If "You-Are-What-You-Eat," Coming Soon, The Genetically-Modified You!
by Rafeel
Care for some firefly genes in your corn tortilla chips? Flounder genes in your salsa? Growth hormone in your milk? Does Round-Up Ready soy bread whet your appetite?
Approximately seventy percent of processed foods you buy in your favorite supermarket in the U.S. have genetically modified (GM) ingredients in them—ingredients that have not been sufficiently tested and which may harm your body’s organs and immune system as toxic residues build up in the body. Testing for safety is primarily self-regulatory—those who create GM organisms also report their safety.
Crops modified to resist herbicides necessitate the use of larger quantities of herbicide which are detrimental to the environment and humans. Now crops are also being modified to contain their own insecticide. Case studies have shown that these can cause insects to become resistant to the insecticide, which then leads to the use of more or stronger insecticides.
Serious problems are starting to surface on the farm. A farm advocacy organization and an environmental group recently released evidence that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sold corn that one of its own researchers said might be harmful to sows. The corn is suspected to have caused a reproductive problem called pseudopregnancy, or false pregnancy, where sows exhibited the signs of pregnancy for a full term but carried no fetuses.
There have also been several cases of GM crops created for animal feed only getting into the human food supply. But then, has anyone bothered to put two and two together? GM crops fed to animals eventually end up in the human food supply on the shelves of supermarkets.
According to a 2002 report called "Seeds of Doubt," by the British Soil Association based on interviews with academics, advisors, farmers, and industry analysts, almost every benefit claimed for GM crops did not stand up to examination: farmers reported lower yields, continued dependency on chemical sprays, and widespread contamination of non-GM and organic crops.
Yet, the burden of staying GM-free is not put on the transnational corporations, whose seed can cross-pollinate, but on farmers who wish to remain GM-free. Farmers around the world are learning that, according to the rules of Article 34 of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement On Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), if their crops have been cross-pollinated by wind with pollen from GM crops they are the ones presumed to be an infringer.
Outside of the United States there is considerable determination to keep genetically altered food and food ingredients out of the food chain. According to the latest annual survey by GMFoodnews.com, no supermarkets in the United Kingdom include GM food or ingredients in their store, and since 1999 their in-house brands have been cleansed of all GM products. Also, GM-free feed for animals that produce their meat, milk, and eggs is increasingly being specified.
Resistance to GM foods and crops in the European Union, Asia, and parts of Africa is strong; and in some countries, imports are forbidden. In Africa, countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malai, Mozambique, and Ethiopia are refusing to accept GM food shipments even in the face of famine—they do not want to take the risk of their local agriculture and native staple crops being contaminated, which would make them subject to the international conglomerates eventually controlling their food supply.
So how do you avoid these genetically modified food ingredients? In the U.S. today, outside of products certified as organic none are guaranteed to not be genetically manipulated or treated with herbicides and insecticides. There are numerous resources on the Internet which offer lists of both genetically modified food and food free of genetic engineering.
The proactive who want to send a stronger message can sign petitions and join boycotts against those companies which use genetically modified organisms in their food products.
Change takes effort. By choosing to seek out ways to obtain organic food rather than going to the local supermarket that is awash in GM food products, a new food paradigm can quickly eventuate. Community Supported Agriculture is a trend towards interdependence between those who wish to grow organic foods and those who wish to consume it—subscribers can buy directly from an organic farm and pick up boxes of organic produce from a pick up area. Farmers’ markets are also a valuable source for obtaining organic foods. Besides allowing farmers to sell directly to the public, farmers’ markets also provide the opportunity for consumers to meet and interact with the farmers on a personal level.
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Profit is the current god of the world. Profitability is being put before environmental sensibility and even human health. GM foods are products of the clever minds of men and women whose corporate loyalties blind them to the warning signs that abound and deafen them to the voices of higher reason.
Could the phenomenon of genetically modified foods be an indicator of the warning stated in the Fifth Epochal Revelation?
"The slowness of evolution, of human cultural progress, testifies to the effectiveness of that brake—material inertia—which so efficiently operates to retard dangerous velocities of progress.…For when culture advances overfast, when material achievement outruns the evolution of worship-wisdom, then does civilization contain within itself the seeds of retrogression; and unless buttressed by the swift augmentation of experiential wisdom, such human societies will recede from high but premature levels of attainment, and the "dark ages" of the interregnum of wisdom will bear witness to the inexorable restoration of the imbalance between self-liberty and self-control." (The URANTIA Book, p. 1302:03)
Internet Resources and Information about Genetically-modified Foods:
Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org)
Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org)
True Food Now (www.truefoodnow.org/index.html?news)
What’s Wrong With Genetic Modification? (www.connectotel.com/gmfood/gmwrong.html)
The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods (www.thecampaign.org)
Campaign to Ban Genetically Engineered Foods (www.netlink.de/gen/home.html)
Planet Ark (www.planetark.org)
Friends of the Earth: Real Food Campaigns (www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food)
How To Shop To Avoid Genetically Engineered Foods (www.holisticmed.com/ge/avoid.html)