To Matthew Jolly,
I would like to thank you for a great semester! I really did enjoy your class! I would really like to know what you thing of the final things that we did in class. The evaluation of ourselves, our presentation, and the sonnets. Your opinion in valued and I think that we all look forward to your comments! Thanks for the great semester. It was very enlightening!Hope you and anyone reading this as a wonderful Holiday season! God bless!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
GMO’s Friend or Foe
Hunger! It is everywhere! There is not a country that doesn’t have people in it’s population that are not feeling the pangs of it. It is a Global issue that desperately needs to be addressed. The price of global wheat rose 77% in 2007. The price of rice increased by 16% but has risen much faster in 2008, 141% in the months from January-April alone. The World Food Bank estimates the total to be 83% over the past 3 yrs.. An AP photo was taken by Ariana Cubillos at Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on January 25, 2008 that depicts vendors selling cookies made of dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening. These were being sold to the poor Haitians so that they could stave off hunger. There are riots occurring all over the world. In the above mentioned country of Haiti six people were killed in food riots in April of this year. In Egypt, schools and businesses were burned because of this problem. At least 23 other countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, the Philippines, Senegal and Yemen have all seen major protests (The Price of Food). Something needs to be done, but what?
Almost all experts agree that in the short-term the richer developed nations well need to increase their aid to less developed countries. A task force was set up in April 2008 by the U.N. that would aid in soliciting $755 million dollars in food aid and the pursuit of more permanent solutions to this growing problem. There have been many long-term proposals that include: reducing trade barriers on food products, limiting the production of bio-fuels, and improving agricultural productivity through research and aid to developing countries. This would include helping farmers in under-developed countries to get the equipment that they need to get crops planted and harvested efficiently( The Price of Food). I think that we can all agree on the fact that hunger and food shortages are huge issues in this world and we need to figure out a solution before it is too late.
This issue is an on-going problem and is not going to be solved over night by any means. One of the “solutions” that has been proposed by some major seed companies in America are the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) There are many people in this country that have no idea what this technology is much less what the controversies of this topic are. That is why it is imperative to put this issue on the front burner when speaking of the global food crisis. So, what are a GMO’s ? They are defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. They have many names, some call it “modern technology” or “gene technology” some call it “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering” but for this presentation we will simply refer to the abbreviated term GMO. The process involves selecting a gene or genes from one organism and transferring them into another non-related organism(Varzakas).This process allows scientists to manipulate the character of a plant so that it can become more resistant to things like plant diseases caused by insects and viruses and through making the plants more resistant to herbicides. They claim to be developing a product that will be lower in price to produce , be more durable, and have greater nutritional value than other crops. They also claim to be able to increase the yield per acre of land and thereby solving the food shortages(Varzakas). This process sounds good on the surface but there is more to this issue than what meets the eye.
GMO seeds were first developed by an American seed company named Monsanto. Other seed companies have followed suit and also started offering this technology, Syngenta and Dow are two of the main ones. These companies have a vested interest in their products because they obviously want to make a profit on the technology. Monsanto has 60% of their money invested in these bio-tech seeds. Syngenta has about 20% invested and Dow has about10%. The main seeds that are being sold at this time are soybeans, maize(corn), cotton, and potatoes(Varzakas) and there has been a steady rise in the demand for these seeds. More than half of the crops in the U.S., including nearly all of the soybeans and 70% of the corn are genetically modified and within the last 5 yrs. China, Brazil, and India have increased their use of these products(17 million acres in China and India alone).(Hindo) Monsanto and other companies just like them are gaining some ground by “dangling carrots” of greater yields and the use of less chemicals to farmers who are trying to keep their farms afloat and increase their profits. It should be noted at this time that GM crops are proving disastrous for agriculture, as roundup ready resistant superweeds have already emerged and the Bt cottons that has been grown in India has failed disastrously, adding substantially to farmers suicides, while Bt pests have evolved(Mae-Wan). Monsanto may be winning the war on the use of GMO’s by dangling these carrots and not fully disclosing all that they know about their products but that does not mean that this course of action is the right course, or the safest course for the world to follow.
