Genetically Modified Foods - Beware!

"The results will be essentially new organisms, self-perpetuating and hence permanent. Once created, they cannot be recalled"



Genetically modified foods - like canola oil and Pasta Roni - are being deceptively pushed into our diets everyday. One example is "Round-up Ready" corn sold and manufactured by Monsanto. More about that here. Simply put, Monsanto makes Round-up, it's the liquid weed killer you can buy at your local nursery; you spray it on the leaves of the plants where it's absorbed and blocks an enzyme the plant needs to live.

Here's where I have serious issues with entire fields of "Round-up Ready" corn:

• The corn seeds are genetically modified in a violent way (a "gun" and high velocity is used to ram the new DNA into the cell).
• The plants are not the only thing that is getting sprayed with this chemical. It also lands onto and is absorbed by the soil. Where do the plants get their vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that make them good for us to eat? The sun and the soil. And here we are dumping hundreds of gallons of a toxic chemical on them week?
• Round-up then gets into the soil and mixes with the water used to irrigate the corn; the corn "drinks" up the water/chemical mixture where it then becomes part of the cellular structure of the plant.
• Humans are supposed to eat this "Round-up Ready" corn that has been grown in a bath of chemical herbicide and believe it's safe.
• (Does any of the chemical herbicide get into our aquifers and drinking water supply?)
  

According to Howstuffworks.com, Round-up contains glyphosphate - the main ingredient used to stop the plants from producing that enzyme. And, "most people react badly to glyphosphate (and other chemicals mixed with it) when ingested or applied to the skin, so you want to avoid any contact with the chemical."

So, Round-up (which contains glyphosphate) is sprayed on corn fields hundreds of gallons at a time. The corn ends up "drinking" the Round-up as it's mixed with water and/or rain. Glyphosphate ends up in the cellular structure of the corn (it could be said that the plant has "ingested" the glyphosphate). I go to the store, buy the "Round-up Ready" corn or a product made with it, take it home, and eat (ingest) it. Does anyone else see a problem here?

Oh, and Monsanto, Con-Agra and other big-business "leaders" in the field of genetically modifying our food supply pay big bucks for lawyers and lobbyists so that they don't have to label foods that have been genetically modified. That and the FDA's role is here.

Many people including genetic scientists and biologists agree that genetically modified foods need hard, rigorous study, and that they are unfit for human consumption.

Thanks to a recent lawsuit, internal FDA documents revealed "that agency scientists warned that GM foods might create toxins, allergies, nutritional problems, and new diseases that might be difficult to identify."

In addition, a panel of experts from the Royal Society of Canada reported that "it was "scientifically unjustifiable" to presume that GM foods are safe," and the UK's Royal Society reported in 2002 that "genetic modification could lead to unpredicted harmful changes in the nutritional state of foods."

One independent study published on GM foods being fed to animals "showed evidence of damage to the immune system and vital organs, and a potentially pre-cancerous condition." Two other studies "showed evidence of a potentially pre-cancerous condition." Moreover, seven other studies were designed specifically not to identify these details.

For a very good account of genetically modified foods, read Seeds of Deception.

It's like the world has gone mad

The FDA, as well as those on the side of the meat industry, feel that it is safe for humans to eat meat and drink milk from cloned animals. (I do not in any way, shape, or form, support this position). In addition, they are against the labeling of such meat and dairy products in order to let consumers know what they are about to ingest has come from cloned animals. “The problem with labeling is that it implies that something is wrong with the food,” says William Hallman, director of the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers University. “Just like a label warns of peanuts, a label on cloned foods will be interpreted as a warning.”

Excuse me, but, does the "warning" label on cigarettes stop people from smoking? And the peanut warning label is so that people who have allergies know to stay away from food containing peanuts or processed in a facility that processes peanuts. It's called health and safety. It's called allowing the "free hand of the market" to decide, right? Isn't that what all of these big industry capitalist CEO's are always raving about? So, why not label cloned animals as such - and let the consumer decide if he or she feels safe eating an animal that has no evolutionary genetic history on this planet and is literally made up from a brand new, rarely discussed or debated technology in a laboratory?



More hypocrisy. Hey, all of you conservative, right-wing, "family-values" Americans...why don't you do something about this truly disgusting situation? Isn't this more important than abortion?



Speaking of disgusting... Those killed in the twin towers on 9/11 have never been given proper, body-identified burials. The remains of their bodies as well as the buildings they died in were rushed out of NYC: sold, junked, scrapped, melted, and otherwise destroyed and retransformed. Even though it was a crime scene, no investigation was ever done on any of the "evidence" contained at ground zero. Why? And why is it OK to use crime and burial scene evidence and steel as building material?



Why is this being released now? The report even states that, “At this time, there is no credible intelligence regarding specific plans by any extremist groups or individuals to perpetrate an act of terrorism against the U.S. mass transit system." So, why scare and frighten people? Is it because enough people aren't paying attention to Bush's low approval ratings? Is it because Hillary and Obama are dominating national television coverage? Why does my government continually try to terrorize me?