From TruthOut 2/15/11:

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved plantings of three genetically engineered (GE) crops in as many weeks, including Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready sugar beets and alfalfa that are engineered to tolerate Roundup Ready weed-killing herbicide.

The USDA on February 11 also legalized, without restriction, the world's first GE corn crop meant for biofuel production. Biotech giant Syngenta's Event 3272 seed corn will simplify ethanol production and is not meant to feed animals or humans.

Farming corn for ethanol is a process that contributes to Global Warming because it takes more energy from fossil fuels to grow the corn in this country than the ethanol generates. Corn millers also are afraid that this corn will contaminate the food corn supply as well.




The alfalfa and sugar beet approvals are even more dangerous. Alfalfa is used for animal feed, and sugar beets get refined into sugar that goes into all sorts of processed foods without any knowledge by the people eating it.

You may have read biotech interests claiming that genetically modified food crops are the same as regular food crops. They even claim that they are being "scientific." However, it is not economically feasible to make a genuinely scientific claim that the food produced is the same.

1) There are too many non protein biochemicals alone to test.

2) There are too many proteins to test for the levels of each one.

3) It would be necessary to sequence every protein and RNA sequence or the corresponding DNA sequences. (This would be needed to guard against multiple DNA sequence insertions into the genome, modifying the structures of protein and RNA.)

4) The levels of pesticides and herbicides would need to be tested.

5) The levels of every biologically active air and water pollutant would need to be tested as well, since genetic changes could affect absorption and secretion of these chemicals. (For instance, if any corporate shill says that their frankenfood is the same, ask them to cite a specific study showing that the levels of hormones in common birth control pills are the same. Ask for similar citations about Viagra and Cialis while you are at it. Or, try Lipitor...maybe Naproxen.)

Think that's bad enough? It gets worse.

Instead of Truth in Labeling laws so people can be informed about the food they are eating contains genetically modified organisms, the laws are set up so that the chemical/biotech companies can actually sue food producers who put the fact that their items do not contain genetically modified organisms.

The only way to be sure that genetically modified foods are safe is to do long terms studies like the famous "nurses studies" where people report when they are eating the GMO foods and when they are eating non-frankenfoods. The chemical/biotech industry has made damned sure to make those studies impossible.

As usual, the Obama administration has put short term corporate profits above human needs and peoples' safety. Corporate pseudoscience is being tarted up like it was the actual product of the Scientific Method. It's as if Bush is still in the White House.

Photo: jurvetson