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We are on the verge of the first approval of a genetically modified animal for human consumption, a decision sparking controversy and speculation it could make a major turning point in the way food is produced. The GMO (genetically modified organism) in question is salmon, one of the healthiest foods on earth and a food eaten by people worldwide.
The FDA is evaluating GMO salmon as if it were a new veterinary drug. This means the hearings are being held behind closed doors, allowing its creators, AquaBounty, to claim that much of the research and other evidence it is presenting is confidential. Under this procedure, critical information about the entire process never meets the scrutiny of the public eye. There is no transparency.
This information barrier makes it difficult for independent scientists to thoroughly analyze claims by AquaBounty that their GMO salmon poses no long-term risk to human or environmental health. Consumer and environmental groups are voicing the belief that GMO salmon will escape from fish farms and threaten the wild salmon population in open waters. It has been estimated that only 40 salmon generations will be needed to produce extinction of all wild salmon.
Many consumers and environmentalists are concerned about the health hazards of eating GMO salmon as well as all GMO foods, since no long term studies of their effects have been completed. They note that by the time any such studies could be done, the traditional food crops that humans have always relied on may have been overtaken by GMO’s, and they see the earth’s population as being unable to return to traditional food production when the health hazards are documented. They view GMO’s as an experiment in human health from which there is no turning back.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) states, “Genetically Modified foods have not been properly tested and pose a serious health risk. There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation.” The AAEM has called for a moratorium on GMO’s in food and for physicians to advise their patients to avoid GM foods. Since the massive invasion of GMO’s into the food supply began in 1996, chronic diseases and food allergies have doubled.
The struggle to avoid GMO is destined to become more difficult unless consumers boycott GM products. The US government’s current Food Czar was a vice president and chief lobbyist for Monsanto prior to his selection. Monsanto has publically stated that its aim is to own the patents for all the food crop seeds in the world. Since in office, the Food Czar has helped expedite approval for GMO’s.
More Reasons to Avoid GMO Foods
Anti-GMO activist and best selling author of Seeds of Deception, Jeffrey Smith stated in a recent News With Views article that doctors are telling their patients to avoid GMO foods, and “World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.”
Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that “children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems related to GM foods.” He says without adequate studies, children become “the experimental animals.”
In addition to you and your family’s personal health risks, the whole human race is at risk as Monsanto approaches its stated goal of owning the world’s food supply. Genetic engineering alters genetic codes of the DNA in an organism by splicing in other genes from other forms of life, including other plant forms, insects, bacteria and even viruses. This creates mutant organisms and dangerously mutating genes solely for commercial demand.
The food chain is also being ignored by proponents of GMO’s. Pollen pollution from GMO crop fields has already infected formerly pristine crops on small farms and within indigenous groups. This pollution has also occurred with small and large North American farmers, causing permanent irreversible genetic mutations in some crops. But when Monsanto officials determine where these pollen drifted pollutions occur, they sue the farmers of the polluted crops for patent violations!
There are several documents recovered from lawsuits and through the Freedom of Information Act that show even FDA scientists urged further long term studies before releasing GMO products. This was back in the early 1990’s when the genome biotechnology industry was gaining steam.
The policy instituted by the Monsanto linked Food Czar when he took office, essentially decreed there is no difference between GM food and any other food, and if the biotech company that created the GMO say it’s safe that’s good enough! That FDA policy for GMO food remains the same to this day.
Recovered documents from these biotech companies prove that GMO firms not only do very little testing, they often test improperly, cheat on the testing, and lie about the results. This junk science and public relations cover up is what flows to the mainstream media and press, via the FDA or even from biotechnology press releases. Meanwhile, actual independent research papers, which prove GMO dangers, are not disclosed in the mainstream.
How To Avoid GMO Foods
Avoid the big five. These highly genetically engineered crops are soy, corn, canola, cottonseed and sugar beets.
Most blended oils in North America contain canola and cottonseed oils. Use extra virgin olive oil instead. Avoid all soy products and oils as well. The so called “healthy alternative” is usually not so healthy after all, since most soy is GMO unless it is specifically labeled as non-GMO.
Most corn is GM. Items like corn flakes and corn chips are from GM corn. Corn based products, corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup appear on the ingredients labels of many processed foods. Corn in various forms is prevalent in the vast fast food supply that dominates our culture.
GMO corn is fed to cattle and other livestock. If you eat conventionally produced beef, pork or fowl, you are probably a second hand consumer of GM corn. So if you continue to eat meat, dig a little deeper and buy grass or alfalfa-fed and free range livestock meats only.
Now more and more sugar beets are GMO. Sugar from sugar beets is less expensive than cane sugar, therefore it is popular with food processing groups. So if you haven’t stopped using sugar or products containing refined sugar, you might want to reconsider now, and buy only those made with organic sugar.
Handy guides for consumers are PLU codes that are labeled or stamped onto fruits and vegetables. PLU stands for Price Look Up. The PLU codes are for input into electronic cash registers to determine prices for bulk items, such as apples and cabbage. The codes identify exactly what the item is, along with its current pricing, while giving the consumer a handy tag for identifying non-GMO produce.
Each PLU code has five digits. If the first digit is a 9, the item is organic. Conventionally grown produce has a 0 for the first digit, but usually the 0 is dropped. So most conventionally grown produce will actually have only 4 digits on the PLU tag if you don’t see a 0 at the beginning.
Those are the four main GMO categories, but remember that if a food isn’t labeled organic it could be GMO, since such producers as Monsanto have managed to avoid labeling of any kind. PLU codes do not usually appear on packaged produce or items such as string beans that are too small to label or stamp.
Obviously, buying organic and from local farmers is ideal. Forget convenience. Buy bulk and stay away from packaged foods. If you buy locally, through a local health food store or at a farmers’ market, you can determine by direct communication how the crops were raised.
Grass Roots Activism To Shut Down GMO Foods
The agenda for controlling the world food supply through patented GMO seeds has hit a few glitches, thanks to the word getting out and through food consumer boycotts.
Publicity about the long checkered history of Monsanto has done wonders to alert the public. Can you trust a multi-national company that created PCB’s, Agent Orange, rBGH, Terminator Seeds and Round Up weed killer? GMO crops were created to withstand Round Up’s heavy spraying, creating more toxic chemical residue to GM crops than even conventional crops. Would they care about anything but their profit and control agenda?
In Genetic Roulette, another Jeffrey Smith publication, he urges people to get educated and diminish market demand for GMO’s. If enough educated people get involved, it will create a tipping point, where the balance of supply and demand shifts enough for the market place to drop GMO products.
Jeffrey claims this has been achieved in the US with rBGH (bovine growth hormones). And thanks to an honest scientist, Arpad Pusztai, who lost his lab funding for exposing GMO dangers in Scotland, the EU is relatively GMO free. See Jeffrey Smith’s powerful, live 84 minute power point presentation on the whole GMO situation.
Sources for more information:
Institute for Responsible Technology (for Non GMO Food Guide and J. Smith free video presentation) http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm
Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods by Jeffrey M. Smith http://www.newswithviews.com/Smith/jeffrey125.htm
GMO Free Ebook by Greg Ciola (scroll down list of items to find Greg’s book) http://www.thenhf.com/suggestedbooklist.html