There have been numerous tests and experiments done on the effects of GMO’s and whether they are safe to use in this world. In the realm of agriculture alone there are numerous concerns. Genes from these crops will be able to contaminate non-GMO crops and wild plants, and that, coupled with the new herbicide tolerant plants may seriously threaten bio-diversity in agricultural areas(Varzakas). This could lead to a weakening of the whole ecco-system. In simple terms, the more diversity of plants that there is the more likelihood that if one crop fails because of some disease or pestilence there will be others that will survive and thus guard against total destruction. Another concern is that GM crops that resist pests will also have adverse impact on beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies that pollinate plants. Gm crops that express proteins that are toxic to pests may also be toxic to humans and it is nearly impossible to know what new allergies may develop from their use. Also, antibiotics resistance could easily be passed on to pathogens and lessen the effectiveness of important drugs(Varzakas). Two test areas were studied in Spain to get some idea about the dangers of what is referred to as out crossing of GM crops with conventional crops of corn and the results found that there is indeed a range and a zone that GM crops will crossover and contaminate other crops. It was found that there needed to be a distance of at least 20 meters to maintain a certain amount of security and to keep the pollen of the GM crops from contaminating the conventional crops. This amounts to approximately 0.9% of the area around the borders of the conventional crop.(Messeguer). This may not seem like much to you and I but the risk of cross-contamination could be devastating to the organic farmer. By the summer of 2000, virtually all of the tested organic corn samples from the mid-west showed some degree of GM contamination, said the Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, Fred Kirchenmann. It was also found that GM contamination destroyed the small but promising Canadian organic canola market. Janet Jacocobson, the president of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agricultural Society, also added that she didn’t know of any organic farmers who could assure the purity of their organically grown corn, soybeans, or canola.(Mother Earth News). This article was written in 2002, imagine what in may be like now in 2008!
There have been various experiments done on animals to determine the safety of ingesting GM foods with interesting results. Female rats that were supplemented with GM Roundup Ready soybeans gave birth to many severely stunted pups, with over ½ of the litter dead by 3 weeks. The surviving pups were sterile! These findings came from the laboratory of Irina Ermakova at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. GM soya has been commercialized worldwide for food and feed since 1996.(Mae-Wan) Interestingly enough there has been numerous reports from farmers that they have noticed that, when given a choice animals instinctively refuse to eat GM grains. Bill Lashmet, a farmer, decided to fill one of his troughs with Bt corn and the other with natural shelled corn. He found that every single one of his cows sniffed the Bt corn then went to the natural corn and ate it instead. Steven Sprinkel Yankton wrote an article in an Agricultural magazine, Acres USA, in 1999 that stated that according to numerous Corn Belt farmers, hogs won’t eat their full rations if GM crops are in the trough. It was also reported that the raccoons would raid the organic corn fields and wouldn’t touch the GM corn. He also described one farmer as observing that a herd of forty deer were "mowing down his tofu beans” while there wasn’t even one doe gnawing on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy crop. It was also found that rats that were forced to eat a brand of tomato called FlavrSavr developed problems. Out of the 40 rats tested several developed stomach lesions, and 7 out of the 40 died within a few weeks. DR Arpad Pusztai, a Hungarian scientist from the Rowett Research Institute in the U.K. did extensive research on GM potatoes with a natural pesticide-a lectin that is found in snowdrops. He fed the lectin to his rats in large doses and they seemed to cause no ill effects. Then he spliced the lectin directly into the DNA of a potato plant and fed that to his rats. He found that this potato caused his rats to develop weakened immune systems, damage to the thymus and spleen, and less developed brains, livers, and testicles. Others had enlarged pancreases and intestines and these symptoms started showing up in a mere 10 days. Another interesting thing that he discovered was that the subsequent plants had about 20% less nutritional value than the parent plant. Dr. Pusztai was reported to have said that after his tests he would never eat GM food again.(Goodall)
So what are the benefits in the use of GMO’s? The initial objective for developing plants based on GM organisms was to improve crop protection through the introduction of seeds resistant to diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased plant tolerance to herbicides.(GMO’s production, regulation, and marketing).The idea here being that it will take less pesticide and herbicide applications to control pests and weeds. They claim that GM seeds are easier and cheaper to grow(Hindo). They have been touted as being more nutritional (Varzakas) and a solution for world hunger T ( The Price of Food).
The risks involved with the use of GM products are varied and many. There is an extreme risk to the environment with the institution of GM crops. Not only are there risks of cross-contamination of conventional and organic crops there has also been evidence presented that shows that there is a danger to the beneficial insects as well as the pests. It was stated by Chuck Benbrook the Director of the Northwest Science and Policy Center in Sandpoint, Idaho that “every family of chemicals has about a decade before the targeted pests become immune” (Mother Earth News).This ultimately means that they will build up a resistance to the process and new and more potent products would have to be developed. This same phenomenon also happens with weeds. Scientists have documented that canola plants in Alberta, Canada have become resistant to 3 different herbicides after the plants incorporated pollen from 3 corresponding herbicide-tolerant transgenic varieties growing nearby. This has forced the farmers to go back to using older and more toxic weed killers such has 2,4-D(Mother Earth News). This being said, in regards to the environment; When there are reasonable grounds for concern, even without complete scientific documentation, countries should be reluctant to introduce GMO until more knowledge is available (Issues of Debate risks and benefits of GMO’s).
