Green Options » genetically modified food

Attack of the Genetically Modified Flax Seed

Becky Striepe — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:03:15 +0000

Nope, it’s not a spooky tale left over from Halloween. After word got out that Canada’s flax seed crops had been cross-contaminated with a genetically modified variety, the country’s entire flax industry is in peril.

Read more of this story »

Federal Judge Says USDA Illegally Approved Genetically Modified Sugar Beets

Becky Striepe — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:30:06 +0000

[Sugar Beet Field. Creative Commons photo by Gilles San Martin]

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the USDA illegally approved Monsanto’s genetically modified, Roudup Ready beets.

Read more of this story »

Egypt Bans GMOs?

Becky Striepe — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:30:47 +0000

Egypt has been enforcing some stringent food quality standards, and now they’re talking about banning all imports and exports of genetically modified foods (GMOs).

[Cairo. Creative Commons photo by Andrew A. Shenouda]

Over the summer, Egyptian officials rejected several import shipments of wheat, saying they were unfit for human consumption. Since then, the parliament has been pushing for stricter food standards. It looks like they got their wish.

Read more of this story »

Genetically Modified Food Experiments Use Kids for Guinea Pigs

Derek Markham — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:10:04 +0000

Leading scientists call foul in the use of kids aged 6 to 10 as subjects in genetically modified foods trials, claiming a severe breach of medical ethics, specifically the Nuremberg code.

“We are writing to express our shock and unequivocal denunciation of the experiments being conducted by your colleagues which involve the feeding of genetically modified Golden Rice to human subjects.”

Read more of this story »

Genetically-Modified-Food-Free Wales Undermined

Kay Sexton — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:26:30 +0000

Jonathan Harrington, who is a professional agronomist, admitted today that he imported two varieties of GM modified maize, grew and harvested them, gave seed to his neighbours to grow, and fed the resulting crop to Welsh sheep and cattle.

Read more of this story »

Half of All Americans Wouldn’t Buy FrankenFoods…If They Could Tell The Difference

mcmilker — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:42:37 +0000

A recent New York Times/CBS poll bears good news for ecopreneurs in the food industry. Fifty-Three percent of consumers said they would not buy genetically modified food. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell the difference between Frankenfoods and the real thing.

A new CBS News poll found that 87% of consumers would like GMO ingredients to be labeled, just as they are in Europe, Japan and Australia. Yet the U.S. Congress has never even held a vote on the issue, to give shoppers the opportunity to exercise their most basic right - to make a choice.

Once again, labeling decisions made by the FDA and USDA, influenced heavily by big agriculture are keeping consumers from understanding what is in their food. The FDA’s position is: GMOs are the “substantial equivalent” of conventional crops and so does not require “disclosure of genetic engineering techniques…on the label.”

Read more of this story »

A Not-So-Sweet Valentine from Monsanto

Beth Bader — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:59:37 +0000

(image courtesy Aine D on Flickr)

Did you know that nearly half the sugar we bake those heart-shaped cookies with comes not from sugar cane, but sugar beets? Additionally, by next year, much of that beet sugar could be from genetically-engineered beets? The new beet seed was created by Monsanto to be able to withstand direct application of the herbicide Roundup, which has the active ingredient glyphosate.

The Environmental Protection Agency has enabled Monsanto in releasing the new GE crop by increasing the allowable residue of the herbicide by FIVE THOUSAND percent. Beets, being a root vegetable, are especially susceptible to retaining chemical residue.

Read more of this story »