".. Nutrients Engineered Out of Our Foods!"
Paul Geiger of Sebweb
sent us this posting by a very active opponent of genetically
engineered foods on 2/10/00. First the charges, then responses
from Greg Caton, Pres., Lumen Foods; and Dr. Wayne
Parrott, Univ. of Georgia (www.cropsoil.uga.edu/~parrottlab):
Greg (Caton),
Do you have chemical evidence to counteract this kind of rant
from a local organic enthusiast?
Paul Geiger
Sebastopol CA
-------------rant follows---------------
Here is a vegetarian's point of view of the shameful practice of foisting
genetically engineered soybeans on unsuspecting vegetarians: and it is
this: eat organic. Most of the organic farmers refuse to use genetically
engineered soybeans. Over 50% of the soybeans today are genetically
engineered.
And what do they engineer out? the same things that are being bred out of
soybeans that affect shelf life. These are the same things (essential oils
are the first to go) that make our food good for us, and make it good for
animal feed, that makes eggs good for us, so that we don't need to take a
supplement pill (extra cost money manufacturing ecocost) to get the
nutrients engineered out of our food for PROFIT! not your good, their good.
Remember that.
Thanks Paul for giving me a chance to rant on sebweb.
Write me if you want more info, it's 6:30 am and I am in a hurry to
counter this misinformation by corporate food designers.
Raven Joy
--------------- end of rant --------------------
Response from Greg Caton:
Paul,
Chemical evidence that GMO soybeans are not nutrient deficient?
There isn't any simply because if you chemically analyze
GMO and non-GMO soybeans, you will not find any micro or macro-nutrient
profile variations. The current test (used by "Genetic ID" and others)
is a complicated genetics test -- and in fact, none of the traditional
chemical testing methodologies (i.e. mass spectometry, gas or liquid
chromatography, NIR, etc.) are useful in telling which is which.
That's pretty positive proof right there.
But I digress from the larger issue....
Below, your poster presents just the kind of ridiculous
pseudo-science-agri-babble that is at the core the non-GMO movement.
There is absolutely no evidence that any nutrients are "taken out"
when you genetically modify soybeans. One lousy gene ... and these
people are convinced that's evidence that the EPA, USDA, FDA, not to
mention every biotech company on earth is out to poison the food chain.
The implication is a massive conspiracy between government and industry
of unimaginable proportion to literally harm consumers worldwide and
destroy the environment.
It isn't just beyond substantiation.... it's absurd -- suggesting that
Greenpeace & Friends are picking up lessons in truth-twisting from the
current political culture....
In answer to your question: read the EXCELLENT article that the FDA
just put out, entitled "Are Bioengineered Foods Safe?" located at
soybean.com/bseries.htm ... I am also "CCing" this letter to some
friends of mine so that they can also respond if they wish -- the
results of which I will post on the soybean.com web site.
If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll help any way I can.
You may continue to use my site as a reference. As a vegetarian myself,
I am deeply offended by this person's attempt to connect meat abstention,
which throughout much of the world has deep cultural and religious roots
going back thousands of years, with the GM controversy. Such
arguments make vegetarians look like hair-brained idiots. I am sure
that Dr. C.S. Prakash, a leading GM scientist and advocate, as well as
a vegetarian (he told me himself), would be deeply offended as well.
Tell this person he will not get any support from vegetarians who count
themselves among the technically well-informed and psychologically
well-balanced....
And here are comments from
Dr. Wayne Parrott:
It never stops, does it? Anyway, as a soybean geneticist myself,
I can vouch that nutrients have not been bred out or engineered out
of soybeans.
There was a report which came out recently in the Journal of Medicinal
Food which claimed that roundup ready soybean had lower levels of
isoflavones, a report which the American Soybean Association promptly
rebutted. The rebuttal may be found at:
http://199.217.150.25/asa/documents/isobkgndr.htm ...
Dr. Wayne Parrott