Many may be wondering, are GMO’s safe to eat? The promoters of GM food claim that they have been thoroughly tested and are safe to consume. But I do well to inform you that the FDA does not require safety tests for transgenic foods before they go to market. There is also cause for concern that GM foods will introduce new and possibly dangerous allergens into society. The proof of this capability was demonstrated when transgenic soybean that contained a gene from a brazil nut, a life threatening allergen to some people, did cause allergic reactions, and the product was never commercialized. Richard Lacey, a British medical doctor and microbiologist who specializes in food safety stated that even continuous testing of Transgenic food could offer only limited assurance of the products safety (Mother Earth News). There has been no labeling of GM foods in the U.S. were GM food and feed are most available so it is hard to trace the possible side-effects from these substances. Although, research at the Center for Disease Control suggests that food-related illnesses went up 2-10 fold in 1999 compared with a survey done just before GM products were commercially released in 1994. GM food and feed may be linked to chronic illness such as autoimmune disease from bacterial DNA ,or any novel transgenic DNA, slow viruses or cancer, which may be difficult to detect (Mae-Wan). It is interesting to note that an opinion poll was published by the European Commission in 2001 that found that 94.6% EU citizens wanted the right to choose, 85.9% wanted to know more before eating GMO’s, and 70.9% simply do not want GM food (Varzakas). Also of interest is a comment made in the review article GM food nightmare unfolding in regulatory sham. There was a statement made by the scientists that collaborated on the paper that said” By now, the evidence against the safety of GM food and feed has accumulated to such an extent that regulators should be answering a charge to criminal negligence at the very least in the continuing campaign of denial and misrepresentation, while failing to impose a ban in further releases of all GM crops until and unless they have been proven safe by thorough independent investigations(Mae-Wan).
The goal of this presentation was to inform this audience about the issues surrounding the use of GMO’s. In this day and age we need to keep up on the issues that affect our lives, our health, and our environment. We can not afford to be uninformed about something as basic as our sustenance. None of us would be here today without the bounty that our Earth supplies and we need to take care of the things that sustain us. The world is in crisis in relation to the food shortages and we do need to solve this problem. But there are many ways to do that. There are many ideas to investigate but it behooves us to pick the best of these ideas not just the easiest.
I truly feel that the technology of GMO’s needs to be more fully investigated as to it’s safety to our environment and to our health and my proposal is rather simple. Refuse to eat GMO’s! As Paul McCartney was reported to have said “say no to GMO!” and Prince Charles who wrote an editorial arguing that genetic engineering takes “ mankind to realms that belong to God and God alone!”(Hindo) There is a number of ways to say no, the first being, as much as possible , avoid the top three GM crops: Soy, corn, and canola unless they are organic. Be aware that that GMO’s from these crops are used in 70% of the processed food in the U.S. Many fast foods also contain hidden GMO’s since the industry relies on corn syrup for it’s sweeteners and soy for it’s oils and fillers. Focus on your grocer. Tell them that you do not want hidden GMO’s in there store brand products. These products account for about 40% of their supermarket sales. In the U.K. activists filled their carts up with packaged foods and when they got to the check-out they refused to buy any of the products until the grocer could give them a personal guarantee that all the items were GM free. In the U.S. consumer pressure convinced Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to stop putting any genetically altered foods in their store brand products. Lastly, we all need to pressure our government representatives to create legislation to demand labeling of all GMO products. The U.S. is one of the only industrial nations that does not demand that GMO’s be labeled. The corporations are vehemently opposed to the idea of labeling because they are aware that many people are wary of using these products and they are trying to protect their interests.(Goodall) But do we want to leave the health of our families in the hands of some Seed Companies that are more concerned about their profit margins then the well-being of us and the future generations to come. We need to stand up and make our voices heard if we are to protect our food supplies and our earth from this potentially dangerous new technology. We were able to get labeling on our organic products by continuing to make our wishes known. We can do the same with this issue!
