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Scientist Issues Genetic Food Warning
The only way consumers can protect their families and avoid potentially harmful so-called Frankenfoods is to buy directly from the grower, says a leading plant scientist.
Hungarian born biologist Arpad Pusztai, whose whistleblowing was largely responsible for sparking debate in the United Kingdom over genetically altered foods, which are most commonly soy beans, corn and potatoes. (photo: The Guardian/uk) "The important thing in local communities is know the producer," Arpad Pusztai told a crowd of about 30 people gathered to hear him speak about genetically modified food at the Niagara Artists' Centre on St. Paul Street in St. Catharines Saturday afternoon.
"You have to know where your food is coming from."
There is widespread debate about the safety of food that is genetically modified food to improve such things as insect resistance or boost desired nutrients.
Pusztai, a leading plant expert, was dismissed from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen Scotland after he went public with research on genetically modified potatoes in 1998.
The Hungarianborn biologist's contentious research on rats found these potatoes caused several health problems, including a weakened immune system and abnormal growth.
His whistleblowing was largely responsible for sparking debate in the United Kingdom over genetically altered foods, which are most commonly soy beans, corn and potatoes.
Pusztai said virtually all testing done on GM products is being done by the biotechnological farm companies that are making the goods, and are not neutral. While these companies maintain GM products are safe, the results are never released, Pusztai said.
"They're keeping the public in the dark," said Pusztai, who was on a speaking tour of southern Ontario.
The technology to test the safety of GM products before they go to market exists, but it's not being used, said Pusztai, who divides his time between Scotland and Hungary.
Scientists like Pusztai who do independent research on the topic tend to be widely vilified by the biotechnology industry, he said.
Several scientists have dismissed Pusztai's research as poorly done, muddled and even fabricated.
But Pusztai stands by his work and said he initially set out to prove genetically modified potatoes were a great idea.
Instead, he said he found the altered potatoes hurt the guts of test rats, and caused several other side effects, such as stunted growth.
Countries that belong to the European Union are required to label if a product contains genetically modified ingredients. The same is not true in North America.
Pusztai told the crowd that people have to lobby government to ask for independent risk assessments of GM foods and for labelling.
"We have to decide ourselves what is needed, allowed and permissible and whether (genetically engineered) crops are needed at all."
The lecture was hosted by the Niagara Artists Centre and the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund.
"We are intricately connected to our environment, and what we eat has such an immediate physical impact on our relative health, however, the consumption of (genetically modified) foods has the potential to cause devastating harm to our children's children," Karin Perry, executive director of the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund, said in an interview.
"It is important to expose those dubious corporate/agri relationships but also provide hopeful solutions at the local level."
Susan Bardocz, a professor of nutrition at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Debrecen in Hungary, also addressed the crowd.
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19 Comments so far
Show AllIts sad that someone who tortures innocent beings for a living should be treated as someone courageous.
We dont need a scientist to tell us that something created by scientists is dangerous.
Scientists actually make it harder to fight GMOs becuase they take the argument out of common sense and reduce it to a "coffee is good for you/no coffee is bad for you" debate which will never be resolved.
People treat science as a religion.
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
A stone you pick up from the floor can be dangerous. That water you drink everyday can be dangerous. People have died from drinking too much water. Anything in this world can be dangerous.
Without science, and yes, scientists even, you won't be making that anti science post you just made. Without science, and yes, scientists even, there are no computers, no internet.
I'm not even defending GMO, but your anti science post is ridiculous.
from a scientist-colleague, who was incensed when I forwarded this article:
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This article is supposed to be unbiased reporting?????? Informed???
I've read this Pusztai's papers on modified potatoes--unmitigated crap, poorly designed, controls nearly lacking and statistical analysis questionable.
He was dismissed but not because of his befuddled experiments or going public.
His work was NOT responsible for sparking the debate in the UK on GMFs, it was going on long and hard before he conveniently popped up.
This approach reminds me of the creationists' attempts to look scientific by using articles that sound scientific, but which, upon closer examination, prove to to be saying exactly the opposite or are bogus. It does not do the 'con' side of the debate much by hauling out such duds as these--but I suppose he has to make a living also.
___________________
Dear scientist-colleague,
Do you deny that you have an axe to grind?
I'm a lettered research biochemist. Pusztai's work seems well done, not perfect, but acceptable for publication. It was published in a peer-reviewed journal, The Lancet. The Lancet is currently the second highest ranked scientific journal in the field of general medicine. I've read the article and the following discussion including criticism of the methodology and the author's replies. The only problem I see with the Pusztai's potato study is that he, or no one, was able to follow up on the work.
No matter what the subject is, there is always an opposing view. So which side is right, and which side is wrong? How can anyone figure out which side to believe? Is GM food good or bad? Were we created in the condition we're in now, or did we slowly evolve to reach this stage? Is coffee good for us, or bad? A person could go crazy trying to figure out which view is the correct one. We can argue with the opposing side 'till we're blue in the face, and nothing changes. They still believe their way, and we still believe ours.
Best way to go is with whatever feels right for you. Listen to your inner voice; listen to what your innards are telling you; and know your time in this confusing life is short - much too short to spend it arguing about who's right and who's wrong about things that are only the opinions of others.
The problem here is that the pro GMO side do NOT want to allow people to "listen to your inner voice". The pro GMO side, for the most part, opposes labeling of GMO foods as such.
Consumers cannot make a choice based on "listening to their innards" if they do not know what they are putting in those innards.
I don't think that following your gut feelings is the best approach to making decisions about eating GMO food, or similar matters.
