Re: The case against GM foods
Hi 20/20
Some more...
GM in Australia
South Australia recently extended a moritorium on GM crops!
Other states not so smart.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23183526-5006788,00.html
Consumers in SA
A supermarket chain says it will not allow genetically-modified (GM) food in its home brand range in South Australia, because an overwhelming number of customers are opposed to GM foods.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/24/2146074.htm
Genetic Pollution
GMOs should not be released into the environment as there is not adequate scientific understanding of their impact on the environment and human health.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering
Frankenstein Foods
The debate has gone on for several years but it heated up in February when the London Guardian reported on the sacking of a British scientist whose tests showed up the dangers of a GM food.
Dr Arpad Pusztai had found that rats fed on GM potatoes after 10 days suffered a weakened immune system and severe impairment in the development of internal organs such as heart, liver, kidney and the brain.
These findings were suppressed by his employers, the Rowett Research Institute and he was ousted in August 1998.
More recent research by Dr Stanley Ewen at Aberdeen University Medical School (showing rats fed on GM potatoes suffered an enlarged stomach wall) seemed to confirm Pusztai's findings.
An international group of 20 scientists also supported the findings after analysing his data and results.
Last August, Dr Pusztai said in a TV interview he would not eat GM food and found it "very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs." Two days later he was suspended and later forced to retire by his institute.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200802250003
New form of rat poison?
As study demonstrated that rats who were fed for 90 days on Monsanto's MON863 maize showed "signs of toxicity" in the liver and kidneys.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/02648wu132m07804/?p=a4782763081842a38c67449a8b48e6d3&pi=6
The Future of Food video
"If you eat food, you need to see The Future of Food..."
--- Newstarget.com
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/AboutFOF.htm
Some of the most heartbreaking yet inspiring moments in the film involve the story of Percy and Louise Schmeiser of Saskatchewan, Canada, who were targeted by Monsanto. Monsanto won a suit against Schmeiser in Canada's Supreme Court, which ruled that it didn't matter how Monsanto's Roundup Ready Canola got into Schmeiser's field--and all parties agreed that it had blown into his fields off a passing truck--simply by virtue of it growing there Schmeiser had infringed on Monsanto's patent. The age-old farm etiquette that it is your job to fence your cattle in, not your neighbor's job to fence your cattle out, is thus turned on its ear. Monsanto has prosecuted hundreds of farmers, most of whom settled and agreed never to discuss their settlements. The Schmeisers had to destroy all their canola seeds, developed over decades, because they are now contaminated with Roundup Ready Canola. They spent their retirement funds fighting this injustice, and they lost.
http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/future-of-food-review.html
Making the World GM-Free and Sustainable
Think Again
For those who believe that "GM food is safe" because "people have been eating GM food since its first release in 1994 and no one has fallen ill or died from it," think again. First, there has been no labelling in countries like the US where GM food and feed are most available. Second, many GM products are "de-regulated" and hence not known or traceable as such. Third, there has been no post-release monitoring, so it is impossible to tell how many people and animals have become ill or have died from eating GM food and feed, even though in 1999, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control published a paper suggesting that food-related illnesses increased two- to ten-fold compared with results of a survey carried out just before GM food was commercially released in 1994.12,13
Fourth, GM food and feed may be linked to chronic illnesses such as autoimmune disease, slow viruses or cancer,14 which may be difficult to detect. Finally, animal feed accounts for up to half the world's harvest,15 so most of the GM produce so far has probably ended up in animal feed after being processed for seed oil, corn starch, corn syrup and, increasingly, ethanol and biodiesel.16,17 That means GM produce is seldom eaten directly by either animals or human beings so far. But that is soon to change, if proponents have their way.
http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/gm-free-sustainable.html