Getting to know more about GMOs

Just recently, you heard us screaming, "Help! There’s GMO in our food!" Last week, we found this in our pigeonhole – and it whetted our appetite to learn more about GMOs:

Dear Consumerline,

Peace! Just recently, I read the item on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Greenpeace shares your concern for the right of consumers to information. We agree with you that we should have mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food especially because they are already found in many food items sold locally and there are no studies yet that look into food safety or ecological impacts. Our position is based on the precautionary principle enshrined in the Rio Declaration in 1992, the Philippine Agenda 21, the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol and other international environmental treaties following Rio. Hence, we are campaigning that GMOs not be released into the environment and the food chain.

Feel free to contact us at 921-8930/929-0376 or visit our website at www.greenpeace.org.

– BEAU BACONGUIS
Genetic engineering campaigner
Greenpeace Southeast Asia

GMOs could be the X ingredient in our food because they’re being mixed into what we eat every single day without our knowing it. (A Pulse Asia survey done in March 2001 showed that only 11 percent of Filipinos are aware of GMOs.) Via genetic engineering, new lifeforms are being created by taking genes from one species and inserting them into an unrelated species to produce a desired trait. Samples of GMOs are a potato with a chicken gene to increase its resistance to disease, fish with a strawberry gene to increase its resistance to frost, and tomato with a human gene to increase its resistance to heavy metals.

GMOs could reach our dining table via soya, corn, canola and processed foods that include cereals, snacks, milk, baby food, hotdogs, etc.

What risks do GMOs pose to the environment?

GMOs are living organisms; their release into the environment is irreversible. They can form "superweeds" which could destroy natural plant ecosystems. They produce pollen and seed that can contaminate other crops and soil. They can be harmful to beneficial insects and other organisms, as some studies have shown.

What are the risks to farmers?

Many GM crops bind farmers to using the pesticides of a particular company. GM seeds are patented; thus, farmers have to buy the seeds every planting season. GMOs can contaminate other crops, likely causing them to be unmarketable since markets to GM crops are closing down worldwide.

And what about consumers?

Genetically engineered (GE) foods have not been proven safe. Their consumption may cause health risks such as allergies, resistance to antibiotics and production of toxins.

So what do we do?

Greenpeace dishes out these tips:

• As much as possible, choose fresh fruits and vegetables over processed foods.

• Choose organic food items whenever possible or available.

• Support produce from local organic farmers.

• Demand from government that it seriously consider and develop a program for organic farming initiatives.

• Campaign for a ban on field trials and commercialization of genetically modified crops.

* * * Alzheimer’s and aluminum

ormer US President Ronald Reagan has had it for a long time now. A lot of old people around the world have it. We’re referring to Alzheimer’s disease, a common form of dementia characterized by progressive memory loss and mental deterioration associated with brain damage. The disease was named after German neurologist A. Alzheimer (1864-1915). Its cause yet unknown, it afflicts people past the middle age. It seems it just comes like a thief in the night, robbing the victim of all those wonderful memories he/she must have hoarded over the years. It can be most devastating to the people around the victim, especially his/her family. If it’s any consolation, experts believe that the diseases or disorders affecting the brain and the nervous system can be prevented, delayed or controlled with the right nutrition as well as nutritional supplements, according to Louise Tenney in her book Nutritional Guide (available at Goodwill Bookstore) where the author lists which healing foods/herbs/vitamins to take for different kinds of diseases/disorders from AIDs to ulcers.

And here are Tenney’s prescriptions for Alzheimer’s (which partly answers the oft-asked question about the link between the disease and aluminum):

• Avoid all products containing aluminum such as most baking powders; cheese sauces; pickles; many salad dressings; table salt; white flour; fruit juices stored in aluminum cans.

• Avoid medications like aspirin, antidiarrheals and antacids.

• Avoid antiperspirants, douches and feminine hygiene products.

• Avoid lipstick.

• Avoid all foods that lower the immune system such as sugar, white flour products, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, additives and preservatives.

• Avoid all processed foods as they deprive the body of the essential nutrients needed for a healthy brain and immune system.

• Avoid red meat because its by-product is uric acid and it is very hard to digest.

Now, that’s quite a mouthful!