Americans have a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. A new product is introduced and nobody worries too much, if at all, about its safety. The company that sells it makes a lot of money, and if there is a safety issue, it either becomes the problem of the individual consumer, or the taxpayers', if the problem is big enough.
You ate some peanut butter with salmonella, because you believed it was safe? - too bad. It's your problem, deal with it. Fire retardants in your furniture dumbing your kids down? Your problem. Chemicals leaching into your food from the plastic containers? - come on - after all, is there any proof that they are harmful? Well, actually there is, but even so, since it is disputed by - surprise, surprise - the manufacturers, plastics are still widely used and will be for a long time.
I could go on, but the point is that I don't want to just believe that GMO food is safe to eat. I want to KNOW that it is, and I don't think that it should be on the market before it is proven to be safe. The same goes for any other product. Individual consumers have no means of verifying claims made by manufacturers of various new products and technologies. These things are too complicated for an average person. The government should require that the safety of every new product on the market be proven by the companies that stand to profit from its sales. And it should be done BEFORE anybody gets hurt.
"Your time in this confusing life is short - much too short to spend it arguing about who's right and who's wrong about things that are only the opinions of others."
The boiling point of water is not an opinion. Photosynthesis is not an opinion. The danger of eating, let's say, salmonella is not an opinion. These are all facts. The safety of GMO shouldn't be a matter of opinion, and until there is no doubt that GMO food is safe to eat, and it is safe for the environment, it shouldn't even be on the market.
If someone chose to modify their food stocks and did not engage as Monsanto , Syngenta, and so many others have, I would not mind. What is WRONG is the massive distribution when there is still contoversy. The second part of the problem is the industry which is documented as connected to industrial farming practices that are destroying options without knowing what the long range is. Either that or they DO KNOW what the long range is and are perfectly happy with groundwater poisoning, overuse of chemicals, loss of biodiversity in South America this development linked to slave labor, destruction of entire biomes, destruction of the human community, genocide of indigenous peoples.
Its asthough nothing exists but this mindless narcissitic golem that lies that it creates more food, when all it does is suck resources into its pockets. Shareholdres of these companies must be insane. Note they have seen anywhere from 75 - 250% returns over the past few years.
Mary Anderson, Alna, ME
Well certainly, it can be hard to know who to believe. But when it comes to wondering if the chicken coop fence is fox proof, are you going to ask the fox? We may not be certain as to the effects of genetically altered products, but when the testing has all been done by those who profit from their sales, as in the case at hand, do you trust their findings any more than you'd trust the sly old fox?
It is so hard to believe how STUPID Americans are.
Most of the world is against GMO's, but here in the US, "were just not sure", "It would take to long to find out", "How would I Know".
Please stop beings so pitifully stupid! Food has always been used as a weapon by the ruling elite. DON'T EAT THEIR FOOD, FOOL!
Learn to grow it and/or buy from a local organic farmer!
Get educated! Read Seed of Deception by Jeffery Smith. Read about the Slow Food and Organic Food Movements.
Learn what "organic" means and why if you can go directly to the farm to buy your food, why that is the almost the best way to get (once you become educated, you don't need a bureaucracy to certify anything), second to growing it yourself.
Read about these large corporations like Monsanto and their history of war crimes against the people.
It is easy to say "I don't know" and keep eating their shit. At least don't feed it to your children!
Again, grow your own, I do, and a lot of my friends do. You are what you eat!
Small scale organic Farmer
Very succinctly and well said. People should also research The Codex Alimentarius, a spawn of NAFTA, basically led by the U.S. pharmaceutical and chemical industries to push GMOs upon the African continent,e.g. Not only are they pushing the toxic GMOs, but are working diligently to gain control over herbal and natural remedies, drastically diluting nutritional value in vitamins and other supplements, and on and on and on. This is indeed FOOD AS A WEAPON aimed at population reduction, while extracting big bucks from the sick and dying.
If nothing else, organic food really tastes better.
This is reason enough to buy it.
Genetically modified foods are not modified to resist pests but to resist high levels of pesticides. You get a double whammy; a big dose of pesticides and whatever effects modifying the food has on your body which have yet to be determined.
The enviromental effects are still being researched and those discovered so far are not good. It's a disaster for farmers in poorer countries who are forced to buy seed instead of saving it.
A handful of people win by selling more pesticides and seed, everyone else loses.
Your post has some good points, but speaking as a long-time farmer who uses gm technology, I now use less pesticides and less dangerous pesticides than I did decades ago. Sadly the difference is not large mainly due to the proliferation of soybean aphids which often require a nasty chemical application unless one is willing to accept a financial hit. Scientists are working on the problem and will find a solution. Of course another problem will follow. The business of seed patenting needs revision. Seeds that do not need hybridization such as soybeans, are often saved and illegally planted by farmers. It's a bit like the copyright problems that have roiled the entertainment industry for the past couple of decades.
Anyone have a clue if the Obama children are fed GMO foods?
I don't know how it is in Washington,DC, but here in the midwest you cannot avoid gm food unless you carefully prepare all your own food.
"Here in the midwest you cannot avoid gm food unless you carefully prepare all your own food." - I'm happy to say that I do just that. I buy organic food, as much of it as I can from local farmers that I know, and try to grow some myself. If done the right way, it won't break the bank, but it does require a little more effort than opening and microwaving some canned or frozen goop
The Obamas do eat organic, as does George W Bush.
Anyone have a clue if the Obama children are fed GMO foods or organic?