Archive for July, 2009

28th Jul 2009

Monsanto is Developing Genetically Modified Wheat

“Development of GM Wheat Varieties to Resume”
ABC Rural, July 2009; https://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200907/s2627484.htm

US agribusiness company Monsanto says it will renew efforts to develop genetically-modified wheat, though it may take a decade.

It follows a deal between Australian, US and Canadian wheat groups, to simultaneously introduce GM varieties when they’re viable.

Monsanto will develop wheat that can tolerate drought and use less fertiliser, but GM wheat must also tolerate consumer resistance, which the company faced when it suspended work on new varieties several years ago.

Spokesman Lee Quarles says there’s time to work on that: “We do not anticipate that a biotech product’s going to emerge from our pipeline for at least, eight to 10 years.”

Quarles says Monsanto will work with wheat producers to successfully introduce GM wheat varieties, and with importing countries to win regulatory approvals.

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Eight to ten years to voice your disapproval……..

Keep in mind that organic certification prohibits genetically modified (GM) ingredients in your and your pet’s food. BUT, even this can’t guarantee that the environment isn’t impacted negatively or that the non-genetically engineered wheat isn’t accidentally or maybe intentionally compromised (i.e., cross-pollinated) by GM crops. Rumors and facts abound.

Crops that are drought-resistant and use less fertilizer sound good, but unfortunately, as another blog entry on this site indicates, independent research for these agrictech companies’ claims isn’t (i.e., can’t be) available.

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28th Jul 2009

Are All Human-grade Pet Foods Healthy?

The advantage of human-grade pet foods is that human-grade ingredients are usually of higher quality than their feed-grade counterparts, and that some really inferior ingredients such as waste products collected during the production of human foods (e.g., middlings=floorsweeping, peanut hulls) are not included.

But are all human-grade pet foods automatically healthy simply because they only contain human-grade ingredients?

The simple answer to this question is

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24th Jul 2009

Studies on Genetically Engineered Foods

As you know, only organic certification guarantees that a pet food is free of genetically engineered (GE) (or ‘modified’) ingredients.

Scientific America’s latest issue just published an interesting article about independent studies on the safety and properties of GE crops.

Proponents of genetically engineered foods state that genetic modification of GE food crops 1. yields higher harvests which are required to feed more people (and livestock), 2. reduce pesticide use and tilling that erodes land, 3. will be superior to survive heat waves and droughts, and 4. are as safe as non-genetically engineered foods.

The problem is that none of these statements can be verified by an unbiased party.

If independent researchers want to work with GE seeds, for example to test for safety, growth requirements or resilience of crops, they need to sign a legally binding agreement “for proprietary reasons” that assures that no research results are published without the agritech company’s approval.

This means of course that any published research about these crops has been filtered by the companies which developed and sell these crops.

This may explain why there is so little negative data about these GE foods available to the public. Not good.

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20th Jul 2009

Holistic Pet Foods - Revisited

You are trying to keep your pet healthy by providing her with the best food you can find. On your search you certainly have come across so-called

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