The Biotech Industry

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" mrsjoguest " <angelprincessjo

Wed Aug 14, 2002 10:34 am

The Biotech Industry

 

 

 

 

 

The Providence Journal

SOUTH COUNTY EDITION

 

One of the key issues that never got discussed in the presidential

debates this campaign season was the most serious one facing us

today. The fact is that our democracy has been stolen by the

powerful lobbies of the special interests. The most conclusive and

blatant example of this has been the dangerous experiment being

conducted by the biotech industry on the American people. They have

genetically manipulated our food supply so that 60 percent of the

food on our supermarket shelves has been genetically engineered. The

most outrageous thing is that they did it without the knowledge or

consent of the American people.

 

Forty years ago, most scientists thought DDT a safe and promising

addition to agriculture.Thalidomide was given to pregnant women by

their doctors. Nuclear power was touted as the cleanest energy

source on Earth. Marketed prematurely, each of these technological

innovations brought unforeseen, unwanted and tragic consequences

that could have been easily avoided through proper long-term safety

testing. Haven't we learned anything from our mistakes?

 

From soil to superviruses: In 1994, a genetically engineered

bacterium developed to aid in the production of ethanol produced

residues that rendered the land infertile. New crops planted on this

soil grew three inches tall and fell over dead.

 

The food chain: In 1996, scientists discovered that ladybugs that

had eaten the aphids that had eaten genetically engineered potatoes

died.

 

The immune system: In 1998, research by Dr. Arpad Pusztai uncovered

the potential for genetically altered DNA to weaken the immune

system and stunt the growth of baby rats.

 

Monarch butterflies: In May 1999, researchers at Cornell University

discovered that monarch butterflies died unexpectedly from eating

milkweed plants that had been dusted with the pollen of genetically

engineered Bt corn.

 

Pregnant mice: A 1998 study showed that DNA from the food fed to

pregnant mice ended up in their intestinal lining, white blood

cells, brain cells,and their fetuses. This suggests that the

genetically engineered DNA in the food we eat can end up in our own

cells.

 

Honeybees: Last May, a leading European zoologist found the genes

from genetically engineered canola jumped the species barrier and

were picked up by the bacteria in the digestive tracts of bees. This

indicates that antibiotic-resistant genes in genetically engineered

foods can cause the bacteria in our own intestines to mutate into

superbugs that cannot be killed by antibiotics.

 

Superviruses: Viral promoters are invasive agents used by genetic

engineers to trick a cell into accepting and integrating an alien

gene into the cell's own DNA. Some scientists predict that releasing

viral promoters into the gene pool could lead to the creation of

superviruses and novel infectious diseases for organisms at every

level of life--from bacteria to humans.

 

These are just some of the dangers that are discernible in the

premature marketing of genetically engineered products. The biotech

industry is eager to point to their so-called successes while

keeping their failures under wraps.

 

Next is the story of rBGH, recombinant bovine growth hormone (or the

story of genetically engineered milk). A Monsanto lawyer drafted a

letter to the FDA to get rBGH approved. He then stepped down from

Monsanto and took an appointment as FDA deputy commissioner for

policy. He then opened his own letter and helped draft the FDA's

1992 policy on genetically engineered food and rBGH. The law that

followed, in true violation of First Amendment rights, states that

it's illegal to say rBGH is in milk and it's illegal to state that

it's not in milk. The lawyer returned to corporate life and became

Monsanto's vice president for public policy.

 

Incidentally, rBGH is banned in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New

Zealand--all major dairy producers. It is also banned in other

countries. I quote Neal D. Barnard, M.D., president of the

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, from a magazine

entitled Safe Food News (to get this magazine and to sign the

national Genetically Engineered Food Alert petition, call 1-800-REAL-

FOOD).

 

" Monsanto's rBGH increases milk production. It also increases udder

infections (mastitis) and reproductive problems in cows and shortens

their life span. To treat the mastitis, farmers have to give their

cows antibiotics. Studies have shown that milk from rBGH cows often

contains residues from those antibiotics. And because rBGH-induced

mastitis leads to increased amounts of white blood cells--or pus--

this is also secreted into rBGH milk. But the risks of rBGH go far

beyond even this. More troublesome is the fact that rBGH has been

linked to increased risk of breast, prostate and colon cancers. "

 

From pizza to chips, soda to infant formula, ice cream to cookies,

vitamins to candies, genetically engineered organisms are in the

food we feed our kids every day. Virtually every food you can think

of is in the genetically engineered pipeline. And coming soon . . .

rat genes in your lettuce, cows that make human milk, and bananas

with vaccines.

 

The only presidential candidate who brought this issue to the

forefront of his campaign and informed the American people of the

hazards of genetically engineered foods has been the quantum

physicist John Hagelin of the Natural Law/Independent Party. As he

traveled the country during the campaign speaking in public forums,

he talked frankly about the long-term consequences of such

experimentation, asking the question:

 

" Who gave the biotech companies the right to threaten our food and

environment? The Clinton-Gore administration and our `Republicrat'

Congress, awash in biotech money. We need mandatory labeling and

safety testing of genetically engineered foods, plus a moratorium on

the release of these experimental lifeforms into the environment

until proven safe. "

 

John Hagelin's message is urgent and of utmost importance. It is

essential that the American people act without delay to preserve

their own health and that of future generations.

 

Don Lovejoy, who has a doctorate in health and human services, is an

educator based in Cranston.

 

Submitted by:

 

JoAnn Guest

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