Genetically Engineered Foods — New Action Alert!

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Engineered Foods — New Action Alert!

November 9, 2010

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The FDA lied by omission about GE salmon, and Monsanto is attempting an end-run

around USDA rules for GE beets. The stock market seems to be telling the true

story.

But before we get into the latest political news about genetically engineered

food, let’s take a moment to look at some recent science news.  A recent

study

published in the journal Naturefound that what we eat creates genetic

changes—which may then be passed on to our children. Our genes are controlled

by

billions of chemical markers on our DNA. And these chemical markers can be

affected by many lifestyle factors, the most important of which is diet. While

the genes themselves generally don’t change, what they are “told to do†is

changed by the food we eat (both quality and amount) and the chemicals we

breathe or ingest. In this study, a group of rats was given a high fat diet, and

they developed symptoms of diabetes. When they reproduced, the rats’ offspring

were not overweight—but their ability to produce insulin was impaired.

Researchers think the sperm cells from the obese rats had a different pattern of

epigenetic marks on their DNA, which created the insulin resistance in their

pups.

It should come as no surprise, then, that genetically engineered foods are

causing terrible genetic changes in mammal offspring.  Scientists are seeing

birth defects, high infant mortality rates, and sterility in hamsters, rats, and

livestock fed genetically engineered soy and corn. Some hamster pups even begin

growing hair inside their mouths. What we eat changes the biology of our

children and our children’s children, and may harm them irreparably.

With this in mind, back to government policy. Remember enfish? It turns out

that the FDA knowingly withheld the revelation that both the US Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration’s

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) testified at a 2003 hearingthat

genetically engineered salmon must not be kept in open-water net pens because

these transgenic salmon would threaten and adversely affect wild Atlantic

salmon, currently on the Endangered Species List!

In an email, FWS staff wrote to NOAA and said, “Shortly after the Atlantic

salmon was listed as endangered, several of us from USFWS and NMFS spent 2 days

down in land meeting with AquaBounty [creators of the bio-engineered salmon]

and FDA about development of genetically engineered salmon and discussion around

the need for FDA to engage in Section 7 consultation with the Services. We never

heard a peep out of FDA or AquaBounty after that.â€

 

In other words, even though such preliminary discussions with these expert

fishery services took place, and the Services said such a hatchery operation

must be prohibited, FDA never made this information public during the public

hearings about AquAdvantage salmon. AquaBounty, of course, claims (with no

proof) that the fish pose no threat to marine environments.

Then we have genetic engineering giant Monsanto. They paired with the German

company KWS SAAT AG, one of the world’s leading plant breeders, to produce a

variety of sugar beets containing the Roundup Ready gene. This gene ensures that

the beets will tolerate applications of extremely toxicRoundup agricultural

herbicides. But as we reported last year, a US district court ruled that they

couldn’t proceed with production until the USDA completed a full Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS), which will be ready in May 2012.

Monsanto and KWS didn’t want to wait. They filed a petitionwith the USDA for

“partial deregulation,†which would allow them to continue production of the

GE

beets while the research for the EIS was ongoing—in other words, to let them

totally circumvent the rules. And the USDA is considering it, and is accepting

public comment on it for thirty days (hence our Action Alert below).

Sales of Montanto’s Roundup herbicide have collapsed this year under an

onslaught of low-priced generics made in China. But that’s the least of

Monsanto’s troubles. Weeds are becoming resistant to Roundup, dimming the

future

of the entire Roundup Ready crop franchise. This will lead to uncontrolled

growth of “superweeds,†which may require ever more toxic herbicides—to

everyone’s peril. On top of that, the Justice Department is investigating

Monsanto for possible antitrust violations!

 

 

God Bless !!

dragonflymcs

Mayleen