The feasibility of this proposal is very attainable The industry-wide rejection of GMO’s can be achieved by a “tipping point,” in which a sufficient number of consumers in the U.S. avoid GM ingredients forcing the major food companies to stop using them. Europe reached it’s tipping point in April 1999 and within a single week, virtually all major manufacturers public ally committed to stop using GMO’s in their European brands(Smith). If this can be achieved it will no longer be profitable for the Producers of GMO products or the farmers that grow their products thus they will stop making them. It will cost each person relatively little to help. Become informed! You can do this by simply googling “GMO” or any of the other names that were stated in the beginning of this paper. Write your congressman, tell him your concerns, that is what he is there for. If they get enough letters from concerned citizens they will listen. While you are at it demand labeling not only from your congressman but from the manager of your grocery store. Refuse to buy any processed foods that may contain hidden GMO’s and tell your grocer why you are doing it. Don’t let a few seed companies take away your right to have safe and healthful food on your table.
Do we really want a world full of super bugs and super weeds. A world where our very food is unsafe for us to eat. A world where we allow decisions of such great importance to be made by a few companies that want to make a profit because we are to busy going on with our day-to-day lives to care. The rest of the world is paying attention. In November of 2007 an article was printed in the New York Times that stated, In a decision concerning the seeds produced by Dow and Pioneer, [Stavros Dimas] calls “potential damage on the environment irreversible.” In the decision to ban Syngenta corn, he says that “ the level of risk generated by the cultivation of this product for the environment is unacceptable.” An Article by the same newspaper in March of 2008 reported that opponents of gene-altered crops won a victory in France Wednesday when the top court withheld, at least for the time being, a ban on a corn variety produced by the seed company Monsanto(Kanter). As I stated earlier, the shortage of food in this world is a devastating problem but there are many good ideas on the table to try to solve them but GMO’s doesn’t happen to be one of them! Just say NO!
“The Price of Food (Research Feature).” World News Digest. June 2008. Facts on File News Services. 5 Nov. 2008.
Varzakas, Theodoros H., Ioannis S. Arvanitoyannis, and Haralambos Baltas. “The Politics and the Science Behind GMO Acceptance.” Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition 47.4 (June 2007): 335-361.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov.2008
.
Hindo, Brain and Joshua Schneyer. “Monsanto: Winning the Ground War. (Cover story).”Business Week (17 Dec. 2007): 034-041. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College/ Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov. 2008.
Mae-Wan Ho, Joe Cummins, &Peter Saunders.” GM food nightmare unfolding in the regulatory sham.” Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease. 16 Mar. 2007; 19: 66-77.
Good all, Jane, Gary McIvor, and Gail Hudson.” How We Lost Common Sense Farming” and “Seeds of Discontent.” Harvest of Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. New York: Time Warner Book Group, 2005.
Genetically Modified Organisms Production, Regulation, and Marketing.” International Debates 4.3 (Mar. 2006): 66-69. Academic Search Premier.EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 3 Nov. 2008.
Issues for Debate Risks and Benefits of the Genetically Modified Organisms.” International Debates 4.3 ( Mar. 2006): 73-75. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, Az..3 Nov. 2008.
Smith, Jeffrey M. “The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America.” Total Health 29.2 (May 2007): 38-40. Academic Search Premier.EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 3 Nov Ehost-live>
Kanter, James “Proposed Ban on Genetically Modified Corn in Europe.” New York Times.(Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: 23 Nov 2007. pg. C3
Kanter, James “French Court Says Ban on Gene-Altered Corn Seed Will Remain, Pending Study; [ Business/Financial Desk].” New York Times(Late edition(East Coast)).New York, N.Y.20 mar 2008 C4.
Messeguer, Joaquima, et al. “pollen-mediated gene flow in maize in real situations of co-existence.” Plant Biotechnology Journal 4.6 (nov.2006): 633-645. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov. 2008
Charman, Karen “Genetically EngineeredFood: Promises & Perils.” Mother Earth News Oct./Nov. 2002: 74+
Hunger! It is everywhere! There is not a country that doesn’t have people in it’s population that are not feeling the pangs of it. It is a Global issue that desperately needs to be addressed. The price of global wheat rose 77% in 2007. The price of rice increased by 16% but has risen much faster in 2008, 141% in the months from January-April alone. The World Food Bank estimates the total to be 83% over the past 3 yrs.. An AP photo was taken by Ariana Cubillos at Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on January 25, 2008 that depicts vendors selling cookies made of dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening. These were being sold to the poor Haitians so that they could stave off hunger. There are riots occurring all over the world. In the above mentioned country of Haiti six people were killed in food riots in April of this year. In Egypt, schools and businesses were burned because of this problem. At least 23 other countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, the Philippines, Senegal and Yemen have all seen major protests (The Price of Food). Something needs to be done, but what?
