by: Emily Byers
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In researching an article on carb-bashing, I came across a warning that our bodies could not handle "processed non-nutritive franken-foods." The post (http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/best-diet.htmll) is recommending a hybrid diet that harks back to our ancestors and is carb-free. (who knew our ancestors should have eschewed apples and bananas?) It seemed perfectly in keeping with the motif that they would bash genetically modified foods.
I began to wonder, are genetically modified foods the evil stuff of science fiction? And if they are, how could we prove it? According to a post at Slashdot, the 2009 International Journal of Biological Science found that rats who ate three varieties of genetically modified corn had damaged livers, kidneys, and other organs after just ninety days. Ninety days sounds like precious little time to have organ failure, which leads me to question: Just how much were these rats being fed a day? Eating my body weight in anything, even carrots and quinoa, would certainly cause liver failure. Also, who were these rats? Were they wholesome, well exercised, bred in captivity rats?
Obviously I'm not advocating we take the rats to the health department, but I do think the above study deserves critical analysis. Cancer and long term damage associated with genetically modified food should take years to become apparent. The African-American Environmentalist Association (http://www.aaenvironment.com/) argues that starvation is a much more dangerous threat and that droughts and famine are much more likely foes than genetically altered superbugs or superweeds. If damage does show up, one would have to eliminate smoking, environmental hazards, genetic abnormalities, etc.
There is prevalent information on the web about the dangerous of the uncontrolled genetic engineering experiment. With no USDA regulations on labeling and the existence of corn in an ingredient in processed foods, we've all been eating it already...likely in mass quantities. That hasn't stopped Green Peace and its partner organizations from organizing a new media campaign that made Trader Joe's agree to pull all genetically modified foods from its shelves by year's end. No one wants to go on record as saying they're completely safe and then be the face of folly in decades ahead, much like the tobacco industry. Nonetheless, this world is projected to have twelve billion people to feed fifty years from now. Even if the scientific community isn't passionately advocating genetic engineering, they're doing it.
I began to wonder, are genetically modified foods the evil stuff of science fiction? And if they are, how could we prove it? According to a post at Slashdot, the 2009 International Journal of Biological Science found that rats who ate three varieties of genetically modified corn had damaged livers, kidneys, and other organs after just ninety days. Ninety days sounds like precious little time to have organ failure, which leads me to question: Just how much were these rats being fed a day? Eating my body weight in anything, even carrots and quinoa, would certainly cause liver failure. Also, who were these rats? Were they wholesome, well exercised, bred in captivity rats?
Obviously I'm not advocating we take the rats to the health department, but I do think the above study deserves critical analysis. Cancer and long term damage associated with genetically modified food should take years to become apparent. The African-American Environmentalist Association (http://www.aaenvironment.com/) argues that starvation is a much more dangerous threat and that droughts and famine are much more likely foes than genetically altered superbugs or superweeds. If damage does show up, one would have to eliminate smoking, environmental hazards, genetic abnormalities, etc.
There is prevalent information on the web about the dangerous of the uncontrolled genetic engineering experiment. With no USDA regulations on labeling and the existence of corn in an ingredient in processed foods, we've all been eating it already...likely in mass quantities. That hasn't stopped Green Peace and its partner organizations from organizing a new media campaign that made Trader Joe's agree to pull all genetically modified foods from its shelves by year's end. No one wants to go on record as saying they're completely safe and then be the face of folly in decades ahead, much like the tobacco industry. Nonetheless, this world is projected to have twelve billion people to feed fifty years from now. Even if the scientific community isn't passionately advocating genetic engineering, they're doing it.
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