Six years ago, Americans began eating genetically engineered food. Surprised? That's because no one told you. While other countries require mandatory labeling of these food ingredients, our FDA has decided we don't need to know.
A genetically modified organism (GMO, also called "genetically engineered") is a plant, animal or microorganism (eg, bacteria) that is created by means that overcome natural boundaries. Genetic engineering involves crossing species which could not cross in nature. For example, genes from a fish have been inserted into strawberries and tomatoes. While the Food and Drug Administration insists that foods produced by genetic engineering are the same as foods from traditional breeding, their own scientists reported that, "the processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different and... they lead to different risks." (1)
Why are companies spending billions on this crazy idea? Because they want to own copyrights on a genes that no one else 'owns' - so that they can make billions of dollars from them.
A genetically modified organism (GMO, also called "genetically engineered") is a plant, animal or microorganism (eg, bacteria) that is created by means that overcome natural boundaries. Genetic engineering involves crossing species which could not cross in nature. For example, genes from a fish have been inserted into strawberries and tomatoes. While the Food and Drug Administration insists that foods produced by genetic engineering are the same as foods from traditional breeding, their own scientists reported that, "the processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different and... they lead to different risks." (1)
Why are companies spending billions on this crazy idea? Because they want to own copyrights on a genes that no one else 'owns' - so that they can make billions of dollars from them.
RISKS? WITH FOOD??? Don't believe the people who say there is no evidence of the harm they do: To give just a few examples: 1. The lifespan of ladybugs (ladybirds) was reduced to half when they ate aphids that had fed on genetically altered potatoes in Scotland, according to a London Times article (10/22/97) by Science Editor, Nigel Hawkes. The ladybugs also laid fewer eggs. Note that the ladybirds did not even eat the genetically modified food directly, as we are doing now. They ate something ELSE that had eaten the GMOs. The danger lived on in the food chain. For more information. 2. A recent TV Show by PBS (Public Broadcasting) on GMO's showed how people have now created salmon that is several times bigger than normal salmon, and grows faster. Thankfully, these salmon are currently being farmed inland. However, to save a few dollars the salmon farm is currently seeking permission to farm the salmon in fenced off sections of the ocean. The problem is that if even a couple get away, they could cause the extinction of salmon, because wild salmon prefer the larger salmon because they assume they are better mates, and the resulting offspring have much less chance (if any) of surviving and reproducing. 3. The danger to many humans who are allergic to certain foods is guaranteed, because no one will know what they are eating. For example, say someone is deathly allergic to peanuts. A GMO may have a gene from a peanut in them. The allergic person could get a reaction from eating ANYTHING that contained the peanut gene. They wouldn't even know what caused it - because there are no labelling laws about GMOs. 4. Pesticides are now going to be INSIDE the food you eat! Most times when people start messing up nature they do bad things that they cannot undo. I am from Australia and you only have to look at all the troubles there caused by introduced species. Many small animals are extinct or threatened due to the introduced fox and cat. And farmers are constantly having to battle whole fields full of toxic Patterson's Curse which got loose from people's gardens (the florists who sell this pretty purple flower probably give it another name than that). The sad thing is that we don't even need GMOs to produce more food. There is already 2-4 times enough food on the planet to feed everyone. And if people want to grow food in their own area, then the methods described in "Secrets of the Soil" (below) will give them the abundance they seek, at the same time they IMPROVE their health. But multinational chemical companies with billions of dollars to lose don't want you to know this. | Monsanto's View On GM Crop Safety A Monsanto official told the New York Times, October 25, 1998, that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products. "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food," said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." See the GMO link above. An article in Spectrum Magazine described a Polish experiment which showed that mice definitely prefer non GMO food to GMO food. And when forced to eat GMO food, the mice began to display bizarre behavioural characterisics. Please learn all you can on this incredible threat to life as we know it, and do your bit to stop it. Once the genie is out of the bag, their is no putting it back in!!! At least find out which foods have GMOs and boycott (stop buying) them. |