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NDP MLA plants petition against GMO apples in B.C. legislature
Biotech firm Okanagan Specialty Fruits claims its Arctic apple is "no frankenfood" but just a "modern marriage of nature and science". But that doesn't really reassure anyone worried about the impact of genetically modified foods on human health, the environment, and agriculture.
B.C. NDP MLA Lana Popham has brought these concerns forward in Victoria. On Tuesday (March 12), the Saanich South representative tabled a petition in the legislature. "Mr. Speaker, 5,536 people have signed their names, respectfully requesting that this House take urgent action to halt the commercial introduction of the genetically modified apple tree in British Columbia," Popham said.
What is the Arctic apple? (Oops, we forgot the ® after Arctic.) According to OSF's Arctic website, it's an apple than cannot go brown. The company states:
The science is relatively simple; we "turn off" the genes that makes apples brown, so the enzyme that usually triggers enzymatic browning is no longer present in the apple. We insert nonbrowning apple genes to replace the genes that usually trigger enzymatic browning.
OSF's applications to plant Arctic apples in North America are under review by the Canadian and U.S. governments. While OSF maintains its apples would be "voluntarily labeled", its site shows those labels won't say anything about genetic modification. Indeed, the company's blog claims that "efforts to enforce mandatory labeling for all biotech foods is a transparent attempt to utilize scare tactics to make consumers avoid them".
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When it comes to the unknown, cascading effects of gene expression, nothing is simple nor singularly linked; only scientific idiots, stained with hubris, make such claims. Unleashing GMOs into the environment is the height of stupidity; our knowledge of how genes work is elementary at best: not long ago scientists claimed that most of our DNA was "junk" and had no purpose. Now scientists have discovered that so-called "junk DNA" plays a role in orchestrating the symphony of cell and organ behavior. Nature doesn't make geonome junk -- only Monsanto and their ilk do that.
Linda
You do realize these apples have fewer "chemicals" then the non-GM isogenic lines ? Four phenyloxidase genes were shut down, that the only difference.
My question is: Does this apple have this? Does it have any other surprises? Our current 90 day studies in Canada are woefully inadequate to meet modern food biotechnology. There is much to be gained and not a whole lot to lose investing in a two or three year health and environmental impact study for this product. If its proven safe people will buy and eat with confidence. Without it, it will always be shrouded in controversy. The public is angry and fed up being biotech's massive laboratory, especially when there is much evidence to support the reality these foods are not safe for long term consumption.
* http://independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/gmo-regulators-hidden-vir...
If the people speak loudly that they don't want something, the government who work FOR the people should not go against them in favour of a corporate entity. We have seen the deliberate refusal to look at independent science by Health Canada on the matter of GMO's, they would rather just follow the US' lead. It goes like this:
Biotech industry: we used these Sprawley rats and fed them a GMO diet and vs. a control group after 90 days there were no ill effects.
Independent study: we used these Sprawley rats and fed them a GMO diet and vs. a control group after 2 years the GMO diet rats had a large increase in tumours.
Biotech industry: HEY, NO FAIR, you can't use Sprawley rats! That's bad science!!
Here's a list of independent scientists and researchers who have signed on in support of Seralini and to speak out against the way the industry treats independent science when it's not favourable - http://independentsciencenews.org/health/seralini-and-science-nk603-rat-...
BadKaren: You want to add a "chemical" to keep the apples from going brown. Hmmm
Herb:Ask someone who cooks if they would like to have apples that do not turn brown ten minutes after they are sliced. you do realize the oxidation of the apple(browning reduces the nutrients?
Anna
A report out of Europe said: "The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than e.g. conventional plant breeding technologies." and
"Now, after 25 years of field trials without evidence of harm, fears continue to trigger the Precautionary Principle. But Europeans need to abandon this knowingly one-sided stance and strike a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of the technology on the basis of scientifically sound risk assessment analysis."
from "A Decade of EU-Funded GMO research 2001-2011"
1. A regulatory gene switch from a plant virus (Cauliflower Mosaic virus promoter: CaMV 35S);
2. A terminator sequence from a bacterium (Agrobacterium tumefaciens taken from its Nopaline synthase gene: nos);
3. An antibiotic resistance marker gene from a bacterium (Streptomyces kanamyceticus), here the nptII gene (which confers resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin).
Consumers do not want this apple. We want apples without these added genes and in any case, we want the information that browning gives us: if an apple has been damaged, we don't want that fact covered up.
Growers do not want this apple; bee pollination will result in uncontrolled spread and their markets will be threatened.
Leaves you wondering who DOES want it.
Not me, that's for sure!
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