An interesting story
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/05/Chickens-Not-Fooled-by-GM-Crops.aspx
Chickens Not Fooled by GM Crops
Interesting. I wonder what the modification was.
"The results confirmed Oppenheimer's initial suspicion -- the maize had been genetically engineered to produce proteins that are toxic to certain insects and weeds."
But I don't think there is a genetic modification for toxicity to weeds. Resistance to a herbicide (e.g. "Roundup Ready corn) used to control weeds, yes--but that would not have anything to do with an intended toxicity.
The most common genetically engineered insect resistance involves introducing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis which is toxic to caterpillars. It may be associated with liver damage in rats--but rats are very susceptible to developing cancers and are not the best human analogue.
I've always felt a little queasy about eating a lot of food containing bacterial toxins (Bt is related to anthrax) and although it has been used very successfully for years as a topical pesticide in organic farming, that is different than actually engineering it into the food.
I just finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" (finally out in paperback), the follow-up to "The Omnivore's Dilemma". Both books are very balanced explorations of the problem with modern food production.
Here are two links to sites discussing these issues. The first is about the use of a Roundup Ready crop from a farmer's perspectives. The second is just the Wiki site about Bt.
http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/archive/2006/02/post_9.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis
I know Chickens are not known for being Smart, But........
Absolutely right Catscan. Maize can certainly be engineered to produce toxins that have effect on insects that eat the maize (but even then only certain species are affected). Maize cannot be engineered to contain proteins that are toxic to weeds. Well, technically, you could do so, but if you did it with proteins that are toxic to monocot weeds, the maize itself would die at the seedling stage. If you did it with proteins that are toxic to dicot weeds, what point would there be? The proteins have to get to the weeds....weeds don't eat corn. The weed would grow next to the corn with zero effect.
An odd article, with no scientific basis and claims that lack logic. Also, the article says that the chickens would not eat the "mealies" in the feed (suggesting mealworms?) not the maize itself. So it's unclear - were they not eating the maize or not eating the worms? And this Dr. Mercola says it contained "Bt1." What is that? I work in biotech for a corn seed company (not Monsanto) and I work specifically on Bt technologies, and there is nothing called "Bt1" in the science. Furthermore, he says it contained "built in RoundUp." RoundUp ready corn contains proteins that prevent RoundUp from killing the corn, while allowing it to kill other weeds in the field. It doesn't "contain RoundUp" as such.
Except for the flocks that are fed "organically," I would hazard a guess that over 90% of the chickens in the US are fed GM corn. It's hard to find non-GM corn in feed unless you go organic. Most chickens aren't fed organically. Any feed corn from feed stores, or pellets that contain corn or corn meal or corn flour, are almost certainly GM corn, and likely Bt corn. I know my chickens are all over the cracked corn when I do feed it, as well as the mixed scratch, which also likely contains other GM seeds.
I find the article hard to believe, especially given its inconsistencies and it's technically incorrect statements. I don't like it when people prey upon the fears of those who do not have the knowledge and background to understand why the article makes no sense. It's fearmongering. Sigh.
I have been directed to the Mercola website a number of times by various people and for various reasons. I take most of what's there with a grain of salt because he has his own products to sell. At the very least his motives are suspect and much of what he says seems biased and hard to prove - if not impossible. I agree with you, Moxon!
I find these fear-mongering sites really annoying as well. There seems to be a severe lack of critical thinking skills. I don't think one necessarily needs to have a scientific background to be able to recognize spurious claims (though it may certainly help). But too many people just see something on the news or the net and get all panicky.
I think the stress people suffer from worrying constantly about the things the fearmongers want us to worry about is far worse than the things they want us to worry about!
Well I respectfully disagree. We are having some major health issues in America and these things need to be looked at.
Twenty percent of our children in school are on pharmaceutical mind altering drugs. One out of seven of us will have cancer in our lifetimes. Something is terribly terribly wrong.
We need to wake up to what these giant corporations are doing to our people.
Mercola is not perfect, but he makes a lot more sense than most doctors and nurses and scientists. We just can't go on eating chemicals and garbage and wonder why our bodies are all messed up and why our children can't think.
LFJ, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Someone I know read a poorly written news article about how excess phosphates in runoff into rivers killed fish, therefore decided that anything "phosphate" was toxic and started looking at food labels. Lo and behold, they found the word "phosphate" in some of the ingredients and promptly decided that those products were no longer edible. This person now wanders the grocery aisles stressing out about how "our food is killing us."
What the person failed to realize (and refused to accept even after an explanation) is that the phosphates in the runoff did not directly affect the fish in the river. The phosphates caused a bloom of algae which depleted the oxygen in the water and that is what killed the fish. Now, why did the algae bloom? Because phosphate is a growth booster for them. "Phosphate" in various forms is essential to life. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), for example, is essential for cell metabolism. Without it, none of us would be here. "Phosphorylation" is a process in cells which is essential for the regulation of protein function (wikipedia has a good article on this).
All I'm trying to say is that we all need to think critically and not let fear rule our actions and reactions and try not to let people manipulate us using scare-tactics.
LFJ, no one is saying that we don't need to wake up to what's happening to our food supply and stop eating chemicals that are unnatural. But it doesn't help the cause when people use inaccurate "science" to bolster their own points of view and, incidentally, their pocketbooks.
What will make the case every time is verifiable facts, not innuendos and interpretations that the large corporations can easily disprove. When that happens they can generalize that all the negative findings are also false, not just those that are self-serving and vague. So it hurts the positions of people who genuinely want to make improvements in these areas and have the hard data to prove that there are problems.
Well it doesn't really matter what we think, or what truth is, or how we "convince" them of truth. IMHO we are being poisoned and being poisoned on purpose. They do whatever they want to us. We can rant and rave and do protests and write letters to our congressmen, and what good does it do? They make the laws and they enforce the laws. Then they tell us it's for our "own good".
Evil exists, and that's the truth. If you don't believe it, think back on those pictures of the nazi germany concentration camps.
After WWII our government brought 1600 Nazi doctors and engineers to America and put them in charge of federal programs. If you don't believe me, do some research. Look up Wernher Von Braun and find out where this NASA engineer came from. There are plenty of videos about this, and it's absolutely incredible to see and finally put some of the pieces together. Look up the CIA "MK Ultra" and "Monarch project" where they have tortured and raped young children in mind control experiments. Find out why they put fluoride in our water and told us it was good for us.
Call me names if you want, but I'm not sitting with the wool over my eyes any longer. What everyone else does or thinks is their own business. I'm not here to dictate beliefs to anyone, but I believe genetically modified food and seed is just one more nail in our coffin.
Well I come down on the side with 'Jesus' ^_^
If a person does not think corporations would do most anything to make an extra buck, well just look at the inports the big corps. are bringing to this country from China.
But to each his own, I love new information.
No one is saying that these corporations wouldn't do almost anything to make a buck. I agree with all of LFJ's concerns. I don't use fluoride toothpaste or treatments and have given articles about its dangers to my dentist - not that it does any good. And I didn't see anyone calling anyone any names, either, unless I missed something.
My point was that if the information being promoted on a site isn't correct, it weakens the excellent factual arguments that do exist against these practices.
LFJ wrote: "IMHO we are being poisoned and being poisoned on purpose."
Why?
If you really want to know, send me an email and I'll try to explain my views. light4jesus@gmail.com
This message was edited Sep 18, 2009 10:56 AM
Anyway, the answer lies in what I've already said. For anyone willing to dig deep into it. It's all pretty clear.