{"id":4577,"date":"2012-02-20T11:48:14","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T17:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=4577"},"modified":"2012-02-20T12:05:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T18:05:15","slug":"frankenfoods-you-are-the-test-subject","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/uncategorized\/frankenfoods-you-are-the-test-subject\/","title":{"rendered":"Frankenfoods: You are the test subject"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let nature take its . . . nahh! | Wheat Belly<\/a> <\/p>\n

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Posted on February 15, 2012<\/a> by Dr. Davis<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Peter Shewry of the University of Bristol in the U.K. is one of the world\u2019s most eminent agricultural scientists, an expert in wheat. <\/p>\n

I came across this particularly telling comment from a review<\/a> on genetic modification he coauthored with colleague, Nigel Halford:<\/p>\n

Conventional breeding is limited by fertility barriers that allow only plants of the same, or closely related, species to be crossed. However, \u2018wide crossing\u2019 with more distantly related species can be achieved if \u2018embryo rescue\u2019 is used to culture and regenerate embryos that would normally abort<\/strong>. Similarly, mutagenesis with chemical or physical mutagens can be used to induce new variation in the species of interest. Both wide crossing and mutation breeding can result in the expression in crop plants of many novel or modified genes, the effects of which cannot be assessed readily.<\/font> However, both approaches are considered to be \u2018conventional\u2019, with no requirement for detailed assessment of the plants produced before they are introduced into the food chain.<\/strong>
<\/em>[Dr Davis\u2019 emphasis; mjh\u2019s highlighting]<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s not just simply crossing plant A with plant B. It\u2019s about rescuing mutated embryos that otherwise would not survive.<\/font> It\u2019s about inducing mutations in the genetic code that are impossible to control: Maybe it yields the trait you desire, such as short stature or photoperiod insensitivity, but it may yield multiple other effects, too, including unique proteins never before seen in nature<\/font>. <\/p>\n

And, as Drs. Halford and Shewry point out, these foods can be introduced into the food supply at your local supermarket \u201cwith no requirement for detailed assessment of the plants.\u201d<\/font> Nope: They\u2019re just sold to you. <\/p>\n

Repeat these sorts of efforts hundreds or thousands of times to generate the super-duper high-yield semi-dwarf strain of wheat and you\u2019ve got oodles of opportunity to generate unanticipated effects on consuming humans<\/font>. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let nature take its . . . nahh! | Wheat Belly<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let nature take its . . . nahh! | Wheat Belly Posted on February 15, 2012 by Dr. Davis Dr. Peter Shewry of the University of Bristol in the U.K. is one of the world\u2019s most eminent agricultural scientists, an expert in wheat. I came across this particularly telling comment from a review on genetic … Continue reading Frankenfoods: You are the test subject<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4579,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions\/4579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}