Almost all experts agree that in the short-term the richer developed nations well need to increase their aid to less developed countries. A task force was set up in April 2008 by the U.N. that would aid in soliciting $755 million dollars in food aid and the pursuit of more permanent solutions to this growing problem. There have been many long-term proposals that include: reducing trade barriers on food products, limiting the production of bio-fuels, and improving agricultural productivity through research and aid to developing countries. This would include helping farmers in under-developed countries to get the equipment that they need to get crops planted and harvested efficiently( The Price of Food). I think that we can all agree on the fact that hunger and food shortages are huge issues in this world and we need to figure out a solution before it is too late.
This issue is an on-going problem and is not going to be solved over night by any means. One of the “solutions” that has been proposed by some major seed companies in America are the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) There are many people in this country that have no idea what this technology is much less what the controversies of this topic are. That is why it is imperative to put this issue on the front burner when speaking of the global food crisis. So, what are a GMO’s ? They are defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. They have many names, some call it “modern technology” or “gene technology” some call it “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering” but for this presentation we will simply refer to the abbreviated term GMO. The process involves selecting a gene or genes from one organism and transferring them into another non-related organism(Varzakas).This process allows scientists to manipulate the character of a plant so that it can become more resistant to things like plant diseases caused by insects and viruses and through making the plants more resistant to herbicides. They claim to be developing a product that will be lower in price to produce , be more durable, and have greater nutritional value than other crops. They also claim to be able to increase the yield per acre of land and thereby solving the food shortages(Varzakas). This process sounds good on the surface but there is more to this issue than what meets the eye.
GMO seeds were first developed by an American seed company named Monsanto. Other seed companies have followed suit and also started offering this technology, Syngenta and Dow are two of the main ones. These companies have a vested interest in their products because they obviously want to make a profit on the technology. Monsanto has 60% of their money invested in these bio-tech seeds. Syngenta has about 20% invested and Dow has about10%. The main seeds that are being sold at this time are soybeans, maize(corn), cotton, and potatoes(Varzakas) and there has been a steady rise in the demand for these seeds. More than half of the crops in the U.S., including nearly all of the soybeans and 70% of the corn are genetically modified and within the last 5 yrs. China, Brazil, and India have increased their use of these products(17 million acres in China and India alone).(Hindo) Monsanto and other companies just like them are gaining some ground by “dangling carrots” of greater yields and the use of less chemicals to farmers who are trying to keep their farms afloat and increase their profits. It should be noted at this time that GM crops are proving disastrous for agriculture, as roundup ready resistant superweeds have already emerged and the Bt cottons that has been grown in India has failed disastrously, adding substantially to farmers suicides, while Bt pests have evolved(Mae-Wan). Monsanto may be winning the war on the use of GMO’s by dangling these carrots and not fully disclosing all that they know about their products but that does not mean that this course of action is the right course, or the safest course for the world to follow.
There have been numerous tests and experiments done on the effects of GMO’s and whether they are safe to use in this world. In the realm of agriculture alone there are numerous concerns. Genes from these crops will be able to contaminate non-GMO crops and wild plants, and that, coupled with the new herbicide tolerant plants may seriously threaten bio-diversity in agricultural areas(Varzakas). This could lead to a weakening of the whole ecco-system. In simple terms, the more diversity of plants that there is the more likelihood that if one crop fails because of some disease or pestilence there will be others that will survive and thus guard against total destruction. Another concern is that GM crops that resist pests will also have adverse impact on beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies that pollinate plants. Gm crops that express proteins that are toxic to pests may also be toxic to humans and it is nearly impossible to know what new allergies may develop from their use. Also, antibiotics resistance could easily be passed on to pathogens and lessen the effectiveness of important drugs(Varzakas). Two test areas were studied in Spain to get some idea about the dangers of what is referred to as out crossing of GM crops with conventional crops of corn and the results found that there is indeed a range and a zone that GM crops will crossover and contaminate other crops. It was found that there needed to be a distance of at least 20 meters to maintain a certain amount of security and to keep the pollen of the GM crops from contaminating the conventional crops. This amounts to approximately 0.9% of the area around the borders of the conventional crop.(Messeguer). This may not seem like much to you and I but the risk of cross-contamination could be devastating to the organic farmer. By the summer of 2000, virtually all of the tested organic corn samples from the mid-west showed some degree of GM contamination, said the Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, Fred Kirchenmann. It was also found that GM contamination destroyed the small but promising Canadian organic canola market. Janet Jacocobson, the president of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agricultural Society, also added that she didn’t know of any organic farmers who could assure the purity of their organically grown corn, soybeans, or canola.(Mother Earth News). This article was written in 2002, imagine what in may be like now in 2008!
