I came across this article and it scared me. I have been saying for years that the Canadian Government Scientists are largely at fault (in my eyes) for all the health issues concerning diseases related to Gluten Intolerance or Celiac. I look at things in a simple, logical way, and if you modify and alter a gene – and one that is so common such as a protein gene – wouldn’t you think it could, over the years, affect our protein gene? There is no evidence that I know of to indicate that this is the case, but logically it makes sense in my mind. I am not a doctor nor a biologist, I am someone who is aware and who has studied, researched and kept my mind open to these interests. In a previous article I wrote about The Autoimmune Related Disease List… and Guess What’s on it?, there is a link showing that the Canadian Government, “Health Canada,” recognized the need for development and strengthening of infrastructures to facilitate the evaluation of the allergenicity of GM proteins — they will continue to participate in international efforts in this area while welcoming the contribution of all experts. That was back in 2005, but back in 2001 Scientist & Prof. Brian Ellis, an Agricultural Scientist issued a food biotechnology warning: Click Here to Hear CBC Radio Interview. Other processes are combining genes from different organisms which is known as recombinant DNA technology, and the resulting organism is said to be “genetically modified,” “genetically engineered” or “transgenic.” GM products include medicines and vaccines, foods and food ingredients, feeds, and fibers. Did you know Canada is the third largest producer of GM crops and has no law requiring labeling of GM foods. I have been doing research and looking for answers on the web and can not find much about Canada, what exactly their (Canada’s) processes are, and who does the actual testing. Why all the level of secrecy surrounding testing of genetically modified organisms?
We pay for it, we eat it and then we die or get sick from it, but why don’t we have a say?
Really, how long have they been creating GMO foods? 17 years, they say. Genetically Modified foods (GM foods) or GE (Genetically Engineered) were first put on the market in 1995. This is what they said in 2005 (and which has not been update since, right on the Health Canada Web Site): ”Health Canada recognized the need for development and strengthening of infrastructures to facilitate the evaluation of the allergenicity of GM proteins. We continue to participate in international efforts in this area and welcome the contribution of all experts.” Again my question is, what about all the other years that we have consumed these foods? Do you think we have already been affected by this? There are over 300 disease associated with Celiac, Gluten Intolerance and Gluten Sensitivity, doesn’t that say enough?
David Suzuki speaks out, “The experiments simply haven’t been done and we now have become the guinea pigs.” and adds, “Anyone that says, ‘Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,’ I say is either unbelievably stupid or deliberately lying.”
I was not aware of what Novel Foods meant, but I guess it’s a nicer way of saying “Genetically Modified,” at least this is what I was able to gather. Biotechnology is an umbrella term that covers a broad spectrum of scientific tools and techniques, including genetic modification and genetic engineering. In Canada, foods derived from biotechnology — commonly referred to as Genetically Modified (GM) or Genetically Engineered (GE) foods — are considered to be one class of “novel foods.” Health Canada regulates the sale of novel foods in Canada through a pre-market notification requirement which is specified under Division 28 of Part B of the Food and Drugs Regulations (Novel Foods).
2- http://www.naturalroad.com/health-news/gmo-the-hidden-links/
3- http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/lifestyle/food/food-general/duelling-over-gm-wheat.html
4 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT-srJ22POE
5- http://theintelhub.com/2011/04/03/study-finds-link-between-gmo’s-and-current-health-care-crisis/
If you have not heard of the Wheat Belly book New York Best seller from what I have been told it is amazing and I guess we share the same views.
Below is an article I came across. I have added in my remarks with the colour gold.
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?
As scientists at Rothamsted’s GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field.
Three senior scientists made impassioned appeals yesterday to anti-GM campaigners not to destroy a field trial of GM wheat which is the culmination of several years’ work.
The trial involves a wheat strain modified to be resistant to aphid pests, but an ad hoc group of activists, assembled in a campaign entitled Take The Flour Back, have said they will march to the trial site this Sunday and attempt to destroy the young crops.
The activists say the trial, at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, is a threat to agriculture because pollen from the GM wheat could contaminate non-GM plants outside the trial boundary, and they believe GM is in general a dangerous and inappropriate technology for agriculture. But the scientists say cross-contamination from the site is virtually impossible, and that the new strain of wheat they are producing, besides being a boost to food security in an ever-hungrier world, itself has significant environmental benefits, as it will mean the input of pesticides is considerably lessened.
