Amid Monsanto’s antitrust troubles, another study questions the health effects of GMOs
by Tom Philpott
16 Dec 2009
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW
Better living through biotechnology? Pity executives at genetically modified seed giant Monsanto. Not only are they having to knock heads with Department of Justice lawyers over the company’s business practices, but some of their most-cherished PR talking points are being obliterated by researchers.
In the past few months, we’ve learned that its much-vaunted technologies don’t really increase yields after all; and aren’t really all that promising for adapting to climate change.
We’re also getting a trickle of information that calls into serious question the PR talking point on which the entire GMO seed industry hangs: that GMO products are safe to eat. This is a widely held assumption; but as Don Lotter showed in a recent paper in the International Journal of the Sociology of Food and Agriculture, there has actually been shockingly little research done on the long-term effects of eating GMO foods—and most of what has been was conducted by the industry itself.
The problem is that government funding for independent research on GMOs is scant—and industry funding is non-existent. And it’s extremely difficult for independent researchers to get their hands on GMO seeds without signing restrictive contracts with their patent holders, as the New York Times reported earlier this year.
The independent research that has been done on the health effects of GMOs paints an alarming picture. Here’s my discussion of the results of a multigenerational study, funded by the Austrian government, that came out last year on the effects of GMO corn on mice. Short story: in the third and fourth generations, mice fed GMOs showed “statistically significant” reproductive dysfunction.
PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-12-16-monsanto-GMO-safety-health/
Showing posts with label TECHNOLOGY: FOOD ENGINEERING. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TECHNOLOGY: FOOD ENGINEERING. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2009
Growing plants indoors no longer rooted in sci-fi
Growing plants indoors no longer rooted in sci-fi
With a growing global population, declining freshwater resources and an increasingly volatile climate, the world will rely on food technologies like this sooner than we realize
by Karen Pinchin
Globe and Mail Update
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 LINK TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW
When it comes to engineering the food of the future, there's a fine line between genius and insanity.
For instance, 50 years ago the prospect that the world's primary food supply would include leafy greens never touched by natural light – or beef grown on a countertop, for that matter – would have been the stuff of science fiction. But if the taste of a crisp spinach leaf that's spent its entire life without feeling a breeze says anything, it's that there's a chance food's high-tech future could be under a roof.
Dwarfed by two-stories of row upon row of brightly lit plants at TerraSphere Systems, LLC's Coquitlam, BC headquarters, the company's founder says he's confident indoor vertical farms will one day provide Canada, if not the world, with all its produce.
“This is growing vegetables at its finest,” says Nick Brusatore with the proud confidence of a successful inventor.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/growing-plants-indoors-no-longer-rooted-in-sci-fi/article1330448/
With a growing global population, declining freshwater resources and an increasingly volatile climate, the world will rely on food technologies like this sooner than we realize
by Karen Pinchin
Globe and Mail Update
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 LINK TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW
When it comes to engineering the food of the future, there's a fine line between genius and insanity.
For instance, 50 years ago the prospect that the world's primary food supply would include leafy greens never touched by natural light – or beef grown on a countertop, for that matter – would have been the stuff of science fiction. But if the taste of a crisp spinach leaf that's spent its entire life without feeling a breeze says anything, it's that there's a chance food's high-tech future could be under a roof.
Dwarfed by two-stories of row upon row of brightly lit plants at TerraSphere Systems, LLC's Coquitlam, BC headquarters, the company's founder says he's confident indoor vertical farms will one day provide Canada, if not the world, with all its produce.
“This is growing vegetables at its finest,” says Nick Brusatore with the proud confidence of a successful inventor.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/growing-plants-indoors-no-longer-rooted-in-sci-fi/article1330448/
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