Tech | July 18, 2010 | 7 comments

Tell Obama's FDA to Regulate, Not Cheerlead for Genetically Modified Organisms

source: http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=15244506&type=ML

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JanforGore
In 1992, Monsanto toppled regulatory hurtles facing its new transgenic crops by convincing the George H.W. Bush Administration to go along with the ruse that genetically engineered foods are "substantially equivalent" to normal foods and therefore don't need to be safety tested or labeled.

This was a terrible trick to play on the public, especially considering that 85% of consumers polled at the time thought it was "very important" to label genetically engineered foods. Since then, poll after poll has showed overwhelming support for the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. But, because genetically engineered foods haven't been labeled, currently only 26% of the public know what they're eating.

FDA scientists knew that genetically engineered foods were different in 1992. They described genetically engineered foods as "an entirely new adventure," acknowledging that genetic engineering endows plants with novel material never before found in them, including "new proteins in the human diet."

Eighteen years later, investigations of genetically engineered foods are confirming scientists' suspicions that biotech's scattershot technique of spraying plant cells with a buckshot of foreign genes that hit chromozomes in random spots would trigger the expression of new allergens, change the character of plant proteins, and ultimately prove to be toxic to mammals' vital organs.

President Obama's Food & Drug Administration needs to admit that, in the Bush-Quayle era of deregulation, they took the wrong approach to genetically engineered foods. On the campaign trail, Obama professed support for mandatory labeling. Now is the time for him to fulfill his promise to support consumers' right to know.
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7 comments // Tell Obama's FDA to Regulate, Not Cheerlead for Genetically Modified Organisms

  • queenofit
    • +1
      queenofit  
    • Image

    • Good luck on that one. I just don't have much faith in any government agency protecting our food supply. The sooner we realize that our country's interest is tightly woven into the interest of corporations wants and needs, the sooner we can (possibly) begin to figure out how to take back control of our country. The local food movement must be making enough headway to have some government/corporate agencies ears perking up, read this article.

      http://www.grist.org/article/food-five-tips-for-surviving-a-raid-on-your-farm-or...

      No way the powerful government is going to go after small time "local" farmers just to protect society at large from what, a little goat milk or raw honey? No this is big corporations, realizing they might loose a penny or two (probably much more actually) to a movement of educated consumers who refuse to duped any longer by being fed dead, gmo'd, irradiated, toxic, processed, (so called ) food. I mean what could be more pleasing. right?

      So I say, I guess we can't give up on the slight chance that government will change, but it won't happen over night, this situation took years getting here, and now we have to begin to work together, and take back our food.

      And the sooner we realize that it won't matter who we elect for president, as long as we choose one of the "electable candidates" who are pre-approved by big business, we are never going to get a person in office that is going to lean toward the peasants needs. (sorry) that is just how it is.

    • 1 year ago
  • im1mjrpain
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • im1mjrpain:

      You don't give a damn about this topic so stop spamming this in every thread just because you hate him. I criticize him and the agencies in this administration on topics because they are important and because I hope to see action. Unless of course, you have movies to also explain why from BUSH ONE through BABY BUSH, THEY didn't take action on this either.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  

    • To stand against GMO labelling on our food is to stand against food sovereignty and our freedom to make an informed decision. It is to place no faith in the very people you campaign and ask money from when you want to win an election! They are trying to force GMOS into all of our food just like oil companies have forced us to purchase oil for our cars without offering us any other choice. Both stand against freedom and the right of the consumer to have a choice. And this is because the corporations behind oil and now food make decisions even over our government.

      People rage against big government as if it even exists anymore. There is no such thing as real government in the USA anymore. They do not govern, they obey. We are now a corporate monarchy run by the Kings of the corporate world. The BPs, Exxons, Dows, Monsantos, and Goldman Sachs. We have ceded our right to grow, buy, and eat as we choose. Those who blast "government" for requiring weights on medical charts are also hypocrites if they do not also blast the corporate takeover of our food system that like the oil industry gives us NO CHOICE. When everything you touch has High Fructose Corn Syrup, pesticides, salt, sugar, artificial ingredients and GMOS, and you have limited choices that you cannot afford, or no choice at all, WHAT DO YOU DO?

      It is time to put pressure on "government" to take back the authortiy they were given by the people in voting to for once do the business of the PEOPLE, and that business regarding food is to LABEL it and make it transparent so that we can make informed decisions for our own health!

      So President Obama, the question is, why can't you keep any promises you made to the crowds of people who showed up at your rallies thinking you were going to change things?

    • 1 year ago
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  
    • JanforGore:

      Jan, I will always stand with you, but for the life of me, I cannot begin to think that Obama will ever help us on this one. I hope and pray that I am wrong, I really want to be, but he has not show any support for anything other than putting supporters of bioengineering in his cabinet. I mean, how hard would it have been to dribble a few non gmo's leaders in his favored positions. I mean, you would serve, right? ;)

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • queenofit:

      Well I agree. I think it is obvious it won't happen waiting for him or Congress to move on their own although the bills Dennis Kucinich has brought forward may help us in this cause. That's where we come in. I'm thinking of taking a web course in GMOS being given by Jeffrey Smith and hopefully after that taking this information to more people. I am going to try to do this because it simply is too important for our future to not make more people aware of the dangers of GMOs. That is what will tip the scales in the favor of consumers. We do have the power. We just have to use it. So don't lose hope, it's essential for success. And as far as serving, I already am ;-).

    • 1 year ago
  • queenofit
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