At Rothamsted yesterday, three of the leading figures in the project appealed to the protesters not to destroy it, saying they would be on the site on Sunday and would be happy to talk to the activists. “Call off your plans to destroy our experiment and come on the day and talk to us, but don’t come in a mindset of destruction,” said Dr Gia Aradottir. “This is a sustainable method that would reduce the carbon footprint for agriculture, if we don’t need to be driving tractors spraying pesticides. Surely that’s a good thing for environment? If they understand the technology and they understand what we’re doing, then they should embrace it, because really we have the same goals.”
Professor Johnathan Napier said: “Why would you want to destroy knowledge? I would ask the protesters what their solutions are to the problem of food security with the growth of the human population. What are your solutions to how are we going to feed nine billion people? We can’t do it by just simple highly-intensive, low-input organic production systems. We have to use lots of approaches.” My response to this would lead me to say, “because it isn’t natural”.
The GM wheat plants are now nearly a foot tall, and due to be harvested in September, and the current research consists in measuring the aphid presence in the GM wheat against the number of aphids found in control-plots of non-GM wheat. My question to the readers and scientists who are creating this GM Wheat is: why don’t you just use the methods most organic farmers use?
The methods organic farming use include crop rotation, green manures, compost, mechanical cultivation and biological pest control. These measures use the natural environment to enhance agricultural productivity. Vegetables are planted to fix nitrogen into the soil, natural insect predators are encouraged, crops are rotated to confuse pests and renew soil, and natural materials such as potassium bicarbonate and mulches are used to control disease and weeds. Organic farmers are careful in their selection of plant breeds, and organic researchers produce hardier plants through plant breeding rather than genetic engineering. To me, it all comes down to money.
The modified crops contain a pheromone which is identical to the chemical used by the aphids as an alarm signal; when the aphids encounter it, they scatter, and aphid predators are attracted. The chemical, E-Beta-farnesene or EBF, is naturally occurring and found in about 400 plants, from hops to peppermint. The current trial at Rothamsted is being sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, so in effect it is being funded by the taxpayer.
In this, as in several other respects, it differs from the widely publicised trials of commercial GM crops promoted by giant agribusiness companies a decade ago, which found they would damage the environment as the extra-powerful weedkillers they were designed to tolerate would kill much other wildlife beside the target pests.
There has since been a virtual moratorium on GM crops in Britain and in much of Europe, although in other parts of the world GM technology is widely employed in agriculture on crops such as maize and soya beans.
“Michael McCarthy”
Michael McCarthy, the Independent’s Environment Editor, is one of Britain’s leading writers on the environment and the natural world. He has three times been Environment Journalist of the Year (1991, 2003 and 2006) and in 2001 was Specialist Writer of the Year in the British Press Awards. In 2007 he was awarded the medal of the RSPB for “Oustanding Services to Conservation” – the first time in the medal’s 100-year history that it has been given to a journalist – and in 2009 he was given the Marsh Award for Lepidoptera Conservation. In 2009 he published Say Goodbye To The Cuckoo (John Murray), a study of Britain’s declining migrant birds.
Our government has been genetically altering our wheat and other foods for many years. All human beings share the same gene called FUK fucokinase [ Homo sapiens ] (protein coding), and most of the genetically modified engineered wheat (other GMO Foods) are altered at the DNA protein level. My question is, don’t you think it could meddle with our DNA. This is my theory on how we are all becoming “allergic humans” or “glutenoids” and as well where I came up with the name for my business called FUK Flour. It has only been in the past 20-25 years that you hear of all these kids and adults having so many allergies and weird diseases. It’s your choice and your decision on what you want best for your life. As for myself, being gluten intolerant has made me wake up…yes, at the beginning it was a bit hard, but now it’s like it was before.
To date there are over 81 genetically modified foods that have been approved for sale in Canada, and not one applications has been turned down. When I read that it made me stop dead in my tracks, ‘not one application has been turned down,’ I said to myself…wow maybe I should apply…
Information for this article http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/feeding-a-hungry-world–or-meddling-with-laws-of-nature-7786187.html
[...] What are they trying to do exactly? Well, they are trying to make genetic modification or alterations…oh yes the “G” word, that’s what I call it… G for genetic, but isn’t this how (possibly) Celiac and Gluten Intolerance all got started? By genetically altering wheat and other grains at a protein level. See my article on GMO & GE Foods Click Here. [...]