Author Topic: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)  (Read 66103 times)

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #20 on: October 13, 2000, 02:02:00 PM »
Update on bioengineered corn. Adapted from the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1 & 12, 2000:  

Bioengineered Corn Also Found in Safeway Brand Taco Shells.

The same environmental group that found genetically altered corn in Taco Bell taco shells has found evidence of the same animal-grade corn in a private label brand sold by Safeway, one of the nation's largest supermarket chains.

Washington-based Friends of the Earth announced that StarLink corn, which has not been approved for use in human food, has been found in Safeway brand taco shells. This controversial corn, contains a plant pesticide, not approved for human consumption.

The protein from StarLink corn was discovered in laboratory tests of corn-based products commissioned by Friends of the Earth and other environmental and consumer groups. The coalition asked Safeway to recall the taco shells.

Safeway officials did not immediately comment. The news comes just weeks after Taco Bell brand taco shells were pulled from grocery stores by their distributor Kraft Foods.

The Food and Drug Administration officially recalled the Taco Bell products last week.

Environmentalists, food makers and even biotechnology proponents have called for a ban on genetically altered crops that haven't been cleared for humans. They point out that it's too easy for these crops to find their way into the food supply. ---end of articles.

Thank the Lord for the environmental groups that are looking out for our health.
--Suzanne


Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2000, 02:35:00 PM »
Pesticide Potato.

The Monsanto chemical company from St. Louis, Missouri, has developed the New Leaf Superior potato, which is registered as a pesticide with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), because it has been GENETICALLY ENGINEERED TO POISON ANY COLORADO POTATO BEETLE THAT MIGHT EAT EVEN A TINY PORTION OF IT. Every cell of the New Leaf potato contains a gene from a bacteria called Bacillus thuriengensis, or Bt, which produces a protein that is highly toxic to Colorado potato beetles.

EPA pesticide officials believe the potato is "reasonably safe" for humans because mice are not visibly harmed by eating them. Some geneticists criticize this position because subtle changes are difficult to recognize in short time spans. --From "Our Toxic Times, Dec. 1998.


Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44591
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #22 on: October 26, 2000, 06:40:00 AM »
Thank you, Sister Suzanne. The situation is getting very serious. The devil is truly at work. We soon shall have lost our opportunity to work in the daylight. Time cannot last much longer.

Richard

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2000, 08:53:00 AM »
Los Angeles Times, Oct. 26, 2000

Report of StarLink Corn in Japan Heats Up Debate

TOKYO--The US effort to convince the rest of the world that genetically modified foods are safe hit a huge roadblock yesterday when a Japanese consumer group charged that some altered corn products from the US that are banned for human consumption had found their way onto Japan's supermarket shelves.

The news is expected to fuel the already charged global debate over the safety of these foods, heighten consumer concerns in Asia and Europe and spur accusations that the US is not in full control of its distribution system.

U.S. grain industry officials rushed to Japan to try and mollify their customers as Japanese health officials and U.S. Embassy experts huddled in separate meetings to assess the crisis, spread their side of the story and reassure skittish Japanese consumers, among the most particular in the world.

"I'm just married and planning to have a baby, so it's really scary to think about eating this sort of...food without knowing it," said a 27 yr old office worker at a computer company in Tokyo.

A 500-member Japanese consumer group called No G.M.O. Campaign, which opposes genetically modified organisms, said it conducted tests on several Japanese food products, including corn-based snack foods and corn starch. The test reportedly found traces of StarLink, a genetically modified corn made by Aventis CropScience of Research Triangle Park, NC., a unit of Aventis of France...

The consumer group blames the U.S. for failing to keep what Europeans have dubbed "Frankenfood" within its borders and blames Japanese inspectors for not stopping the food at the dock. The EU bans all GMO food, but Japan is so dependent on America for feed corn that it can't make such a blanket rejection...

In the U.S., a coalition of environmental groups, Genetically Alteted Food Alert, said its own private testing discovered StarLink contamination in Western Family taco shells purchased from a gocery store in Oregon.

StarLink is engineered to contain a built-in pesticide to repel a destructive bug that feeds on young corn plants.

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 10-27-2000).]


Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44591
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #24 on: October 29, 2000, 06:48:00 AM »
I have a question. Does the pesticide in the corn repel or kill the worm?

Richard

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #25 on: November 01, 2000, 01:06:00 PM »
Br. Richard:

I do not know if the pesticide in genetically altered corn actually kills or simply repels insects. Either way the pesticide is in every bite eaten by humans as well as insects.

