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Scary Food
Many packaged food products are recalled from the American market due to the presence of all-natural contaminants:
– insect parts– toxic molds from fungi (mycotoxins)– Bacteria– viruses
Ergot Poisoning
• Europe 800s-1800s
• epidemics caused by the contamination of rye with ergot (a poisonous fungus)
• Ergot toxin is ergotamine
• consumption induces hallucinations, bizarre behavior, violent muscle twitching
1691-92 Salem witch trials
• Three young girls – violent convulsions, incomprehensible speech– trance-like states, odd skin sensations,– delirious visions
•Villagers feared the girls were under a spell cast by demons; subsequent panic led to the execution of ~ 20 innocent people.
•rye was a major staple of their diet•rainy and humid rye harvest that year
•When the supply of Ergot- infected rye ran out, the delusions and persecution disappeared.
• a deadly mycotoxin produced by the mold Fusarium
• sometimes found in unprocessed corn • Can cause liver and esophageal cancer,
birth defects
Fumonisin Poisoning
when insects attack corn, they open wounds in the plant that provide a perfect breeding ground for Fusarium.
1990s: Hispanic women in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas
• 6 times the national average of babies with crippling and lethal neural tube defects (NTDS) – spina bifida, Hydrocephalus, anencephaly
• NTDS linked to consumption of unprocessed corn
•These women reported much higher dietary consumption of homemade corn tortillas containing 2-3 x more fumonisin than normal
• 2003 - Food Safety Agency tested six organic cornmeal products and twenty conventional corn meal products for fumonisin contamination.
Know your Organic Food
•All six organic corn meals had 9 to 40 times greater fumonisin than the recommended levels for human health (they were voluntarily withdrawn from grocery stores.)
99% of GM foods in food supply are – Round-up Ready™ soybeans– Bt corn
Genetically Modified (GM) Foods
Round-up Ready Soybeans/cotton
• Round-up (an herbicide) kills weeds
• It degrades in the environment when used properly (sunny and dry weather).
• Crops can engineered to be tolerant to Round-up, so it can be used rather than more toxic herbicides
Bt corn contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
The "Bt" gene expresses a protein that is toxic to corn-boring insects but is harmless to birds, fish, and mammals (including humans).
Bt corn fends off insect pests Also reduces the levels of the mold Fusarium
• Round-up Ready corn/soybeans and Bt corn consumed in United States, Argentina and Canada Since 1995
• not a single case of adverse health impacts has been documented
Are GM foods SAFE?
•Bt is considered safe to eat because it is digested in minutes and is not absorbed as a whole protein by the body.
BEWARE of Public Skepticism
Golden Rice
• two daffodil genes and a bacterial gene spliced into the rice genome. – barely produced enough b-carotene
• Now golden rice contains a corn gene that provides enough b-carotene
• Still not available due to regulations
Outdated Propaganda against Golden Rice
A normal size serving would be sufficient with the newer golden rice
1999 Gerber foods company succumbed to activist pressure “baby food products no longer contain any gene-spliced ingredients”
• Gerber promised a shift to organic ingredients that are grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers
• Gerber has actually increased the health risk for its baby consumers.
• If a mother some day discovers that her "Gerber baby" has developed liver or esophageal cancer, she might have a legal case against Gerber
Benefits of GE crops
• reduced use of chemical pesticides
• less runoff of chemicals into waterways
• greater use of farming practices that prevent soil erosion
• higher profits for farmers
• less fungal contamination
• More nutritious foods
GE crops and Worker Safety
• Production of Bt cotton has led to enormous reductions in insecticide use (equivalent to 25 percent of all of the insecticide sprayed before the adoption of Bt cotton).
• Reduced exposure of farm workers to broad-spectrum pesticides
• the positive effects on farm workers and the environment should be considered when deciding on the merits of Bt crops
GM Concern
• Pests will evolve to become resistant to Bt (This also normally occurs if a pesticide is heavily used)
• Many varieties of Bt toxin can be genetically engineered to keep one step ahead of the insects.
GE crops can coexist with other farming systems
• the papaya industry in Hawaii was virtually decimated by the presence of a single viral disease caused by the papaya ringspot virus
• 1998: genetically engineered papaya lead to a 20-fold increase in yield.
• Hawaiian organic papaya can be grown disease free if it is produced near GE trees. This is because the GE fruit has eliminated the spread of the virus.
Food Labeling • a “GMO-free” label does not provide
meaningful information.
• Example: GE papaya is immunized with trace amounts ringspot viral DNA
• organic papaya is likely to be virally infected and would therefore carry much higher levels of viral RNA as well as viral protein.