GM Corn killing milliions of Americans already - GM Corn Causes killer Pneumonia and Tuberculosis

[Guest guest]

-------

 

 

 

 

Fw: To your health: GM Corn killing milliions of Americans

already?

 

 

 

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:44:31 -0700 (PDT)

 

 

 

GINA PETERSON <ginamarie1116

[Guest guest]

This story has been floating around on Facebook for about 1 week

now. It is a hoax... and considering the source (Sorcha

Faal), perhaps not a good idea to keep the story going.

Sorcha Faal is a disinfo agent. (to check that: look for David Booth, and

alias Sorcha Faal).

 

Having said that, I do not mean to condone GMO foods because I certainly

don't believe GMO foods are healthy.

At 01:42 PM 22/04/2010, you wrote:

 

-------- Original Message

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Fw: To your health: GM Corn killing milliions of Americans

already?

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:44:31 -0700 (PDT)

GINA PETERSON

 

<ginamarie1116

 

 

 

I stumbled across this link

to a mass media news article in the European Times that says two

million Americans have already died eating genetically modified corn,

and another the other day saying the first scientific studies show that

genetically modified corn cause liver and kidney cancers. Moral of the

stories: EAT ORGANIC FROM TRUSTED SOURCES and pass this around.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.eutimes.net/2010/04/russia-reports-over-2-million-dead-in-us-as-mysterious-die-off-accelerates/

 

 

 

Engineering Our Own

Extinction? GE Corn Linked To

Increasing

 

 

 

 

 

Are we engineering our own extinction? Shouldn’t we ascertain that

before we feed more GE corn to our children? ... Looks like

we stopped at bronchitis and didn’t turn the corner toward

pneumonia.

 

www.firedoglake.com/ 2008/ 11/ 21/

engineering-our-own-extinction-ge-corn

-linked-to-increasing-infertili ty/ -

 

Proxy -

 

Highlight

 

 

GeneticEngineering.net

- Biotech: The Basics by Rachel Massey

 

 

 

 

In genetically engineered " Bt corn, " every cell of the

corn plant produces the toxin ... to treat life-threatening

diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, ...

www.

ge

neticengineering.net -

 

Proxy -

 

Highlight

 

 

Lecturing and Leading

in the Midst of Confusion

 

 

 

favourably, choosing GE corn and potatoes over

conventionally grown varieties. ... pleuro-pneumonia for those

present in the lungs of cattle suffering from a

 

www.international-food-safety.com/docs/confusion.doc -

 

Proxy -

 

Highlight

 

 

 

http://www.geneticengineering.net/

 

 

Flash --

KRAFT:

GE Foods Experiment For The Holidays

 

 

 

Scientists Fear 'Uncertainty' Of Genetically Altered

Animals

 

 

 

Genetically Modified Outcome

 

 

 

Genetically Modified Genes

Found In Human Gut

 

 

 

First GM Insects To Be Released

 

 

Seeds of

Secrecy

 

 

 

 

GM Crops Threat To Organic Farming

 

 

 

A Tomato Fish Or A Fish Tomato?

 

 

 

'Frankenfish' Spawn Controversy Debate Over Genetically Altered

Salmon

 

 

Biotech: The Basics

by Rachel

Massey

 

Genetic engineering is the process by which genes are altered and

transferred artificially from one organism to another. Genes, which are

made of DNA, contain the instructions according to which cells produce

proteins; proteins in turn form the basis for most of a cell's functions.

Genetic engineering makes it possible to mix genetic material between

organisms that could never breed with each other. It allows people to

take genes from one species, such as a flounder, and insert them into

another species, such as a tomato -- thus, for example, creating a tomato

that has some of the characteristics of a fish.

 

Starting in the 1980s and

accelerating rapidly in the past decade, companies have begun using

genetic engineering to insert foreign genes into many crops, including

important foods such as corn and soybeans.[1] Just in the past few years,

genetically engineered ingredients have begun appearing in many foods in

U.S. supermarkets; they have been detected in processed foods such as

infant formulas, drink mixes, and taco shells, to name a few examples.[2]

These foods are not labeled, so consumers have no way to know when they

are eating genetically engineered food.

 

Genetic engineering is an extremely

powerful technology whose mechanisms are not fully understood even by

those who do the basic scientific work. In this series, we will review

the main problems that have been identified with genetically engineered

crops.[3]

 

Most genetically engineered crops

planted worldwide are designed either to survive exposure to certain

herbicides or to kill certain insects. Herbicide tolerant crops accounted

for 71% of the acreage planted with genetically engineered crops in 1998

and 1999, and crops designed to kill insects (or designed both to kill

insects AND to withstand herbicides) accounted for most of the remaining

acreage. A small proportion (under 1%) of genetically engineered crops

planted in 1998 and 1999 were designed to resist infection by certain

viruses.[4]

 

Genetically engineered

herbicide-tolerant crops are able to survive applications of herbicides

that would ordinarily kill them. The U.S. food supply currently includes

products made from genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops

including " Roundup Ready " canola, corn, and soybeans which are

engineered to withstand applications of Monsanto's Roundup (active

ingredient, glyphosate), as well as crops engineered to survive exposure

to other herbicides.[1]

 

Genetically engineered

pest-resistant (or pesticidal) crops are toxic to insects that eat them.