While on the subject here are 2 items taken from "Good Medicine," Autumn 2000:

* Money Talks, Again

The latest protest against genetically altered crops came from nuns who urged Kellogg Co. to stop using them in their products. The resolution was voted down by 94 percent of the shareholders despite protestor claims that the crops are unsafe and could spark lawsuits. Greenpeace and others have lobbied the world's leading cereal maker to no avail. --end of item


* That's Doctor Frankenstein To You

First into the laboratory were lobsters, manipulated by geneticists to grow into corpulent images of their former selves. Next, there will be giant chickens, pigs, and cows, created specifically to yield larger portions of meat.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are the masterminds behind the bizarre procedure, which blocks the genes that limit growth. Animals altered in this way can grow up to 50 percent beyond their normal size. "Visually dramatic" is what Se-Lin Lee, who discovered the gene, calls them.

Unfortunately, the nation's weight problems are also visually dramatic, and this program will do nothing to improve the situation. Similar programs conducted in the past proved disastrous when animals developed a wide range of serious health problems. --end of item.

At the same time, the people who eat similar manipulated animals are also developing a wide range of serious health problems.  

Note: "Good Medicine," is published by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 11-01-2000).]


Wendy

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1834
    • http://www.megspace.com/religion/cainan/
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #26 on: November 09, 2000, 05:07:00 PM »
Hi all,

   If you would like to help the effort to get genetically engineered foods labeled, check out the campaign to label Genetically Engineered foods.

Just do a search for Label Genetically Engineered Foods and that should take you to the web site.

       
       

------------------
Maranatha! :)

[This message has been edited by Wendy (edited 11-09-2000).]

WendyL ~ Maranatha!:)

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #27 on: November 16, 2000, 08:34:00 AM »
Since its opening in 1995, the New York restaurant Babette's has been wowing customers with healthy vegetarian-inspired dishes like Pan Seared Medallions of Tofu, etc. Now owner Barbara Layton and her husband, executive chef/owner Daniel Van Der Beek, are using the East Hampton hot spot's popularity to raise awareness of genetically modified (GM) foods, which they feel are dangerous to the environment and to their diners' health. To keep GM foods off the plates of their customers, the owners are now informing suppliers that they want to serve only non-GM food.

Babette's is also purchasing food from non- GM food suppliers such as organic, transitional organic and local family farmers. "Genetic engineering crosses a fundamental threshold in the manipulation of the planet; it changes the nature of life itself," Layton says. "[GM crops] are put out into the environment, and once out, these organisms are uncontrollable. They reproduce and mistakes cannot be recalled." So far, Babette's has accumulated more than 5,000 signatures on a petition calling for labeling of all GM foods, and is now focusing on creating a coalition of restaurants that are actively against genetic engineering.  --Journal for Holistic Living Guide, 2001.

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 11-16-2000).]


Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2001, 10:11:00 AM »
"Shopping List" of Genetically Engineered Foods

Are you concerned about the safety and ethics of buying and consuming foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients? The food biotechnology industry and food manufacturers have tried to assure us that these foods are safe, citing National Academy of Sciences (NAS) studies as proof. However, the NAS gave cautious endorsement to gene-spliced foods with the caveat that more studies are needed to determine the LONG-TERM health and environmental effects of genetically altered foods.

You need to know which foods--and brands--contain altered ingredients, and Greenpeace, the environmental activist group has published an extensive list by category on their web page: www.truefoodnow.org.

Good health for all,
Suzanne

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 01-24-2001).]


WendyForsyth

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 2410
    • http://
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #29 on: January 23, 2001, 05:18:00 PM »
Sister Suzanne,

Do you have a better link for that website? I couldn't get the page to come up. Thanks! :)

Wendy
---------------
Maranatha!!!

I have no doubt that God considers you to be one of His friends; otherwise He would not trust you with so many crosses, sufferings and humiliations. Crosses are God's means of drawing souls closer to Himself.

Fenelon


LindaRS

  • Senior Moderator
  • Posts: 5185
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #30 on: January 23, 2001, 06:20:00 PM »
Wendy,

The URL is truefoodnow.org

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jeremiah  10:23-24

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #31 on: January 24, 2001, 07:02:00 AM »
Bless you Linda:
 
The correct web site for Greenpeace is indeed www.truefoodnow.org.  My mistake was not checking it out at first. Thanks a million. God bless you and family.

Suzanne

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 01-24-2001).]


