Recently crop production figures were released for GM crops arounds the world. This article appeared on the iAfrica.com news site yesterday. Here is an extract:
“…all the world’s leading academies of science and medicine and agricultural research institutions have given GM food a clean bill of health,” the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said on Tuesday.”
This is a blatantly untrue statement, compare it to an extract from this article:
“The biotech industry claims that the FDA has thoroughly evaluated GM foods and found them safe. This is untrue. Internal FDA documents made public from a lawsuit, reveal that agency scientists warned that GM foods might create toxins, allergies, nutritional problems, and new diseases that might be difficult to identify. Although they urged their superiors to require long-term tests on each GM variety prior to approval, the political appointees at the agency, including a former attorney for Monsanto, ignored the scientists. Official policy claims that the foods are no different and do NOT require safety testing. A manufacturer can introduce a GM food without even informing the government or consumers. A January 2001 report from an expert panel of the Royal Society of Canada said it was “scientifically unjustifiable” to presume that GM foods are safe. Likewise, a 2002 report by the UK’s Royal Society said that genetic modification “could lead to unpredicted harmful changes in the nutritional state of foods,” and recommended that potential health effects of GM foods be rigorously researched before being fed to pregnant or breast-feeding women, elderly people, those suffering from chronic disease, and babies.”
Now take into account that the first quote is coming from the Biotech industry, where there are huge amounts of money at stake. While the second quote was created by a concerned citizen like you and me who are not going to profit from GM foods either way. Who are you going to believe?
If you’d like to learn more, check out this website www.seedsofdeception.com – the ‘About GM Foods’ link is particularly interesting.