There have been various experiments done on animals to determine the safety of ingesting GM foods with interesting results. Female rats that were supplemented with GM Roundup Ready soybeans gave birth to many severely stunted pups, with over ½ of the litter dead by 3 weeks. The surviving pups were sterile! These findings came from the laboratory of Irina Ermakova at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. GM soya has been commercialized worldwide for food and feed since 1996.(Mae-Wan) Interestingly enough there has been numerous reports from farmers that they have noticed that, when given a choice animals instinctively refuse to eat GM grains. Bill Lashmet, a farmer, decided to fill one of his troughs with Bt corn and the other with natural shelled corn. He found that every single one of his cows sniffed the Bt corn then went to the natural corn and ate it instead. Steven Sprinkel Yankton wrote an article in an Agricultural magazine, Acres USA, in 1999 that stated that according to numerous Corn Belt farmers, hogs won’t eat their full rations if GM crops are in the trough. It was also reported that the raccoons would raid the organic corn fields and wouldn’t touch the GM corn. He also described one farmer as observing that a herd of forty deer were "mowing down his tofu beans” while there wasn’t even one doe gnawing on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy crop. It was also found that rats that were forced to eat a brand of tomato called FlavrSavr developed problems. Out of the 40 rats tested several developed stomach lesions, and 7 out of the 40 died within a few weeks. DR Arpad Pusztai, a Hungarian scientist from the Rowett Research Institute in the U.K. did extensive research on GM potatoes with a natural pesticide-a lectin that is found in snowdrops. He fed the lectin to his rats in large doses and they seemed to cause no ill effects. Then he spliced the lectin directly into the DNA of a potato plant and fed that to his rats. He found that this potato caused his rats to develop weakened immune systems, damage to the thymus and spleen, and less developed brains, livers, and testicles. Others had enlarged pancreases and intestines and these symptoms started showing up in a mere 10 days. Another interesting thing that he discovered was that the subsequent plants had about 20% less nutritional value than the parent plant. Dr. Pusztai was reported to have said that after his tests he would never eat GM food again.(Goodall)
So what are the benefits in the use of GMO’s? The initial objective for developing plants based on GM organisms was to improve crop protection through the introduction of seeds resistant to diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased plant tolerance to herbicides.(GMO’s production, regulation, and marketing).The idea here being that it will take less pesticide and herbicide applications to control pests and weeds. They claim that GM seeds are easier and cheaper to grow(Hindo). They have been touted as being more nutritional (Varzakas) and a solution for world hunger T ( The Price of Food).
The risks involved with the use of GM products are varied and many. There is an extreme risk to the environment with the institution of GM crops. Not only are there risks of cross-contamination of conventional and organic crops there has also been evidence presented that shows that there is a danger to the beneficial insects as well as the pests. It was stated by Chuck Benbrook the Director of the Northwest Science and Policy Center in Sandpoint, Idaho that “every family of chemicals has about a decade before the targeted pests become immune” (Mother Earth News).This ultimately means that they will build up a resistance to the process and new and more potent products would have to be developed. This same phenomenon also happens with weeds. Scientists have documented that canola plants in Alberta, Canada have become resistant to 3 different herbicides after the plants incorporated pollen from 3 corresponding herbicide-tolerant transgenic varieties growing nearby. This has forced the farmers to go back to using older and more toxic weed killers such has 2,4-D(Mother Earth News). This being said, in regards to the environment; When there are reasonable grounds for concern, even without complete scientific documentation, countries should be reluctant to introduce GMO until more knowledge is available (Issues of Debate risks and benefits of GMO’s).
Many may be wondering, are GMO’s safe to eat? The promoters of GM food claim that they have been thoroughly tested and are safe to consume. But I do well to inform you that the FDA does not require safety tests for transgenic foods before they go to market. There is also cause for concern that GM foods will introduce new and possibly dangerous allergens into society. The proof of this capability was demonstrated when transgenic soybean that contained a gene from a brazil nut, a life threatening allergen to some people, did cause allergic reactions, and the product was never commercialized. Richard Lacey, a British medical doctor and microbiologist who specializes in food safety stated that even continuous testing of Transgenic food could offer only limited assurance of the products safety (Mother Earth News). There has been no labeling of GM foods in the U.S. were GM food and feed are most available so it is hard to trace the possible side-effects from these substances. Although, research at the Center for Disease Control suggests that food-related illnesses went up 2-10 fold in 1999 compared with a survey done just before GM products were commercially released in 1994. GM food and feed may be linked to chronic illness such as autoimmune disease from bacterial DNA ,or any novel transgenic DNA, slow viruses or cancer, which may be difficult to detect (Mae-Wan). It is interesting to note that an opinion poll was published by the European Commission in 2001 that found that 94.6% EU citizens wanted the right to choose, 85.9% wanted to know more before eating GMO’s, and 70.9% simply do not want GM food (Varzakas). Also of interest is a comment made in the review article GM food nightmare unfolding in regulatory sham. There was a statement made by the scientists that collaborated on the paper that said” By now, the evidence against the safety of GM food and feed has accumulated to such an extent that regulators should be answering a charge to criminal negligence at the very least in the continuing campaign of denial and misrepresentation, while failing to impose a ban in further releases of all GM crops until and unless they have been proven safe by thorough independent investigations(Mae-Wan).
