What s the standard definition of a GMO?A genetically modified organism (GMO) is a bacterium, yeast, insect, plant, fish, or mammal whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. GMOs are the source of genetically modified foods and are also widely used in scientific research and to produce goods other than food.
NON GMO (activist against GMO’s) Definition is slightly different: GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.
Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.
Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.
Protestors argue that industrialized agriculture is a threat to the environment, biodiversity and the livelihood of small family farmers. They demand change towards more environmentally friendly farming, protection of bees, fair prices for farmers, better policies against hunger, against food scandals, against monocultures, against land grabbing and against GMOs. The organizers of the demonstrations also criticized heavily for the TTIP. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a series of SECRET TRADE ALLIANCES between the EU and US. As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. John Hilary, who is the Executive Director of the campaign group known as War on Want, said: “This is an assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.”
TTIP negotiations that began in February 2013 have been secretive and undemocratic. This secrecy is on-going, with nearly all information on negotiations coming from leaked documents and FOIA. Freedom of Information requests.
What does this tell the consumer?
TTIP’s ‘regulatory convergence’ agenda is currently seeking to bring EU standards on food safety and the environment closer to those of the US, which is not good. But US regulations are much less strict than the EU BECAUSE 70% of all processed foods sold in US supermarkets CONTAIN genetically modified ingredients.
ARE GMO’s safe? In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale.
Listen to the interview here with Chris Kehler and Roxy Lopez
Are GMOs labeled? No
In the U.S., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed foods. So how do we know the difference?
Agricultural Crops That Have a Risk of Being GMO
Agricultural two groups: (1) high-risk GMO Crops because they are already currently in commercial production, and (2) those that have a monitored risk because we suspect or know if contamination incidents have occurred in the past and/or the crops have genetically modified relatives in commercial production with which cross-pollination (and consequently contamination) is possible.
Monitored Crops (those for which suspected or known incidents of contamination have occurred, and those crops which have genetically modified relatives in commercial production with which cross-pollination is possible; we test regularly to assess risk, and move to “High-Risk” category for ongoing testing if we see contamination):
Common Ingredients Derived from GMO Risk Crops
Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Ethanol, Flavorings (“natural” and “artificial”), High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products.
Ontario Pork ended its support for the Enviropig program in April 2012. The U of G killed the pigs, from the 10th generation of the project, in June 2012 after it couldn’t find a new partner to fund the project. However, the genetic material will be stored at the Canadian Agricultural Genetics Repository Program.
**Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also called factory farming**
Confinement at high stocking density is one part of a systematic effort to produce the highest output at the lowest cost by relying on economies of scale, modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. Confinement at high stocking density requires the use of antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence exacerbated by these crowded living conditions. In addition, antibiotics are used to stimulate livestock growth by killing intestinal bacteria.
How much of our farming is done this way?
In the U.S., as of THE YEAR 2000 four companies produced 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 60 percent of pigs, and 50 percent of chickens and according to its National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of its 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are reared in industrial settings.
In the US, approximately 90% of all shrimp consumed are farmed and imported. In recent years salmon aquaculture has become a major export in southern Chile especially in Puerto Montt and Quellon, Chile’s fastest-growing city.
Farmed fish are kept in concentrations never seen in the wild, e.g. 50,000 fish in a 2-acre (8,100 m2) area, with each fish occupying less room than the average bathtub. This can cause several forms of pollution. Packed tightly, fish rub against each other and the sides of their cages, damaging their fins and tails and becoming sickened with various diseases and infections.
Some species of sea lice have been noted to target farmed coho and farmed Atlantic salmon specifically. Such parasites may have an effect on nearby wild fish. For these reasons, aquaculture operators frequently need to use strong drugs to keep the fish alive (but many fish still die prematurely at rates of up to 30%) and these drugs inevitably enter the environment.
The lice and pathogen problems of the 1990s facilitated the development of current treatment methods for sea lice and pathogens. These developments reduced the stress from parasite/pathogen problems. However, being in an ocean environment, the transfer of disease organisms from the wild fish to the aquaculture fish is an ever-present risk factor.
Highlights: Buying organic animal products is better for your health, your local community, and the larger community as a whole.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-buy-organic-dairy-meat.html#ixzz3KDRrTYNL
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_animal_farming
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1046184.stm
UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/farm-animal-welfare-committee-fawc
http://www.nongmoproject.org/find-non-gmo/search-participating-products/
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-buy-organic-dairy-meat.html
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