For example, corn can be engineered to kill the European corn borer, an

insect in the order lepidoptera (the category that includes butterflies

and moths). This is accomplished by adding genetic material derived from

a soil bacterium, BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS (Bt), to the genetic code of the

corn. BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS naturally produces a protein toxic to some

insects, and organic farmers sometimes spray Bt on their crops as a

natural pesticide. In genetically engineered " Bt corn, " every

cell of the corn plant produces the toxin ordinarily found only in the

bacterium.

 

Unfortunately, genetically

engineered crops can have adverse effects on human health and on

ecosystems. And by failing to test or regulate genetically engineered

crops adequately, the U.S. government has allowed corporations to

introduce unfamiliar substances into our food supply without any

systematic safety checks.

 

Here are some of the reasons why we

might not want to eat genetically engineered crops:

 

** Ordinary, familiar foods can

become allergenic through the addition of foreign genes.

 

Genetic engineering can introduce a

known or unknown allergen into a food that previously did not contain it.

For example, a soybean engineered to contain genes from a brazil nut was

found to produce allergic reactions in blood serum of individuals with

nut allergies. (See REHN #638.) Allergic reactions to nuts can be serious

and even fatal. Researchers were able to identify the danger in this

particular case because nut allergies are common and it was possible to

conduct proper tests on blood serum from allergic individuals. In other

cases, testing for allergenic potential can be much more difficult. When

genetic engineering causes a familiar food to start producing a substance

previously not present in the human food supply, it is impossible to know

who may have an allergic reaction.

 

** Genetic engineering has the

potential to make ordinary, familiar foods become toxic.

 

In some cases, new characteristics

introduced intentionally may create toxicity. The Bt toxin as it appears

in the bacteria that produce it naturally is considered relatively safe

for humans. In these bacteria, the toxin exists in a " protoxin "

form, which becomes dangerous to insects only after it has been

shortened, or " activated, " in the insect's digestive system. In

contrast, some genetically engineered Bt crops produce the toxin in its

activated form, which previously only appeared inside the digestive

systems of certain insects.[5] Humans have little experience with

exposure to this form of the toxin. Furthermore, in the past humans have

had no opportunity or reason to ingest any form of the Bt toxin in large

quantities. When the Bt toxin is incorporated into our common foods, we

are exposed each time we eat those foods.[6, pgs. 64-65.] And of course,

a pesticide engineered into every cell of a food source cannot simply be

washed off before a meal.

 

Toxicity can also result from

characteristics introduced unintentionally. For example, a plant that

ordinarily produces high amounts of a toxin in its leaves and low amounts

in its fruit could unexpectedly begin to concentrate the toxin in its

fruit after addition of a new gene. (See REHN #696.)

 

Unpleasant surprises of this sort

can result from our ignorance about exactly how a foreign gene has been

incorporated into the engineered cell. Foreign genes can be added to

cells by various methods; among other options, they can be blasted into

cells using a " gene gun, " or a virus or bacterium can be used

to carry them into the target cells.[7] The " genetic engineer "

who sets this process in motion does not actually control where the new

genes end up in the genetic code of the target organism. The

" engineer " essentially inserts the genes at a random, unknown

location in the cell's existing DNA. These newly-inserted genes may

sometimes end up in the middle of existing genetic instructions, and may

disrupt those instructions.

 

A foreign gene could, for example,

be inserted in the middle of an existing gene that instructs a plant to

shut off production of a toxin in its fruit. The foreign gene could

disrupt the functioning of this existing gene, causing the plant to

produce abnormal levels of the toxin in its fruit. This phenomenon is

known as " insertional mutagenesis " -- unpredictable changes

resulting from the position in which a new gene is inserted.[8] Genetic

engineering can also introduce unexpected new toxicity in food through a

well-known phenomenon known as pleiotropy, in which one gene affects

multiple characteristics of an organism. (See REHN #685.)

 

** Genetically engineered crops can

indirectly promote the development of antibiotic resistance, making it

difficult or impossible to treat common human diseases.

 

Whatever method is used to introduce

foreign genes into a target cell, it only works some of the time, so the

" genetic engineer " needs a way to identify those cells that

have successfully taken up the foreign genes. One way to identify these

cells is to attach a gene for antibiotic resistance to the gene intended

for insertion. After attempting to introduce the foreign genes, the

" engineer " can treat the mass of cells with an antibiotic. Only

those cells that have incorporated the new genes survive, because they

are now resistant to antibiotics.

 

From these surviving cells, a new

plant is generated. Each cell of this plant contains the newly introduced

genes, including the gene for antibiotic resistance. Once in the food

chain, in some cases these genes could be taken up by and incorporated

into the genetic material of bacteria living in human or animal digestive

systems. A 1999 study published in APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY

found evidence supporting the view that bacteria in the human mouth could

potentially take up antibiotic resistance genes released from food.[9]

Antibiotic resistance among disease-causing bacteria is already a major

threat to public health; due to the excessive use of antibiotics in

medical treatment and in agriculture, we are losing the ability to treat

life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and

salmonella.[10] (See REHN #402.) By putting antibiotic resistance genes

into our food, we may be increasing the public health problem even

further.

 

The British Medical Association, the

leading association of doctors in Britain, urged an end to the use of

antibiotic resistance genes in genetically engineered crops in a 1999

report. " There should be a ban on the use of antibiotic resistance

marker genes in GM [genetically modified] food, as the risk to human

health from antibiotic resistance developing in micro-organisms is one of

the major public health threats that will be faced in the 21st Century.

The risk that antibiotic resistance may be passed on to bacteria

affecting human beings, through marker genes in the food chain, is one

that cannot at present be ruled out, " the Association said.[11]

 

 

Continued.

To Part 2 of

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