The goal of this presentation was to inform this audience about the issues surrounding the use of GMO’s. In this day and age we need to keep up on the issues that affect our lives, our health, and our environment. We can not afford to be uninformed about something as basic as our sustenance. None of us would be here today without the bounty that our Earth supplies and we need to take care of the things that sustain us. The world is in crisis in relation to the food shortages and we do need to solve this problem. But there are many ways to do that. There are many ideas to investigate but it behooves us to pick the best of these ideas not just the easiest.
I truly feel that the technology of GMO’s needs to be more fully investigated as to it’s safety to our environment and to our health and my proposal is rather simple. Refuse to eat GMO’s! As Paul McCartney was reported to have said “say no to GMO!” and Prince Charles who wrote an editorial arguing that genetic engineering takes “ mankind to realms that belong to God and God alone!”(Hindo) There is a number of ways to say no, the first being, as much as possible , avoid the top three GM crops: Soy, corn, and canola unless they are organic. Be aware that that GMO’s from these crops are used in 70% of the processed food in the U.S. Many fast foods also contain hidden GMO’s since the industry relies on corn syrup for it’s sweeteners and soy for it’s oils and fillers. Focus on your grocer. Tell them that you do not want hidden GMO’s in there store brand products. These products account for about 40% of their supermarket sales. In the U.K. activists filled their carts up with packaged foods and when they got to the check-out they refused to buy any of the products until the grocer could give them a personal guarantee that all the items were GM free. In the U.S. consumer pressure convinced Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to stop putting any genetically altered foods in their store brand products. Lastly, we all need to pressure our government representatives to create legislation to demand labeling of all GMO products. The U.S. is one of the only industrial nations that does not demand that GMO’s be labeled. The corporations are vehemently opposed to the idea of labeling because they are aware that many people are wary of using these products and they are trying to protect their interests.(Goodall) But do we want to leave the health of our families in the hands of some Seed Companies that are more concerned about their profit margins then the well-being of us and the future generations to come. We need to stand up and make our voices heard if we are to protect our food supplies and our earth from this potentially dangerous new technology. We were able to get labeling on our organic products by continuing to make our wishes known. We can do the same with this issue!
The feasibility of this proposal is very attainable The industry-wide rejection of GMO’s can be achieved by a “tipping point,” in which a sufficient number of consumers in the U.S. avoid GM ingredients forcing the major food companies to stop using them. Europe reached it’s tipping point in April 1999 and within a single week, virtually all major manufacturers public ally committed to stop using GMO’s in their European brands(Smith). If this can be achieved it will no longer be profitable for the Producers of GMO products or the farmers that grow their products thus they will stop making them. It will cost each person relatively little to help. Become informed! You can do this by simply googling “GMO” or any of the other names that were stated in the beginning of this paper. Write your congressman, tell him your concerns, that is what he is there for. If they get enough letters from concerned citizens they will listen. While you are at it demand labeling not only from your congressman but from the manager of your grocery store. Refuse to buy any processed foods that may contain hidden GMO’s and tell your grocer why you are doing it. Don’t let a few seed companies take away your right to have safe and healthful food on your table.
Do we really want a world full of super bugs and super weeds. A world where our very food is unsafe for us to eat. A world where we allow decisions of such great importance to be made by a few companies that want to make a profit because we are to busy going on with our day-to-day lives to care. The rest of the world is paying attention. In November of 2007 an article was printed in the New York Times that stated, In a decision concerning the seeds produced by Dow and Pioneer, [Stavros Dimas] calls “potential damage on the environment irreversible.” In the decision to ban Syngenta corn, he says that “ the level of risk generated by the cultivation of this product for the environment is unacceptable.” An Article by the same newspaper in March of 2008 reported that opponents of gene-altered crops won a victory in France Wednesday when the top court withheld, at least for the time being, a ban on a corn variety produced by the seed company Monsanto(Kanter). As I stated earlier, the shortage of food in this world is a devastating problem but there are many good ideas on the table to try to solve them but GMO’s doesn’t happen to be one of them! Just say NO!
