GM salmon may go on sale in US after public consultation

• Chris McGreal in Washington
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 August 2010 21.24 BST
• Article history

A genetically-modified AquAdvantage salmon, top, next to a control salmon of the same age. Photograph: AP

US authorities today began the process to approve the first GM animal for human consumption.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a 60-day period of consultation and public meetings over whether to permit a GM strain of salmon to be eaten by humans, even though it has been called a “frankenfish” by critics. The approval process could take less than a year, and if it gets the green light the fish could be on the market in 18 months.

Environmentalists and scientists see the decision as marking a threshold. If it is approved it is likely to open the door to a large range of GM animals being raised for consumption. If not, scientists say that will have a negative effect on research, in part because there will be no money to be made from it.

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Organic Food: Eating with a Conscience to protect health and the environment

Organic Food
Eating with a Conscience
to protect health and the environment

Our food choices have a direct effect on the health of our environment and those who grow and harvest what we eat.  That’s why food labeled organic is the right choice. In addition to serious health questions linked to actual residues of toxic pesticides on the food we eat, our food buying decisions support or reject hazardous agricultural practices, protection of farmworkers and farm families, and stewardship of the earth.

The Organic Choice is Clear
It is important to eat organic food –nurtured in a system of food production, handling and certification that rejects hazardous synthetic chemicals. USDA organic certification is the only system of food labeling that is subject to independent public review and oversight, assuring consumers that toxic, synthetic pesticides used in conventional agriculture are replaced by management practices focused on soil biology, biodiversity, and plant health. This eliminates commonly used toxic chemicals in the production and processing of food that is not labeled organic–pesticides that contaminate our water and air, hurt biodiversity, harm farmworkers, and kill bees, birds, fish and other wildlife.

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Take a Look at the Transition Cities Movement

Public TV Host Tamara Banks takes a look at the Transition Cities movement that is working for a way of life that is environmentally friendly, supports the local economy and conserves natural resources.

See the video!

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Court Victory Blocks Genetically Engineered Sugar Beets

Court Blocks Future Crops of Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered “RoundUp Ready” Sugar Beets…

…Unless the USDA Completes an Environmental Impact Statement and Decides Again to Deregulate

The Center for Food Safety has won an important legal victory in the fight for appropriate controls on the introduction of new genetically engineered crops. After ruling that the USDA (under president George W. Bush) shouldn’t have approved genetically engineered sugar beets without assessing the Frankencrop’s potential to contaminate conventional and organic varieties, a federal judge has blocked future crops of Monsanto’s genetically engineered RoundUp Ready sugar beets.

The ball is in the USDA’s court. The pro-biotech sugar industry is urging the USDA to rush through an Environmental Impact Statement so they can plant a new crop of Mosanto’s Frankenbeets next year.

The only thing that can stop Monsanto’s Frankenbeets now is massive public outcry.

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Food First Fellow Raj Patel speaking on creating democracy in the food system

An interview with Raj Patel, author of ‘The Value of Nothing’ and ‘Stuffed and Starved’, about corporate dominance of global food production and battles to create democratic and sustainable food systems.

View the video.

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Via Campesina call to action: Stop terminator seed technology

(July 2010)
Four years after the moratorium on Terminator technology was reaffirmed by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), proposals to develop and commercialize ‘genetic-use restriction technologies’ (GURTs) are back on the agenda for policymakers and the biotechnology industry. Terminator is a threat to food sovereignty and agrobiodiversity: ending the moratorium on Terminator will increase control of seed by transnational corporations (TNCs) and restrictions on farmers’ rights to save and plant harvested seed. Additionally, pollen from genetically-modified (GM) crops with Terminator will contaminate non-GM and organic crops, and native plant species.

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Organic Food, Health and the Burden of Proof

By David Katz, M.D.

Dr. Katz is the Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center

Paradoxically, my long-standing interest in organic food has encompassed both ardent support and concerned opposition.

My support for organic food — and my own family’s frequent selection of it — has largely been based on potential benefits to the planet. These, I think are self evident, so I won’t elaborate them here. My concern has been based on the misinterpretations of what organic means.

Organic does not mean “nutritious.” Broccoli may be grown conventionally, but still has the nutritional profile of broccoli. Gummy bears — and sugar, for that matter — may be organic, which says something good about what they don’t contain (pesticide residues). However, it says nothing good about what they do contain, or add to your diet.

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