Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

[adam antichrist]

Oh..I didnt knew that. What about a cross between plant species? If i m not wrong, the wheat we r eating used to be of 2 species, but they were crossed to enhance production or smth like that..

Thats cross pollenation and can (and does) occur in nature, often resulting in new species. Genetic modification is where scientists alter the DNA in bacteria or plant cells which affect the development of the crop.

The processes involved were only discovered in the late 70's and scientists are renown for not sufficiently testing things which appear harmless before inflicting them on the general public, sometimes with disasterous results (eg cigarettes, radioactive fallout, thalydamide and countless other drugs).

The main fear is they may be harmful when consumed or inflict eventual environmental damage, but there are many varying areas of concern. My main issue is that I don't trust large corporations, and they are the ones behind GM crops.

[eve]

Rujoon, you say: "As for those which are just introduce with eg. a vitamin precursor-producing gene, maybe it isnt gonna really that dangerous.."

Are you willing to take a chance on that? I'm not, when thinking of my grandchildren - who knows the effects in 20 years' time?

[rujoon]

Maybe:) , but if possible I will have to find out more about the experiment, like..say, where the gene is derived from and such. In my place, there are many plants which hav been GMed, so I m already a guinea pig:p

Just like the drugs, which are tested on animals b4 being tested on humans. There have gotta be someone to voulnteer to test.. but of cuz in this case, I m not so bold and selfless to try:p

[eve]

me neither!

[eve]

What about this item of news from the UK Independent:
The European Commission has agreed to spend €13m (£9.3m) on creating a library of frozen mouse mutants which should be available to researchers around the world by 2009.

[rujoon]

If the GM food is made so with genes from the mice then no. But in this case, I suppose the mutated mice is more for testings and experiments rather than making GM food..?

[eve]

The whole idea is to experiment with the non-human mutants before trying out on humans. To me it is still animal testing.

[eve]

In the US, a California biotech company proposing to grow GM rice on a 200-acre plot in Missouri was sent packing. The rice had been modified to produce two synthetic human proteins for pharmaceuticals. Anheuser-Busch, worried about contamination of conventional rice, threatened to boycott all Missouri-grown rice used in its brewing activities if the project was approved.

In the quest to ease global malnutrition, too much emphasis is being placed on GE without a sufficient look at the risks and alternatives, says Doreen Stabinsky, a geneticist by training who serves as a science adviser to Greenpeace.

They have unraveled the complete genetic blueprint for rice - the staple for more than half of the world's population. But the development is said to be running out of gas. The problem is, it's not clear the world is ready for another food revolution if it involves splicing foreign genes into crops. "The initial expectation that this technology would be rapidly adopted turned out to be a bit optimistic," says Michael Rodemeyer, executive director of the Pew Initiative on Food & Biotechnology. "We're in a stall in the development of new GM foods."

Several charitable foundations and international research institutes are working to enhance the level of "micro- nutrients" - trace minerals such as zinc and iron - as well as vitamin A in rice. The enhanced rice could help in the fight against malnutrition [not again!]. Yet golden rice so far has languished, partly because of environmental concerns.

[eve]

This url is chocabloc with useful data on Monsanto: http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html#organiccompanies

[Jon Cousins]

Am I the only person in the world who is upset by the Vegan Society's GMO policy?

"In keeping with its vegan ethic, the Vegan Society is totally against the use of animal genes or animal substances in the development and production of GMOs.
The Vegan Society believes that all foods that contain, may contain, or have involved GMOs should be clearly labelled.
In addition any product must also meet the Society's Criteria for Vegan Food . Products carrying the Society's trademark can contain GMOs, but must be clearly labelled and comply with the definition above."

It is the last bit that gets me! It does not seem right that the Society should endorse GM products, whatever the origin.

I would like to ask them to change it to:
"Genetically Modified products or products containing Genetically Modified ingredients are not acceptable to the Vegan Society because the Society believes it is impossible to guarantee that such products are completely in accordance with the Society's vegan principles."
(ref Vegetarian Society's Policy)

What do you think?

[Michael Benis]

I can see that they may have wanted to achieve the broadest possible product spread, but frankly I agree with you. It's a bit like the contact lens business - no animal ingredients but certainly animal exploitation and suffering during their development.

Cheers

Michael

[DianeVegan]

I agree. It seems a bit hypocritical.

[Roxy]

Yes I'm with you guys. It doesn't seem right. I'd be interested to know what the reasoning behind this is.

[scorpy]

Just curious: Why isn't GM vegan not vegan?

[DianeVegan]

Some GM products (note that they are products, not natural food, IMO) have the genes of animals inserted in them.

[scorpy]

Some GM products (note that they are products, not natural food, IMO) have the genes of animals inserted in them.
Interesting. I wonder how that makes it vegan? Maybe the money it fetches does the trick? ;)

[Spiral]

I'm not happy about the vegan society stance on GMOs. Hopefully this issue will be brought up at the forthcoming AGM. Considering they're supposed to be concerned about the environment and people as well as animals they should be condemning GMOs and their use outright.

[eve]

Although I am utterly against GM products, but perhaps the VS is thinking of instances where instead of animal genes being inserted, bacteria are inserted.

[Jon Cousins]

I think this is the crux of the matter:



Are GMOs that do not contain animal genes something Vegan's should be against?



I say YES, but that is my point of view. I can give some reasons why I hold it:



The people who create non-animal GMOs - either by removing genes from existing plants, or by inserting bacteria genes into plants, or just by mixing plants up a bit - are also the people who use animal and plant genes to create trans-genetic GMOs. To me it would be a bit like supporting Hitler because I liked his nice paintings, whilst telling him he was a naughty boy for his other evils!!! No one would take me seriously. I would be a shallow hypocrite.



GMOs have not been given a safe for consumption green light. No one can honestly say they know what the long-term effects of consuming such organisms are. But animals are regularly fed GMOs in Europe. I think this is an animal rights issue. To my mind this is large scale animal testing of a product - regardless of where the genes in the GMO come from. In my book, that is exploiting animals. Animal rights are surely something the Vegan Society supports?



GMOs have the potential to corrupt the natural ecosystem by contamination through cross pollination. Not good for the environment when you consider things like Monsanto's 'terminator' gene. The environment is something the Vegan Society claims to be concerned with, doesn't it?



GMOs are produced by Bio-tech businesses so they can copyright the organism through patent law and prevent its use by people who have not paid the required fee. Already Bio-tech businesses have been involved in lawsuits with farmers for saving seeds, and are 'exploiting' small scale farmers in developing countries.



The Vegan Society professes to be concerned with "Sound Nutrition.” If the society supports GM products what does that statement mean?





This is to do with the food available to Vegans, how it is produced and tested, and the impact it has on health and the environment.


Many other ethically based groups with compassion as their underlying principal are against GMOs full stop. These include the Vegetarian Society, so it appears to be a Vegetarian issue...



Here is some food for thought:

The European Commission has this week authorized the import and processing of a variety of GM oilseed rape for use in animal feed. The ten year license for the Monsanto-produced GT73 covers the specific use for imports, processing in animal feed and 'industrial purposes'.
GT73 has been widely used across North America for some time, allegedly causing no ill effects. The Commission claims that GT73 has undergone 'a rigorous pre-market risk assessment' from the European Food Safety Authority, which classed the variety as 'safe as any other conventional oilseed rape.


end of rant:)

[DianeVegan]

I agree totally.

And when we look at the "causing no ill effects" claim of certain GMO's, I wonder what constitutes an ill effect? How about the fact that the use of Monsanto's Roundup pesticide has INCREASED since these pesticide resistant GMO's have been cultivated. And nature always adapts in the end - we now have weeds which are resistant to Roundup. So....... time for the corporations to come up with new pesticides and new GMO's! Didn't we learn anything with the overuse of antibiotics?

[Michael Benis]

Here is some food for thought:

The European Commission has this week authorized the import and processing of a variety of GM oilseed rape for use in animal feed. The ten year license for the Monsanto-produced GT73 covers the specific use for imports, processing in animal feed and 'industrial purposes'.
GT73 has been widely used across North America for some time, allegedly causing no ill effects. The Commission claims that GT73 has undergone 'a rigorous pre-market risk assessment' from the European Food Safety Authority, which classed the variety as 'safe as any other conventional oilseed rape.

Anyone know of any ways to protest against this decision (apart from the obvious letter to MP/MEP)? Any groups taking this up or any petitions?

Cheers

Michael

[Jon Cousins]

Anyone know of any ways to protest against this decision (apart from the obvious letter to MP/MEP)? Any groups taking this up or any petitions?

Cheers

Michael

We could ask the Vegan Society!:p

Perhaps it is possible to poll the Vegan Forum, to see how many Vegans here are in favour of the UK Vegan Society endorsing GM products of non-animal origin?

what do you think?

[Michael Benis]

We could ask the Vegan Society!:p

Perhaps it is possible to poll the Vegan Forum, to see how many Vegans here are in favour of the UK Vegan Society endorsing GM products of non-animal origin?

what do you think?

Why not?

I'll try and set one up now.

Cheers

Mike

PS: Well that was a disaster: I went into the Polls section, but couldn't figure out how to do it! Duh....

[scorpy]

[color=black]Here is some food for thought:

The European Commission has this week authorized the import and processing of a variety of GM oilseed rape for use in animal feed. The ten year license for the Monsanto-produced GT73 covers the specific use for imports, processing in animal feed and 'industrial purposes'.
GT73 has been widely used across North America for some time, allegedly causing no ill effects. The Commission claims that GT73 has undergone 'a rigorous pre-market risk assessment' from the European Food Safety Authority, which classed the variety as 'safe as any other conventional oilseed rape.

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end of rant:)
I have yet to hear anything close to nice about Monsanto. And yes, they are thoroughly exploiting farmers in developing countries. I have started writing to people there to avoid/stop using their crap. I need to speed up the process. Thanks for the reminder :)

[Jon Cousins]

I haven't been able to work out how to set up a poll either

The question I would like to ask other Vegans in a poll:

"Is the use of non-animal gene GMOs as a compulsory food source for living, feeling beings a vegan issue?"

Answers 'No' or 'Yes'

If it is a Vegan issue, then the Vegan Society's GM Policy is way out of touch.

Suggestions anyone?

Jon