Frankenfood Monster:

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Jul 3, 2003, 6:38pm (EDT-1) yahchannah (Sis YahChannah)

Subject:

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The Frankenfood Monster

(Famine in the Land of Plenty?)

 

" What in the world are you putting in your mouth? Food, you say? Are you

quite sure it is food? " What was once a foolish question may now be a

frightening foreshadow of our future.

 

Several articles that have been shared with us lately strike fear in the

heart of any discerning person. Laying aside any Scriptural admonitions

about what is and what is not to be food for us, the question remains,

are there dangers in the process of genetically modifying natural plants

and animals to create a whole new species?

 

Americans scoffed at the third world countries that left tons of corn

going to waste in storage buildings, refusing to accept it even in the

midst of famine. Americans also railed against the European nations that

have boycotted agricultural product from the U.S. because of the genetic

modifications.

 

As in the story of the other monster, from which this article takes it's

name, the creator sought to make something good but by moving into an

area where he could not discern the future consequences brought about a

being that wreaked havoc on he and his neighbors.

 

I do not wish to concern myself with the motives of the GM researchers

and developers but rather to try to catch a glimpse of their monster

since it appears to have broken free from the lab and is now attacking

the villagers.

 

A Tomato Called Methuselah

 

In the latter part of the final summer of the nineties, we stopped at a

veggie stand on the Little Red River hungry for a cool fresh treat. I

looked at the peaches while my husband looked at some tomatoes.

 

" Look at this tomato " , he said, holding up the most beautiful example I

had ever seen.

 

At that moment he took a big bite. The market lady said, " Oh yes. The

preacher up the hill grows them, they are called 'sunrise'. They don't

bruise. Feel how firm they are. They have a pig gene in them to keep

them safe while shipping. "

 

My husband sputtered, spat and wiped his mouth. He threw the tomato as

far as he could, we cast down her asking price as we turned and left.

 

We had heard the story of 'pig tomatoes' but logged it up to rumor

leading to paranoia in some people.

 

Now to the Methuselah tomato, our friend had bought three lovely

tomatoes, took them home and put them on top of the fridge. One month

later, the wife found one of them had fallen behind the refrigerator.

She extracted it from among the coils. It was still firm and beautiful!

Something is obviously wrong with this

picture.

 

Now, back to the present.

 

There are multitudinous reasons why the genetic alterations are being

done. Perhaps the most obvious would be profit.

If the fruit and vegetables are more beautiful and appetizing in

appearance then surely more are purchased by the consumer. If they can

be picked while still firm and ripe, rather than hard and green and yet

hold up in shipping so there is practically no loss from damaged or

spoiled goods, profits rise.

 

Plants that have been genetically modified are able to withstand

drought, pests and a myriad of other plant attackers. Sounds good? We

are told that 80% of the United States soy crop is spliced with a

bacterium that makes the soy resistant to a popular weed-killer. This

enables the farmer to spray a soy field with this poison and only the

soy will remain standing.

 

Remember this is the part of the growth in the field that we are sold as

food for ourselves, or our animals we will then eat.

The first thing I hear if someone does not want to drink milk from a cow

or a goat is the advice to drink 'soy milk'. It is the same for a

vegetarian who wishes not to consume meat but really loves big whopper

burgers. Solution: texturized vegetable protein burgers. Soy again?

 

One third of U.S. corn contains a gene from another bacterium that kills

bugs. Do you have any idea how much corn is fed to livestock in this

country? Each and every time you eat a piece of meat from the market,

are you also ingesting this pesticide bacterium? We know that the

hormones given to milk and beef cattle for faster and more growth,

increased milk yield, passes right through to you and your children?

Would you voluntarily give your child a dose of hormones such as these

three or more times a day?

 

At least 70% of processed food, in the U.S. contains genetically

modified ingredients in one form or the other. Is it labeled GM.. I

don't think so. Moving slightly away from the food we find that much of

the GM research is focused on the medical market. We read of various

experiments that are at this very moment, in progress.

 

We see corn, sprouting beautifully, looking just like corn should look.

We can almost taste the sweet kernels, covered in butter. but wait! This

corn is not for summer eating. It has had human DNA, a small piece of

code woven in that contains the genetic code for an antibody that fights

genital herpes.Some other 'cures' the researchers are working on include

potato/tomato spliced to fight Hepatitis B, cholera, coliform and in

tobacco, they hope to create cures for the common cold and even to

lymphoma. Then there is rice and corn for everything from cystic

fibrosis to inflammations.

 

Oh Brave New World, what is wrong with creating plants to heal our

diseases?

 

What is wrong is the same thing that was wrong with our 'monster',

remember him?

 

No one knows what will happen with these, errant, genetically modified,

plants in the future.

 

In an article we received from another researcher, these plants were

being called transgenic strains and I share a quote from that article.

 

" New research shows that transgenic pollen, wind-blown and deposited

elsewhere, or fallen directly to the ground, is a major source of

transgenic contamination. Contamination is generally acknowledged to be

unavoidable, hence there can be no co-existence of transgenic and

non-transgenic crops. "

 

Plainly spoken, if the proliferation of these mutant strains continues,

there will be no plants that are not contaminated.

 

Close your eyes and just imagine beautiful waves of grain as far as the

eye can see. Now with your eyes still closed, imagine the insect, the

virus, the disease that has morphed itself into immunity, destroying

these fields, turning brown the verdant valley, destroying the 'little

experiment' of the geneticist. We can't go home again.

 

Perhaps it is time to do as the Europeans have done. Maybe we should

refuse to accept the GM foods. The tribal chief in Zambia may be, more

wise than all our scientists. He knew to refuse that which might

contaminate his seed grain and food supply, meager though it may be.

 

Could it be time to order food from those countries that refuse to let

their crops become victims of the GM-Monster?

 

 

One suggestion that has been offer is to form a co-op that would

purchase foods that are guaranteed non-transgenic.

 

One man may not be able to do much alone, but enough dedicated men can

move mountains. There are mountains to move.

 

Please share this e-mail with as many folks as you can. Print out copies

to share with those who do not have computers. Thumb tack it on every

bulletin board you see. Drop a few copies at your doctor's office, those

people waiting there are already ill, they need to know this.

 

 

Below are some links to further info:

 

http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/gedanger.htm

http://www.safe-food.org/

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/ge/

http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/

http://www.netlink.de/gen/

 

 

 

My Web-site: http://community.webtv.net/Yahwist/THEGREATMYSTERY

[Guest guest]

I wonder how this will affect us veggies because I

would not want to eat a tomato that was part pig. I am

so glad to see that resistance inthe US is growing to

GM. We have such a fight here in the UK because and his buddy George W are so determined to bring GM

here and being only a small island contamination will

be universal. Why do the people in power stick their

heads firmly in the sand when it comes to big

business,surely they must have concerns for the well

being of their own families.

Sorry to rant but I am just so angry at the

whole issue.

Best wishes

Chris

 

 

 

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