posted 06-06-2003 06:18 AM            

I won't be eating geneticaly MUTILATED foods if I can help it.

posted 06-06-2003 05:39 PM            

No mouse genes in my tomatoes thank you.
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I wish you had watched the Penn and Teller episode about GM food.. Man, they bashed greenpeace was awesome.

Anyways, there are no mouse genes in your tomatoes, don't worry! All those crazy tests you hear about (like firefly genes in tobacco, jellyfish in tomato) are not created for food, they are created for study. Scientists try and understand what different genes do and how they effect different things.

posted 06-07-2003 12:18 PM            

quote:

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The corn will contain a protein, lipase, that will be used in an experimental drug researchers hope will help patients with cystic fibrosis.

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quote:

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"I'm convinced that production of pharmaceuticals using biotechnology can be accomplished in Colorado safely and without threat to our agricultural markets or to the consumer of our food products," said Don Ament, the state's agriculture commissioner.

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quote:

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"What we're asking for is a moratorium on biopharm crops until an open and public process can determine that they're safe," Peter Crowell of the Western Colorado Congress said Wednesday before the approval was announced. "We're not saying we want a ban."

But those backing Meristem's plans say biopharms could spark Colorado's sputtering economy.

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Many of the opponents' concerns stem from problems in other states. Last year, 50,000 bushels of soybeans had to be destroyed in Nebraska after they were contaminated by pharmaceutical corn. And the USDA ordered 155 acres of corn in Iowa incinerated because pollen from genetically altered corn had drifted into nearby fields.

But Meristem has told the state that the corn it plants will be "sterilized," so the pharmaceutical seed cannot spread to neighboring cornfields.

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>>and it really isn't the mad scientist type of modifying people have the perception of, it's often to protect against parasites and gain higher crop output. Basically make the crop more 'durable'.<<

I have to disagree ChemCaptain; what I have read states GM crops DO NOT protect against parasites, and there is no higher crop output.

quote:

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GM crops failed to deliver promised benefits
No increase in yields or significant reduction in herbicide and pesticide use
United States lost an estimated $12 billion over GM crops amid worldwide rejection
Massive crop failures of up to 100% reported in India
High risk future for agbiotech: "Monsanto could be another disaster waiting to happen for investors"

Genetic engineering creates super-viruses
The most insidious dangers of genetic engineering are inherent to the process; it greatly enhances the scope and probability of horizontal gene transfer and recombination, the main route to creating viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics.
Newer techniques, such as DNA shuffling, allow geneticists to create in a matter of minutes in the laboratory millions of recombinant viruses that have never existed in billions of years of evolution
Disease-causing viruses and bacteria and their genetic material are the predominant materials and tools of genetic engineering, as much as for the intentional creation of bio-weapons.

GM crops have failed to deliver the promised benefits and are posing escalating problems on the farm. Transgenic contamination is now widely acknowledged to be unavoidable, and hence there can be no co-existence of GM and non-GM agriculture. Most important of all, GM crops have not been proven safe. On the contrary, sufficient evidence has emerged to raise serious safety concerns, that if ignored could result in irreversible damage to health and the environment. GM crops should therefore be firmly rejected now.

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posted 06-07-2003 02:10 PM            

"--GM food is more regulated than regular food, and it really isn't the mad scientist type of modifying people have the perception of, it's often to protect against parasites and gain higher crop output. Basically make the crop more 'durable'.--

SOUNDS LIKE A SLIMY GM SALESPITCH TO ME.

PRODIGENE OFFICIALS MAY FACE JAIL/CONTAMINATION COULD BE AIDS VACCINE OR BLOOD THICKENER IN FOOD CROPS

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``ProdiGene should certainly be punished for this reckless lapse, but let us not forget that the USDA has irresponsibly continued to allow drugs and, industrial chemicals to be engineered into food crops,'' said Mark Helm, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth. ``It has to stop.''

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Helm said the government should ban open-air cultivation of plants designed to contain pharmaceuticals so they won't be able to contaminate other crops.

On the other side, Lisa Dry, a Biotechnology Industry Organization spokeswoman, said that while the ProdiGene incidents are a black eye for the industry, the government has the rules needed to block contaminated soybeans from entering the food supply.

``The regulations that are in place were designed to stop this from happening,'' she said, calling the Nebraska and Iowa incidents a matter of noncompliance with the rules. ``The company did not follow the regulations.''

Dry said the ProdiGene case is very different from StarLink--an unapproved variety of corn that tainted the food supply two years ago. ``This was the antithesis of StarLink because with StarLink, it wasn't caught.''

On the Net:

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/

Biotechnology Industry Organization: http://www.bio.org

Grocery Manufacturers of America: http://www.gmabrands.com

Friends of the Earth: http://www.foe.org

***

-- BIOPHARMACEUTICAL CONTAMINATION COULD BE: AIDS VACCINE OR BLOOD THICKENER--

Coalition to File Legal Petition Demanding Immediate Halt of Experimental Biopharmaceuticals Grown on Farms

Washington-Today, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed a second incident of contamination of a food crop by an experimental genetically engineered crop, engineered to contain a pharmaceutical or industrial chemical, in Iowa. This follows yesterday's announcement that 500,000 bushels of soybeans in Nebraska destined for human consumption have also been quarantined due to biocontamination by a similar crop.

The USDA has refused to reveal what chemical or drug was grown in either crop, but research into the company that produces the biopharmaceutical crops, ProdiGene, reveals that the contaminates could be one of the following:

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IN YOUR FOOD FOLKS..........

* Aids vaccine -gp120 a glycoprotein

* Blood-clotting agent-Aprotinin

* Digestive enzyme-Trypsin

* Industrial adhesive-Laccase, an enzyme derived from a fungus

Other biopharm crops reportedly grown by ProdiGene include experimental oral vaccines for hepatitis B and for a PIG DISEASE, transmissible gastroenteritis. According to USDA records ProdiGene has received 85 test permits for experimental open-air trials of genetically engineered biopharmaceutical and chemical crops for planting in AT LEAST 96 LOCATIONS. More information on ProdiGene products can be found on the attached document.

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"With this latest contamination the government should halt all experimental genetically engineered crops grown on farms," Stated Matt Rand, Biotechnology Campaign Manager for the National Environmental Trust. "If the governmentm continues to develop policies for the biotech industry instead of for the safety of the U.S. food supply it is just a matter of time before one of these experimental crops ends up on our dinner plates," continued Rand.

Today, with the second contamination of an experimental genetically engineered biopharmaceutical crop, the GEFoodAlert coalition announced its intention to file a legal petition to the USDA calling for the immediate halt to all biopharms. Additionally with the US government not revealing pertinent information on the contamination incidents, the Center for Food Safety, a member of the coalition, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petition to access all government documents on ProdiGene. A similar FOIA was submitted by Friends of the Earth in April 2001and the USDA declined to provide permit information.

Last week members of GEFoodAlert coalition met with the USDA regarding the open farm testing of biopharmaceuticals and asked the USDA if contamination testing was taking place. The USDA flatly denied that any contamination testing was being performed.

"The government clearly knew about this contamination weeks ago and chose not to reveal the information to the public, but instead worked behind closed doors with the industry to try to cover this up," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director at the Center for Food Safety.

### For a comprehensive report on biopharm, see www.gefoodalert.org. The GEFoodAlert is a coalition of health, consumer and environmental groups that supports the removal of genetically engineered ingredients from grocery store shelves unless they are adequately safety tested and labeled.
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PRODIGENE FIELD TRIALS OF DRUG- AND CHEMICAL-PRODUCING CORN

Information compiled from USDA's website for field trials of genetically engineered crops (www.nbiap.vt.edu/cfdocs/fieldtests1.cfm )(1)

An Excel file with a complete list of ProdiGene field trials nationwide is available upon request

Possible Substances2)

posted 06-07-2003 10:04 PM            

I don't have it a habit of searching out GM food.. as I've said in other threads, I'm not ready to get up in guns about something I don't think is that big of a deal yet.

And Lu, I agree GMing can be a very dangerous prospect- but you have to seperate GMing consumable crops with GMing other crazy experiments.

posted 06-07-2003 11:22 PM            

My grandfather grows it though, so does one of our family friends.. All the fresh sweet corn we can handle.

Large crop corn, like anything that you'd find that isn't local, is no good, GM or not.

posted 06-07-2003 11:55 PM            

GM Engineering is a whole other can of worms..literally.