(NaturalNews) It's that time of year again, when the FDA gathers its experts to decide what new horror to unleash into the food supply. This year it's
genetically modified salmon, a "frankenfish" pumped up with extra growth hormone genes that make it rapidly grow into a kind of super-Schwarzenegger creature that's triple the size of a regular salmon.
And you're supposed to eat this, by the way. In fact, the FDA will almost certainly allow this to be sold
without any warning labels, so now when you buy salmon at the store, you'll have no way to tell whether it's normal salmon or frankenfish GM salmon.
See my related cartoon about GM frankfish at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/029769_GM_salmon_frankenfish.htmlOr see the entire archives of CounterThink cartoons at
www.CounterThink.comFood engineering gone bad
GM salmon is just the latest form of food engineering to receive the FDA's endorsement. Well, technically the FDA hasn't officially decided to approve it yet, but FDA officials have already announced -- ahead of the public meeting -- that they believe GM salmon is safe. It's a good bet they intend to allow it to enter the food supply.
Genetically modified salmon is "is as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon," according to an FDA statement on its website. "There is a reasonable certainty of no harm from consumption of food from this animal."
But even if that's true, that's not the only worry here: The other major concern is about the
environmental impact of GM
salmon escaping to the wild (or their eggs escaping) and genetically polluting the world's salmon stocks. Now, sure, the company creating these frankenfish promises that will never happen. They insist on it. But gee, have you ever heard of industrial accidents? That's where things go wrong that everybody promised would never go wrong. Bhopal, India comes to mind. Or Chernobyl.
There are seemingly countless cases where companies that promised nothing would go wrong end up apologizing when things went terribly wrong. How can we be sure
GM salmon won't one day turn into another large-scale disaster?
One way would be to conduct
safety testing before pursuing full-scale production. But that isn't being done. To my knowledge, there are no rigorous environmental or human health safety tests being conducted on GM salmon whatsoever.
So, in effect,
we are the experiment. The FDA, if it approves GM salmon, will be launching a brand new game called "let's play genetic roulette with the whole world and see what happens."
It's a stupid way to proceed with something as potentially dangerous as
genetic pollution because if it escapes into the wild, it is irreversible. You can't take it back.
Tell the FDA what you think
The FDA's three-day panel starts this weekend! Sign up to attend the meeting and express your thoughts on the matter at the following link:
http://www.fedmeetings.net/common/registration.cfm?mid=3210You can also write the FDA at:
Division of Dockets Management
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20852
Be sure to reference Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0385.
In the mean time, if you see a giant piece of salmon flesh in the grocery store that looks more like a side of beef from a 1,000 pound cow, you may want to avoid it.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body.
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Friday, September 17, 2010
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