Genetically Modified Foods

In the past few years, the USDA has approved many genetically modified crops, and many feel that this approval was made prematurely. Many of the foods we see in grocery stores now may be GE crops and we might not even know it. While this movement to approve the GE crops seems to be picking up momentum, this is finally a victory for those who question the safety of such crops. Read the article here.
Here is a list of genetically engineered crops.
Find out more about GE crops and for more information about the genetic engineering process here.

Following the Money Trail; The Truth Behind Cloned Meat

There has been a lot of press lately about the new technology of cloning animals to increase production of meat. Despite the fact that our bodies do not need much, if any, meat, the meat that is widely available today is hormone filled and grain fed. Now, on top of that, they are trying to clone the meat as well. As with most things of this nature (pharmaceutical drugs, cancer treatment, heart disease prevention, hormonal birth control, etc) the reason is of course, financially motivated. This article uncovers a lot of the hidden agendas behind the new technology of cloning animals for food.
Read the article here.

Not Milk?

With all the recent news on the possibility of GM organic milk, I thought this was an interesting article.

With the advent of cloned livestock, yet another biotech science experiment may soon find its way to the American dinner table. In December 2006, the FDA essentially told the public that the meat and milk from cloned livestock are safe for human consumption. FDA's action flies in the face of widespread scientific concern about the risks of food from clones, and ignores the animal cruelty and troubling ethical concerns that the cloning process brings. What's worse, FDA indicates that it will not require labeling on cloned food, so consumers will have no way to avoid these experimental foods.
Animal cloning is a new technology with potentially severe risks for food safety. Defects in clones are common, and cloning scientists warn that even small imbalances in clones could lead to hidden food safety problems in clones' milk or meat. There are few studies on the risks of food from clones, and no long-term food safety studies have been done.

Numerous opinion polls show that the majority of Americans do not want food from animal clones and are opposed to cloning on moral or ethical grounds.

The FDA's veterinary medicine advisory panel rebuked the agency in 2003 for its position, declaring that not enough research has been done to determine whether food derived from cloned animals is safe. In fact, livestock cloning raises numerous health and ethical concerns. Over 90 percent of cloning attempts fail, and cloned animals that are born have more health problems and higher mortality rates than sexually reproduced animals.

Given that researchers do not understand many of the health problems that arise throughout the lifecycles of cloned animals, the FDA acted irresponsibly in assuming that the foods produced from these animals are safe for humans to eat. According to Ian Wilmut, the leader of the team of scientists that cloned the sheep Dolly, determining the health impacts of food derived from clones must be based on the animals' complete health profiles. Such studies have not been done.

View the complete article here.