genetically modified food (GMOs) have been recognized by numerous scientific studies. Yet, no mainstream media included stories warning of these studies. Even today, the general North American public remains ignorant of their daily food’s dangers due to the mainstream press’s continual disregard of the topic.

The media research group Project Censored brought this issue to light by admitting it in its 2007 database. Annually, the American media research organization Project Censored records the twenty-five most underreported stories of the year, in hopes of exposing significant (and ignored) stories to the public and informing them on key issues that would not otherwise be brought to their attention. Underreported stories submitted must be reliable and of major significance to the population.

This article tracks the coverage GM food’s dangers since its induction into Project Censored’s database, searching in American mainstream press, Canadian and foreign mainstream press.

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Hosted by Digg’s Kevin Rose, viewers have a rare opportunity to hear from former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. All interview questions have been selected by the Digg and Current.com communities

In the interview Al Gore shares his thoughts and ideas on energy independence, clean coal, GMO, a place in an Obama’s administration, alternative fuels etc. Well worth a look:

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Greenpeace hired the design firm BBDO from Moscow to tell consumers about genetically-modified organisms. The text in the ad says:

Do you know what you eat? The DNA of genetically modified plants may contain the genes of insects, animals or even viruses. These products may potentially cause harm to your health. Look for GMD free sign on the package.

The above image is cropped. More and full images after the jump:

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If you don’t recycle you might spend eternity in Hell. At least that is what the Vatican warns it’s followers.

The Roman Catholic Church recently “modernized” their list of deadly sins and added seven new deadly sins “for our times”. Failure to recycle is one of them.

Other deadly sins is now to play around with genetic modifications, carrying out experiments on humans, polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty and becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs.