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Post by aligator on Feb 6, 2007 2:30:03 GMT -5
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Post by aligator on Feb 6, 2007 2:31:40 GMT -5
Scotland's new chief scientific adviser has urged people to embrace so-called "Frankenstein foods".
Professor Anne Glover, a genetic engineer based a the University of Aberdeen, said the potential benefits of genetically-modified (GM) foods were "huge" and the risks "extremely small".
She said they could help combat poverty, hunger and toxic pollution.
But her comments have outraged environmental campaigners who say GM is dangerous. They worry her views could influence Scottish ministers.
No GM crops have been grown in Scotland since trials of GM oil seed rape ended in 2003.
"I'm absolutely in favour of genetic manipulation carried out under appropriate guidelines," said Prof Glover.
"GM food could help end poverty and hunger in the world, as well as reducing farmers' use of hazardous pesticides.
"They have a significant amount to offer, globally, in terms of how they could be used to produce crops under difficult conditions and to reduce the amount of chemicals used in agriculture."
But Hugh Raven, from the Soil Association, said: "There is no evidence whatever that Scottish consumers want GM products in their food supplies."
Prof Glover was appointed chief scientific adviser earlier this year. December 31, 2006 wont go to link above
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Post by aligator on Feb 6, 2007 2:33:11 GMT -5
December 27, 2006 EXPANDED REPORTING; Pg. 35 342 words ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY; Genetically modified spuds to be commercialized in 2007
The first commercial crop of genetically modified potatoes will be planted in 2007. Industry bods and green campaigners alike agree that E.U. approval of BASF's Amflora potatoes will come in time for spring launch and cultivation, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the Society of Chemical Industry.
Amflora potatoes, which have been modified to be particularly suited for the production of papers and adhesive, are not intended for human consumption. In contrast to conventional potatoes, they contain only amylopectin, as opposed to both amylopectin and amylose starches.
"This is the first potato of its kind," according to Thorston Storck, global project manager at BASF Plant Sciences. "We have tested these potatoes over 10 years...And at this stage, we are optimistic of getting permission to grow and sell these potatoes in time for planting next year," he said.
Claire Oxborrow, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth, agreed that approval in time for spring planting was likely. Even without a qualified majority by the regulatory committee, she said the potatoes would ultimately be approved. But Oxborrow also expressed concerns that Amflora potatoes could find their way into the food supply, especially given that a separate application by BASF for food and feeding is not far behind this one. She said that safety should be a concern because rat feeding studies showed statistically significant differences in white blood cells and spleen weight between female animals fed the transgenic potato and those given a diet containing the parental cultivar.
"These differences should be thoroughly investigated to ensure that they will not lead to human health impacts," she said.
Currently there are six countries in the E.U. where GM crops are grown commercially: Romania, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic. They all grow GM maize except Romania, which grows GM soya.
This article was prepared by Biotech Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Biotech Week via NewsRx.com. December 22, 2006
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Post by aligator on Feb 6, 2007 2:35:05 GMT -5
Biotechnology Will Help Meet Demand for Food and Fuel, BIO Says; Biotechnology Makes "Food vs. Fuel" a False Choice WASHINGTON
Biotechnology is helping American farmers continue to supply an economic, environmentally sustainable supply of food and raw material for biofuels, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) said today in response to a recent Earth Policy Institute report. BIO noted the EPI report underestimates the impact biotechnology will have in increasing yields of both corn and ethanol from corn as well as producing ethanol from cellulose, meeting worldwide demand for both food and fuel.
"Agricultural biotechnology is helping farmers increase corn yields so we can make more ethanol," stated BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. "In addition, industrial biotech companies are developing new enzymes that make current ethanol processes more efficient and will soon allow the economical conversion of cellulosic crop residues to fuel. With ongoing advances in biotechnology, biofuels can help America meet nearly half its transportation-fuel needs by the middle of this century."
BIO's recently released report, "Achieving Sustainable Production of Agricultural Biomass for Biorefinery Feedstock," outlines current and future feedstock supply challenges for the biofuel industry and discusses incentives to spur sustainable production, harvest and delivery of agricultural cellulosic biomass. The report shows that corn stover and cereal straw can supply 200 million dry tons of feedstock annually within three to five years, tripling current ethanol from corn production. The report is available .
"The Earth Policy Institute's calculations fail to take into account recent developments in the ethanol industry that will ramp up production of ethanol from cellulose," said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial and Environmental Section. "The technology for production of ethanol from cellulose is ready today. With industrial biotech processes ready for deployment and production -- by companies such as Abengoa, Iogen, Broin, Mascoma and others -- and currently available feedstock from agricultural residues such as corn stalks, ethanol production could reach three times current levels within three to five years as ethanol from cellulose is added to the current biofuel technology mix."
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.
Upcoming Events BIO CEO & Investor Conference Feb. 12-14, 2007, New York City 2007 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing March 21-24, 2007, Orlando, FL BIO International Convention May 6-9, 2007, Boston, MA
CONTACT: Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Paul Winters, 202-962-9237
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Post by aligator on Feb 6, 2007 2:38:09 GMT -5
SCIENTIFIC RISK ASSESSMENT CRITICAL IN RISK ANALYSIS OF GM CROPS Scientific risk assessment plays an important part in the regulation of activities that can potentially harm the environment. Decisions derived from scientific risk assessments include the permission to commercially plant or market a particular genetically modified (GM) crop. However, even after conducting a scientific risk assessment debates concerning the safety of GM crops still persist. The group led by Guy Poppy in the United Kingdom has identified two possible reasons why, and they have recommended these be rectified to regain confidence in the risk assessment process. One of the reasons is that data often come from non relevant studies which can only be used to answer very few questions about risk. These ‘answers in search of questions’ give the impression of significant risk, though if relevant studies are conducted it can be determined that there is negligible actual risk. Poppy’s group suggests that scientific risk assessment needs to test well-defined hypotheses. The second reason is that some concerns of the stakeholders cannot be answered by science alone, so they are outside the area of scientific risk assessment. An example of this is the fear that social and political change will occur with the use of GM crops. The group suggests that these ‘non-scientific’ questions be also integrated in the regulatory decision making. This will help bring back society’s trust of scientific applications and the regulatory process. The complete opinion paper published by the journal Trends in Plant Science can be accessed by subscribers at dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2006.11.004
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Post by ::gazal:: on Feb 6, 2007 4:55:00 GMT -5
GM food are refused by the people of every country in the world; nobody wants them. Everybody prefer the seeds and the strains of the local agricolture, but they are forced to buy GM seeds, while natural species are destroied or copyrighted by the big companies; the same companies that produce the chems sprayed in the skies.
It's not like nuclear plants, that someone who defend them exists.
Really the GM organisms are imposed with all means over the will and common sense of the whole humanity.
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Post by sickandtired on Feb 6, 2007 9:58:18 GMT -5
It is called the almight DOLLAR.....Frankenscience does NOT KNOW the ramifications of their work.... Look at when they spouted "Chemical Free" was going to save the world....using organisms to do the dirty work...well this has been going on for some 25-30 years now and all I see from Frankenscience's efforts is disease....in humans, pets, wildlife and even plants.....their organisms are destroying the planet and all that live here...... THESE FRANKENSCIENTISTS ARE NOT THE EXPERTS THEY THINK THEY ARE!!! and disease by your hands is what is happening....... I would have to say the EPA has their heads up their big fat butts.....sitting there spouting crap that your bugs are safe.....You my friends are in for a rude awakening when the TRUTH is spoken......you will find out that you have infected the world..... I also believe that the obesity epidemic is caused from GM foods.....they are not disgesting properly or storing differently especially the GM rice.....even babies are on obesity lists....WHAT on EARTH the very little people that go like the energizer bunny and they are now obese......because they are eating baby foods made with this GM rice......it has this extra strand of protein that I believe is not breaking down properly....causing this obesity epidemic.....WHY? have Frankenscience manipulated ALL our staple foods....this is SCARY......every staple is not what GOD intended.......... GM bugs and food will destroy the world.....
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Post by aligator on Feb 9, 2007 15:01:50 GMT -5
Bushs' "green revolution" The President went on to add, “We are establishing a new 30-million-dollar science and technology commission that will fund joint research in promising areas like biotechnology”. Anyone who has spent time on Capitol Hill knows that Commissions are a way to have your friends look into something and fix the results. What they can’t fix they classify. The Warren Commission investigated Kennedy’s shooting before half of America was born and we still don’t know what they found. That’s the type of commission the President’s 30 million dollars is setting up for India. The “green revolution” is about profits for the bio-techs and the India deal is a sweet package. Bush has promised the approval of new varieties of ‘Frankenfoods’ grown in India for export to the US. This coupled with the Congressional attack on the food labels will assure no Americans can know what any of the profiteers are feeding us. It also gives India access to the vast US food markets. It’s a way of thanking us for our jobs. Specifically what the deal in New Delhi involved was installing Monsanto’s hand picked henchmen in the key positions with India’s research and regulatory boards. While the strategy is the same everywhere Monsanto and the Bushwackos go, the names change. From my view it’s easiest and best to use the words of the local experts to summarize the situation. “There is a complete blackout at the top about what’s going wrong. This is the worst agrarian crises since Independence,” says Devinder Sharma an agricultural scientist, who is also a food policy analyst on the forum for biotechnology and food security. www.organicindia.com/mango-tango-bush.php
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Post by aligator on Feb 10, 2007 13:09:25 GMT -5
got this email the other day.... thought I'd share..........
February 3, 2007 Big BioTech on the Ropes? Critical Meeting in Norway - We'll Be There On February 6 -7, the Natural Solutions Foundation will attend a vitally important informal working group in Oslo, Norway on Genetically Modified/Engineered (GM) food labeling. We are leaving at 2:30 AM on Monday morning, February 4 and will turn around to come back to Thailand on February 8. Why make such a difficult short trip? Because a crucially important aspect of your health and health freedom is on the block in Norway and you need to be represented there. Our side needs to be there in person to listen, observe, interact and build allies for health and health freedom. Remember, our food supply is globalizing at a rapid rate. The US is the dominant dog in Codex and, almost without exception, whatever the US wants, the US gets. Unlabeled Biotech foods is one exception. Fluoride in baby formula for healthy infants, as you may recall, was another. But the US tried a really clever ploy that may have been just a little too clever and may have backfired, big time! Biotech Fighting Hard, Dirty Here's the story: the Biotech industry has bought and bullied the US regulatory agencies (e.g., USDA and FDA) so that it can mix its genetically modified, unsafe and untested products into the food supply without any identification or labeling. Many countries fear what these dangerous and unnatural "foods" can do to the health and fertility of the people who eat them (and grow them) and to the environment. They don't trus the commercial "science" telling them that these prodicts are safe and observe that the incidence of cancer, lethal allergies, and other major preventable diseases rises dramatically while fertility drops drastically when people eat these contaminated foods. They understand the consequences of damaged and GM food in the dismal health of the US and are not eager to be next in line for this food-born set of illnesses. Robert Mugabe shared his conviction when opening a conference in Harare, Zimbabwe last year on feeding Africa that the West is intent upon killing Africa with GM food. Other countries feel the same way or distrust the technology since it has not been proven to be safe. Opposition Strong, Sustained The EU and Norway, like India, Africa and other developing economies, are far more alert to the dangers of GM foods than we are. They simply do not want unlabeled GM food in their food supply. India's Supreme Court, for example, recently issued its third injunction against growing genetically altered food crops. Monsanto and its ilk simply ignored the first two injunctions with impunity. As with so many other food contaminations which benefit the multinational interests, the US acts as if it can force the whole world to accept the same kind of food degradation we have in the US -- and get them to pay top dollar for it, too. As the Minister for Food Production Industries literally shouted at me in his living room in Delhi 3 months ago, "The United States has ruined its own health with Western Food and now you want to ruin India's health?" The same anger and resistance to the US agenda is evident in the current GM battle. Brilliant US Ploy Backfires At the last Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL, May, 2006, Ottawa) the US tried a brilliant feint: knowing that there was strong, prolonged and effective opposition to its attempts to slide unidentified GM food into the world's international food trade, the US delegate to that meeting, Dr. Barbara Schneeman, told the CCFL that the US now wanted to drop the whole issue. "OK, you win!" the US appeared to say to the combined force of the opponents. But the countries that do not want unlabeled GM foods saw right through the ploy: if the standard were dropped, or if the US won the battle, either way, they would not be able to keep GM contaminated food out of their countries without creating a "Barrier to Trade", punishable by ferocious WTO trade sanctions which no economy, let alone a fragile developing nation economy, can long endure. "NO!", protested the pro GM labeling countries. "No, we do not want to stop talking [because that way the US wins this critical battle]. Let's not drop the item off the agenda [because that way we have lost our right to reject GM food]. " Norway, taking the lead, leaped into the breech and said that she would host a physical, rather than an electronic, working group in January [which turned out to be February] to find, as they love to say in Codex, "a way forward". Argentina and Ghana volunteered to serve as co-chairs although Ghana did request that the meeting be held in a warmer climate and was quickly (and rather rudely, we thought) turned down. Unlabeled GM is so repugnant to many countries that, although the US typically gets whatever it wants in Codex, a bloc of countries has been steadfastly and vigorously opposing the US' efforts to force unlabeled GM food into the global food supply through Codex. Natural Solutions Foundation at Meeting to Protect Your Interests, Inform Delegates The Natural Solutions Foundation will be at the Informal Working Group in Oslo this coming week to represent your interests. We will observe, interact and build pro-health alliances as we do at every Codex meeting we attend. We meet and mingle with the delegates pointing out to them the distortions and lies that they are hearing from the special interests represented by the US. They are responsive, appreciative, respectful of our information and ask us to bring more information to them. Think about what happened with fluoride at the Codex meeting in Chiang Mai in November, 2006 when our data enabled our allies to defeat the US-backed proposal to add fluoride to formula for healthy infants. Within days of our triumph, the American Dental Association switched its long-held position in favor of fluoride for children and recomended that infants up to 1 year NOT be exposed to fluoride! We also inform Codex delegates about Codex' origin (of which they are usually unaware) but which makes a huge difference once you understand it. After all, when you understand that Codex sprang directly from the mind of the man who was responsible for the Nazi death camps and is a pharmaceutical initiative, Codex looks a little different. What's So Bad About GMs? GMs are created by unnatural means where high energy and viruses are used to open the nucleus of a cell and introduce foreign DNA into the nucleus. The foreign DNA wanders around inside the nucleus and, if you are a mammal, wanders out of your gut and into the nuclei of your other cells where it directs the cell to make foreign proteins which have never existed in your body before (and sometimes have never existed on earth before). Those proteins have either unknown or known and very dangerous effects. GM foods do not have to be proven safe - EVEN TO THE LAUGHABLE EXTENT THAT DRUGS (WHICH ARE EITHER THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH OR THE 4TH LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH WHEN USED PROPERLY) ARE "PROVEN SAFE"! All you need to sell GM foods into the food supply is a patent. The FDA has made it clear that if any liability exists, it will get sorted out by the courts. In other words, if you are harmed or killed by GM foods, you will have to prove it in court before you get any protection and even then, the food stays in the food supply. Independent testing by scientists who are not tied to the biotech industry shows over and over that GM foods are associated with a vast range of health and environmental issues of cataclysmic proportion. Even their much-vaunted advantages of reducing pesticide/herbicide use and feeding the teeming masses turn out to be false. What the do very well, however, is give control of the world's food supply to a few greedy, aggressive and highly socially irresponsible biotech firms and the countries that push their agendas. Oh yes, they can also make anything fed on GM foods very, very sick. That means people, animals and people who eat animals fed on GM foods are at risk for major problems which can compromise their health or kill them. Not only is your health at stake here, but your health freedom is, too. You may think it is your right to choose whether you eat GM foods or not, but the Biotech industry and the FDA think otherwise. So fervent are they in their belief that you do not have a right to make that choice, that they are determined to globalize this food fascism. When GM is mixed into real food without labeling, consumers have no way of knowing whether what they eat has only the DNA which it should have or whether foreign, (possibly very dangerous) DNA has been introduced. This foreign DNA, and the viruses which are used to insert it, may alter its biological impact producing deadly diseases and effects for them and for their offspring. The only way out in the US is not very practical: eat exclusively 100% organic foods.
Every American a Guinea Pig Hold the Informed Consent! In what has been described as the world's largest uncontrolled experiment, virtually the entire US population of 300 million people eats dangerous, untested GM-contaminated food every day and has never been given the opportunity to opt in (or out) of the experiment. Strange Fruit The Biotech industry's strange fruit requires no safety testing before it is introduced into the food supply. Voluntary "Certificates of Equivalence" merely tell you that the stuff has the same sensory qualities as the real McCoy.
"Frankenfoods" as they are aptly called, are NOT the same foods and crops which have developed over time. Although they may look a lot like the regular foods and crops, genentically engineered plants and animals undergo no required safety testing before they are added to the food supply in the US. Although their safety is strongly questioned by independent scientists and physicians, the powerful Biotech lobby has bullied (and bought, one must assume) its way into the US food supply. Unless your diet is 100% organic or better, the lion's share of your daily diet contains these silent health enemies. GM crops and animals modified to produce drugs and vaccines can easily become mixed into the food supply as well since no meaningful oversight keeps them segregated from normal plants and animals (as shown by the 2006 contamination of normal rice with pharmaceutical rice in Louisiana leading to world-wide bans on US rice).
Right Here, Right Now Woven into your food, the soy and soy products, corn, oils, fruits, vegetables, starches (and now meats) your conventional (as opposed to organic) food is filled with these invisible challenges to your long term health and survival. Wouldn't you like to know about it so you could choose or avoid these dangerous items? The US government does not think that you or anyone else needs to know whether what they are eating is wholesome or contaminated with foreign DNA. Foreign DNA can easily wind up migrating into your own genetic material creating effects never before seen on the planet. This foreign DNA is potentially life-threatening resulting in severe allergies, decreased fertility, and, according to scientists whom I regard highly, can produce other life threatening problems (which may include cancer). The environmental damage of growing these crops is huge since they contaminate similar plants and spread to different ones, can promote the production of potent herbicides inside your body, damage your immune system, etc., etc., etc. We'll be in Oslo supporting Health and Health Freedom Here's Your Part: You can rest assured that we will keep you posted on the latest developments. You can help in several ways to get the word out and protect yourselves and your loved ones. It is hugely important that you forward this email and the rest of the Natural Solutions Foundation information to everyone you know and ask them to do the same. Let them know that you are concerned about this problem and urge them to sign up for the newsletter themselves. Next, financial support comes to mind. Trips like these are expensive but they really do pay off in the long run. We need your help. Please make your tax deductible donation now. Small gifts add up rapidly, large gifts add up, too! Recurrent donations are especially important so we know what we can count on each month! Don't you prefer to run your financial life that way? Organics4U : an Idea Whose Time is Now! Did you know that dietary supplements can be made with GM ingredients? The contaminated batch of tryptophan that killed a number of people some years ago was made by genetically engineered bacteria. Along with the tryptophan, they produced one of those foreign proteins we were talking about a few minutes ago right along with the tryptophan. No one tested for it because no one knew it existed. But it was deadly.
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Post by aligator on Feb 10, 2007 13:15:25 GMT -5
there was more on the bottom, just advertising for the products on their website and asking to make donations. If you want to do either, you know where to go....not my job to advertise for them......
Love to you Ali
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Post by whiterose on Feb 10, 2007 13:33:04 GMT -5
I have a grand idea, lets test the foods on those touting them as wonderful, let them eat those foods they wish to market to us and after 25 years, we'll see if we want to play along. What do you think? It is funny how they will throw things at us expecting us to just go along, but wouldn't think of doing it themselves.
Just like the RFID chip, the guy who made it, said he would be chipped and then chickened out.
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Post by aligator on Feb 10, 2007 13:44:13 GMT -5
I have tried for a month straight to uncover what is in the kitchen at the white house. He's GOT to eat organically. He has to. There is no way in HE double L he doesn't.
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Post by whiterose on Feb 12, 2007 10:46:14 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on Feb 12, 2007 10:55:20 GMT -5
Organic, sure it is, not with these new regulations. I have to tell you I ordered some creme, that apparently one of the big companies got a hold of, now it has that same perfume smell that you smell in many items these days, have not asked yourself, why the same scent? My guess, they are required to put so much alcohol in a product for reasons of fungus and bacteria, so the perfume industry was overproductive one year, or possibly this scent has a special ingredient they would like to disperse (whichever you wish to aspire to, or perhaps both), and now to get rid of, or disperse we are finding this similar smell in many personal products. They probably got it cheaper than alcohol. I called the vitamin company because the product was not the same as the one I had ordered in the past, the new product said 70 % organic, my question--so does that imply that the other 30 % is toxic? Had to ask? I believe the smell is the perfume obsession, not sure, I haven't used perfume in many years. www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=2729
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Post by whiterose on Feb 18, 2007 17:16:38 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on May 6, 2007 14:00:06 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on May 29, 2007 8:28:18 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on Jun 5, 2007 15:08:38 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on Jul 25, 2007 9:06:40 GMT -5
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Post by whiterose on Jul 25, 2007 16:10:59 GMT -5
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