WendyForsyth

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 2410
    • http://
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #32 on: January 24, 2001, 06:34:00 PM »
Thanks guys! :)


Wendy
----------------
Maranatha!!!

I have no doubt that God considers you to be one of His friends; otherwise He would not trust you with so many crosses, sufferings and humiliations. Crosses are God's means of drawing souls closer to Himself.

Fenelon


Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #33 on: February 27, 2001, 08:23:00 AM »
This is adapted from "Vegetarian Times," Mar. 2001.

Pope John Paul II and leaders of the Reform Judaism movement are questioning the ethics of genetically engineered crops. In an address last November, the Pope urged the tens of thousands of farmers crowded into St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to "resist the temptations of productivity and profit that work to the detriment and the respect of nature."

He continued by saying biotechnology "cannot be evaluated only on the basis of immediate economic interests. It is necessary to subject it in advance to rigorous scientific and ethical checking."

The Jewish leaders went even further, adopting a formal resolution last year calling for the mandatory labeling of genetically altered food products. Beyond obvious worries that these foods can trigger allergic reactions in people who are not aware of what's in the products--as well as being less nutritious and capable of harming the environment--the group expressed concern that people who observe kosher law or follow vegetarian diets will unwittingly consume plants containing genes from animals.

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 02-27-2001).]


Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #34 on: March 02, 2001, 02:03:00 PM »
This is from the "Los Angeles Times," March 1, 2001.

StarLink Contamination Found in Seed

WASHINGTON--Corn seed to be sold to farmers for this year's crop has been contaminated by small amounts of the genetically engineered variety of the grain that prompted massive recalls of food and crops last year, government and industry sources said.

Seed companies detected the contamination while testing their stocks to make sure the seed was free of the modified corn, known as StarLink, which was approved only for animal consumption because of concerns about its safety for humans.

If the contamination is found to be widespread, farmers and grain exporters fear it could be devastating because major buyers of American corn in Europe and Asia have said they will refuse to buy any corn suspected of being tainted by StarLink. The U.S. exported $5.6 billion in corn in 1999.

Food and seed industry representatives are scheduled to meet on March 1, of this year with officials of 3 federal agencies that oversee agricultural biotechnology.

"There may be low levels of [the StarLink protein] in some non-StarLink hybrid corn seed," an agricultural department official confirmed. Those attending the meeting will "further evaluate what steps may be necessary to address it."

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 03-02-2001).]


Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2001, 01:03:00 PM »
This is from the "Los Angeles Times," March 8, 2001.

GMOs Are Found in Morningstar Farms Products

New lab. tests have found that veggie burgers and meat-free corn dogs made by natural foods brand Morningstar Farms contain genetically modified soy and the controversial genetically altered feed corn, StarLink, that has not been approved for human consumption.

Kellogg Co., which purchased Morningstar's parent company, Worthington Foods, in late 1999, notified customers in a string of letters and e-mails about its conversion to a soy protein that is not produced through biotechnology. However, its products were not labeled as GMO-free.

Kellogg's own tests confirmed recently that the soy protein it received from its suppliers was genetically altered. "This was an isolated incident," said Chris Ervin, a Kellogg spokeswoman. "It was a case of a supplier not providing ingredients to our specifications."

Kellogg executives have yet to decide whether to recall any of its products. But they have contacted the Food and Drug Administration, which recently recalled hundreds of StarLink-tainted products and are submitting products to an independent laboratory to be tested for the controversial corn.  

FDA officials say they do not have enough information to decide whether to recall the products or investigate Kellogg's claims.

One test, administered by Fairfield, Iowa-based Genetic ID, indicated that 1 percent or less of the corn in Morningstar's corn dogs is of the StarLink variety, which has been approved for animal feed but never for humans for fear that the slow digesting proteins might cause allergic reactions.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that corn set to be sold to farmers this spring contained StarLink corn seed, and the government offered to buy that seed to keep it off the market.

Industry analysts say they do not believe Kellogg is trying to mislead customers, but is simply struggling along with most other food companies to police its supply chain.

"A lot of the industry would like to go GMO-free and use some kind of insignia on their label, but today they don't have complete assurance down the [supply] chain," said Grant Ferrier, editor of San Diego-based Nutrition Business Journal.

Nevertheless, a Greenpeace official questioned how vigilant Kellogg has been in conducting testing or pressuring its suppliers to screen out genetically modified ingredients.

In another report Greenpeace commissioned from RHM Technologies in Britain, a biochemist estimated that 50 percent of the soy in the sample of Morningstar Harvest Burgers was of the Roundup Ready variety, a genetically modified soybean that is resistant to a popular weed killer.

