The Truth About Genetically Modified Foods
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...
Quotes from this video
“In the 20th century the face of farming underwent a radical change. The manufacturer of nitrogen based bombs during World War I led to the development of nitrogen based fertilizers. Nerve gas developed during World War II was slightly modified to make insecticides.”
“to me one of the most incomprehensible things about U.S. policy is that we do not even require the labeling of genetically enhanced foods. But, I think there’s a very good reason why the corporations have fought so hard against this labeling. It isn’t just about consumer choice. Without labeling there’s no real traceability for the health effects of genetically engineered foods. If, you’re a mother, and you’re feeding your baby infant formula and it’s not labeled as genetically engineered soy, for example, and your child has a toxic or allergic reaction, there’s no way you’re going to know that was caused by genetic engineering because it’s not on the label. If however it is on the label and you can say ‘you know what?’ maybe that contributed to this response of my child. You go to your doctor, the doctor records it and there’s traceability and we begin to get a database on the health effects. And of course once that database is created then we have liability to the corporations”
“Phil Angell, the director of corporate communications Monsanto said to the New York Times in 1998 “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”
“In the U.S alone genetically modified canola, corn, cotton, and soybeans, which were non existent in the 1980s, were grown on 3.7 million acres in 1996. That jumped to 100,000,000 acres in 2003.”
“They allowed the patenting of one of the genes responsible for breast cancer. And many researchers who had been working on a cure for breast cancer were no longer allowed to use that gene in their research because another company had patented it and charged them very very high fees. Some of the major pharmaceutical companies have gone into university laboratories and sued those laboratories and sued researchers who were using the genes that they own. This is probably the largest private takings of what should be the commons that we all own in common that you could possibly imagine and I think one of the most disturbing economic trends of our times.”
October 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Hi! I’m an English teacher from Portugal and one of the subjects we teach students is exactly GMOs. I find it difficult to get interesting information to give them, and to get their attention, at the same time, for this subject. I wonder if someone could send me dvds on the theme or documentaries, i.e., interesting teaching material for the matter. Thanks.