Sunday, November 27, 2011

Avoid genetically modified fruits and veggies, read the stickers

Those annoying hard to get off stickers on apples and peaches can be of use to you, so fight to keep the stickers on. Look at the number on a sticker - that number tells you how the fruit was grown:
A 4 digit number means it was conventionally grown (using chemicals).
A 5-digit number beginning with a 9 means it was grown organically.
A number beginning with an 8 means it was genetically modified
Do not ever buy or eat fruits or vegetables with a number on a sticker beginning with an 8, because:
  • No Long-Term Safety Testing is available on any genetically engineered foods. Without long-term testing no one knows if they are really safe.
  • Genetic engineering can cause unexpected mutations, which can create new or higher levels of toxins in foods.
  • Genetic engineering can also produce unforeseen and unknown allergens in foods. (For instance, some genetically engineered potatoes caused stomach problems in rats! Hello! Rats eat garbage, they have tough stomachs! Also, some genetically engeneered yeast was found to be possibly damaging to DNA molecules.)
  • Genetically engineered foods mislead consumers with fake good looks and size. A luscious-looking, bright red genetically engineered tomato could be several weeks old, taste like cardboard, and have no nutritional value.
  • Genetically engineered crops contain genes resistant to antibiotics. These genes may be picked up by bacteria which may infect us with some horrible disease that can't be treated by any medications available at the time.
  • With something brand new and without precedent, when a problem arises, it can't be traced to anything or dealt with effectively.
  • Scientists engineer fruits and vegetables to be more herbicide resistant, meaning that farmers, knowing that their crops can tolerate more herbicides, use them much more liberally.
  • A genetically engineered organism may compete successfully with wild relatives, causing unforeseen ecological changes (like rabbits did in Australia).
  • Once genetically engineered bacteria and viruses are released into the environment it is impossible to contain them. Negative effects are unforeseen, irreversible, and can be deadly.

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