This is from one of my business partners. I thought you all would enjoy the read: GMOs: WE ARE IN FOR MANY MORE OF THEM Dr Michael Colgan 16 October 2014 I have studied GMOs since their inception in 1982, when the FDA first approved Humulin, a form of insulin that is produced by genetically engineered E. coli bacteria. Humulin has saved millions of lives. There are other beneficial GMO medications, including the blood clotting factor Atryn and human growth hormone. I have a database of more than 1,100 studies of GMO medical development and use, and they represent great advances in medical science. Some GM foods, however, have not met the same rigorous standards. Once science prized open the niche in molecular chemistry that made it possible to alter species DNA, the niche was immediately filled with garbage products by greedy entrepreneurs and their political predators. With hundreds of new GMOs now vying for FDA and US Dept of Agriculture approval, our food chain is becoming ever more artificial year after year. There have been some good GM food developments. I was not against the Flavr-Savr, tomato, a GMO rot-resistant tomato when it came out in 1994. But public rejection made it an economic disaster after only three years. Similarly, the Hawaiian papaya genetically modified to resist ringspot virus was a good piece of science. But by 2013, cross contamination of organic papaya was destroying the market, losing huge clients including Japan. Hawaii is now passing all sorts of laws to ban GMO products Other GM foods have been a near disaster from the getgo. Roundup Ready seed, for example, was a poor piece of GM research, rushed to market in the absence of regulations. Yields have proved way below the bonanza predicted. GM crops in the US and Canada now cost as much or more per ton of yield as farming with conventional seed. And, as scientists predicted nearly two decades ago, the rapid breeding of pests in the wild has largely nullified the GM effect. Meanwhile contamination of neighbouring crops, is rife and cannot be contained. Even a glance at the public record shows sixteen current lawsuits against Roundup Ready for failing to contain the seed, scheduled for hearing by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil in Kansas City under a ruling by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in October 2013. The seed and accompanying products also led to the conviction of the manufacturer in the French courts in 2012, and re-conviction on appeal in 2013, for nerve damage poisoning of farmer Paul Francois in 2012. This precedent has now encouraged more lawsuits for poisoning, including one by Argentinean farmers currently being heard in the New Delaware court. The manufacturer is also recorded as settling more than 500 lawsuits out of court. This record clearly fosters public fear of GMOs. There are several new GMO foods that may do a better job. The AquAdvantage salmon grows at twice the usual rate because of implantation of a growth gene from the wild Chinook. It has now been studied by the FDA for 10 generations of the fish (15 years), but still awaits more studies for approval. From the published science, AquAdvantage is no more a problem than farmed salmon in general, which is now the bulk of all salmon in the US. Friends here in Canada involved in the breeding of AquAdvantage tell me it tastes no worse than farmed salmon either, but nowhere near as good as our wild salmon. The non-browning GM Arctic Apple has also been under study in Canada for more than a decade, and, though it is only a fairly simple modification of the production of one enzyme, it still awaits approval. We have produced similar effects in apples on our own farm by cross breeding grafts onto pear trunks. In New Zealand, in collaboration with private companies, the large government backed company AgResearch is producing GM cows with additional copies of beta and kappa-casein genes to improve efficiency in cheese production. They are also producing GM clover to improve cow pasture. The public rants over these GMO developments are nonsensical, especially when compared with the apparent lack of public concern over new junk foods that slip into the food chain every month. Because of social media and the internet, the anti-GM lobby is large, well organized and vocal. On 19 June 2013, a survey by ABC News, reported by Gary Langer, found that 52% of the American public believe that GM foods are “unsafe to eat”. A further 13% were unsure. Only 35% believed GM foods are safe. In addition, 93%, almost all the people surveyed, said the federal government should require all “genetically modified” and “bioengineered” foods to be labelled as such. Yet 57% said they would be less likely to buy foods with those labels. That view presents a huge potential threat to the food industry, and is a major reason behind the secretive, aggressive, double-dealing approach to GM foods by government and industry alike. Despite similar concerns of economic disaster, the EU did pass mandatory labelling of GMO foods in Europe in 1997. I was disappointed when similar legislation, GMO Labelling Initiative, Bill 522, was defeated in the US Congress on 7 November 2013, largely by the aid of a reputed $30 million from food industry funds. GMOs are an inevitable advance in food science that is here to stay and growing fast. Because of cross contamination, it is doubtful that any soy or corn grown in the US today can be GMO free. Numerous other foods will follow the same path. The good news is that non-GMO commerce is also growing apace. I and my family do not eat GMO foods, and seek out the good companies rigorously. For a list of over 400 companies that strive to be GMO free go to thefreethoughtproject/400-companies-gmos-products/#EjkkILcW45H39PPx.99
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 04:14:46 +0000
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