General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGenetically Engineered Meat, Coming Soon to a Supermarket Near You
If youre one of the 91 percent of Americans who opposes genetically engineered (GE) meat, you may have limited time to act: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed approval of the first-ever GE animal, called AquAdvantage Salmon. If this first approval proceeds, the process is likely to become top secret in the future: we wont find out about new GE animals until after theyre approved for human consumption, and they wont be labeled. Welcome to the new world of genetically engineered meat unless we act now.
The problems begin with FDAs bizarre decision to consider GE meat using its New Animal Drug Approval (NADA) process, a process designed for evaluation of new animal drugs (hence the name), not genetically engineered animals. The GE salmon themselves are, according to this analysis, the animal drug. As food blogger Ari LeVaux explains on Civil Eats, the drug per se is AquaBountys patented genetic construct... Inserted at the animals one-cell stage, the gene sequence exists in every cell of the adult fishs body.
Of course, NADA was not designed to analyze the human health or environmental consequences of new animal drugs, and because the animals are the drugs in this process, their welfare is also ignored. In all three areas, there is ample reason for concern.
Since they arent consumed by humans, new animal drugs are not evaluated for their human health impact, so perhaps its unsurprising that FDAs analysis in this area has been almost nonexistent. Health and consumer rights advocates have raised alarms, noting among other concerns, that: 1) these animals will require massive doses of antibiotics to keep them alive in dirty, crowded aquaculture conditions, and we dont know these antibiotics effect on human health; 2) the limited testing that has been conducted was carried out by or for AquaBounty and included shockingly small sample sizes; and 3) what studies have been done indicated increased allergic potential and increased levels of the hormone IGF-1, which is linked to various cancers an outcome ignored in FDAs approval according to the Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, and the Center for Food Safety.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/11-4
undergroundpanther
(11,925 posts)Unless people get population in check there will be nothing natural left to eat because this planet will die.
clones from dead cows
http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/09/20084915458998404.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-111842/Jurassic-Calf.html#axzz2KekMPQTZ
we are all zombies,plants live off death,we live off death,we live but we die all the time,cell by cell.
the mad scientists are trying to save people from their own cancer like behavior.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)flvegan
(64,416 posts)I've learned that here.
No, wait...I learned to mock it here.
Have at it mods.
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)But not labeling it as such? Bullshit, and I can't fathom how they can try to justify or rationalize such an outrageous decision. Clearly the interest of the people is not at play, but the corporate elite who seek only profits.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Sleeping on the dough?
Re: Detailed labels.