“The Price of Food (Research Feature).” World News Digest. June 2008. Facts on File News Services. 5 Nov. 2008
Varzakas, Theodoros H., Ioannis S. Arvanitoyannis, and Haralambos Baltas. “The Politics and the Science Behind GMO Acceptance.” Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition 47.4 (June 2007): 335-361.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov.2008
Hindo, Brain and Joshua Schneyer. “Monsanto: Winning the Ground War. (Cover story).”Business Week (17 Dec. 2007): 034-041. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College/ Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov. 2008
Mae-Wan Ho, Joe Cummins, &Peter Saunders.” GM food nightmare unfolding in the regulatory sham.” Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease. 16 Mar. 2007; 19: 66-77.
Good all, Jane, Gary McIvor, and Gail Hudson.” How We Lost Common Sense Farming” and “Seeds of Discontent.” Harvest of Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. New York: Time Warner Book Group, 2005.
Genetically Modified Organisms Production, Regulation, and Marketing.” International Debates 4.3 (Mar. 2006): 66-69. Academic Search Premier.EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 3 Nov. 2008
Issues for Debate Risks and Benefits of the Genetically Modified Organisms.” International Debates 4.3 ( Mar. 2006): 73-75. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, Az..3 Nov. 2008
Smith, Jeffrey M. “The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America.” Total Health 29.2 (May 2007): 38-40. Academic Search Premier.EBSCO. Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 3 Nov
Kanter, James “Proposed Ban on Genetically Modified Corn in Europe.” New York Times.(Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: 23 Nov 2007. pg. C3
Kanter, James “French Court Says Ban on Gene-Altered Corn Seed Will Remain, Pending Study; [ Business/Financial Desk].” New York Times(Late edition(East Coast)).New York, N.Y.20 mar 2008 C4.
Messeguer, Joaquima, et al. “pollen-mediated gene flow in maize in real situations of co-existence.” Plant Biotechnology Journal 4.6 (nov.2006): 633-645. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.Gateway Community College, Phoenix, AZ. 5 Nov. 2008
Charman, Karen “Genetically EngineeredFood: Promises & Perils.” Mother Earth News Oct./Nov. 2002: 74+
Seek and You Shall Find
I sought throughout the world for a bit of love
To guide me through the twists and turns of life.
I never imagined finding all of the answers
But I never dreamed of finding so much strife.
I never imagined all of the proverty and hunger,
Never invisioned all of the hatred and crime.
Never thought I’d be lifting my eyes to Heaven
Crying, pleading and begging God for one little sign.
One sign of love, of compassion, or of care.
One sign that He hears, that He sees, that He’s there.
One sign of hope of faith, or of healing.
One sign that He truly knows how we’re feeling.
As I finally dropped to my knees where I was
God answered and said look to my Son there’s your love.
I sought throughout the world for a bit of love
To guide me through the twists and turns of life.
I never imagined finding all of the answers
But I never dreamed of finding so much strife.
I never imagined all of the proverty and hunger,
Never invisioned all of the hatred and crime.
Never thought I’d be lifting my eyes to Heaven
Crying, pleading and begging God for one little sign.
One sign of love, of compassion, or of care.
One sign that He hears, that He sees, that He’s there.
One sign of hope of faith, or of healing.
One sign that He truly knows how we’re feeling.
As I finally dropped to my knees where I was
God answered and said look to my Son there’s your love.
If
If I were a tree, I would be a cherry
with delicate pink blossoms that bud in the spring.
If I were a flower I would be a violet
that merrily dances in fields fresh and green.
If I were water I would be a brook
that babbles along merrily around bends and crooks.
If I were a bird I’d be colorful and bright
with an iridescence that would that would glow in the night.
I’d flitter and hum around every colorful flower
and be filled with sweet nectar from hour to hour.
If I were the firmament I would be the night sky.
My stars and my planets how they’d twinkle and shine.
Alas, though I dream, I am none of these things.
But I thank God every day for the joy these things bring.
If I were a tree, I would be a cherry
with delicate pink blossoms that bud in the spring.
If I were a flower I would be a violet
that merrily dances in fields fresh and green.
If I were water I would be a brook
that babbles along merrily around bends and crooks.
If I were a bird I’d be colorful and bright
with an iridescence that would that would glow in the night.
I’d flitter and hum around every colorful flower
and be filled with sweet nectar from hour to hour.
If I were the firmament I would be the night sky.
My stars and my planets how they’d twinkle and shine.
Alas, though I dream, I am none of these things.
But I thank God every day for the joy these things bring.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)