"It's very hard to explain 50 percent of the soy [in the product] being genetically engineered as just a slip up," said Charles Margulis, who heads Greenpeace's genetic engineering campaign. "This seems to be a company that just doesn't care."

Executives of the nation's largest natural foods chain say they can attest to the difficulties of trying to be GMO-free.

Over a year after claiming it was going to ban GMOs from its house-brand products, Whole Foods Market Inc. still hasn't reformulated all of its products including its sodas and sandwich cookies and nutrition bars, said Denis Ring, who oversees manufacturing of its 365-brand product line.

"I don't think anyone is trying to mislead consumers" Ring says. "I just think the system right now isn't very conducive to segregation [of these products]."  

[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 03-09-2001).]


Dugald T Lewis MD

  • Moderator at Rest
  • Posts: 2599
    • http://www.drdugaldlewis.com
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2001, 04:41:00 PM »
Dear Sister Suzanne,

It appears that vigilance must continue. We need to teach our people how to make their own vegeburgers and meat substitutes instead of relying on the worthingtons, kelloggs etc.

Maybe someone can start a thread entitled "Creating meat substitutes in your own kitchen". We need help from the dieticians.


DTL


Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44591
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #37 on: June 24, 2001, 09:46:00 AM »
For what it is worth, ABCNews.com did  a poll in the U.S. and found that Nearly everyone, moreover — 93 percent — says the federal government should require labels on food saying whether it's been genetically modified, or "bio-engineered" (this poll used both phrases). Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare.

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Suzanne

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1297
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #38 on: January 18, 2002, 01:40:00 PM »
Beefy Biotech Wonder Saved From Slaughter

A genetically engineered bull was saved from the slaughterhouse after a Dutch museum and a funeral parlor agreed to pay for his care.

Herman, the first bull to carry a HUMAN gene, will move to Leiden's natural history museum from his former home on the farm. Pharming, the firm that created him, said it could no longer afford to keep him.

Herman was created in 1990 when scientists infused a bovine embryo with a human gene for producing a protein essential for infant growth. --adapted from the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 17, 2002.


Curt

  • Moderator
  • Posts: 1206
Re: Bioengineered Foods (GMO)
« Reply #39 on: May 30, 2002, 05:45:00 AM »
Geronimo, out to space we go !!!!

Well, the Soy bean is now going to space to be tested and those new Astro Seeds will be back on earth. Who knows where they will end up next. Do they really think we will inhabit space and plant vineyards and crops there.

Link :
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=585&e=2&cid=585&u=/nm/20020530/sc_nm/food_space_dc_1


New-Age Soybean Crop Will Be Out of This World
Thu May 30, 4:25 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Farmers in space?

 
In the first experiment of its kind, researchers on Thursday are poised to embark on a 70-day experiment that will study the effect zero-gravity has on the growth and development of 12 soybean seeds.

Monitoring everything from the planting of the seed to the final harvest of the grain, scientists are looking to see if soybean plants grown in space have improved oil, protein or carbohydrates that could be duplicated for farmers and consumers on Earth.

The soybeans will be delivered by the space shuttle Endeavor, which is scheduled to leave Thursday for a 12-day mission, to the International Space Station (news - web sites) where scientists will closely monitor data and video from Earth.

"There is a certain window of opportunity in their growing season so if reproducing (soybeans) is accelerated, farmers can grow more corps during that window," said Anthony Farina, a spokesman with DuPont Co.

"The success of this experiment could open seed to seed space experiments with other major corps," he added.

The study is being conducted by researchers at a DuPont subsidiary and NASA (news - web sites)'s Commercial Space Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

In 1984, the Challenger shuttle carried corn seeds into space and the seeds were later studied following their return to Earth. The corn seeds were never planted.

The team already has succeeded in trimming the growing cycle of soybeans on Earth to 60 days from 140 days. Scientists believe a similar target could be reached in space but with soybeans that are richer in protein and vitamin content.

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, American farmers will harvest an estimated 2.850 billion acres of soybeans in the 2002/03 crop year. Exports are pegged at 975 million bushels, making it the second-largest crop exported by U.S. farmers behind corn.

Later this summer, the plants and harvested grain will return to Earth with those seeds believed to have traits that improve soybean efficiency and profitability to farmers explored further.

FAITH - As God's blessed sons & daughters we are to attempt the impossible to the extent that we will fail unless God steps in.   Keep the faith