By Barbara H. Peterson
As I think about the “food safety” bills HR 875, HR 814, and HR 759, I take a stroll through the web to see what I can find. Lo and behold, I find some very interesting information.
I have been thinking about the connection between the genetic modification of animals and these bills. I wondered just how the agribusiness giants would keep track of their GM animals once they enter the mainstream food supply market. It’s one thing to go to a farmer’s canola field and take samples back to the lab for testing to see if they contain the patented GM gene, but a whole cow? Not likely.
The following was published on January 15, 2009 at CNN:
The Food and Drug Administration announced formal guidelines Thursday that will regulate the production of genetically engineered (GE) animals.
“Genetic engineering is a cutting edge technology that holds substantial promise for improving the health and well being of people as well as animals,” Randall Lutter, deputy commissioner for policy at the FDA, said in a statement.
“In this document, the agency has articulated a scientifically robust interpretation of statutory requirements. This guidance will help the FDA efficiently review applications for products from GE animals to ensure their safety and efficacy.”
The FDA emphasized GE animals are not cloned, but instead have new characteristics or traits introduced into the organism through their DNA.
The new guidelines would require all GE animals to go through rigorous scientific testing before being sold on the market, according to Dr. Bernadette Dunham, director for the FDA‘s Center for Veterinary Medicine.
“We want the public to understand that food from GE animals will not enter the food supply unless FDA has determined that it is safe,” she said.
So, the FDA approves GM animals for the food supply, and just like the canola, the products from them such as meat, milk, etc., do not have to be labeled.
Consumers will more than likely not see any changes in labeling of these animal products. Unless the physical makeup of the animal is altered, companies and producers will not be required to let consumers know their meat products come from a genetically engineered animal. (CNN)
Okay, but what do the tracking bills have to do with it?
The breeding industry is mostly concerned with tracking animals descended from clones,” he says. Clones are genetic copies of other animals, but don’t necessarily have foreign DNA inserted. But most GM mammals, Hanson points out, are clones. “Once you get it right,” he says, “you clone it.” (AlterNet)
Genetically modified meat is on its way, and the FDA has already approved clones, but there is a moratorium on them due to “marketing reasons.”
The following information was obtained from World Science in an article dated January 16, 2008:
Meat and milk from clo ned animals are as safe as that from their counterparts bred the old-fashioned way, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday – but sales still won’t begin right away.
The decision removes the last big U.S. regu latory hurdle to marketing products from cloned livestock, and puts the FDA in concert with recent safety assessments from European food regulators and several other nations.
“Meat and milk from cattle, swi ne and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day,” said Stephen Sundloff, FDA’s food safety chief.
But the government has asked animal cloning com panies to continue a voluntary moratorium on sales for a little longer – not for safety reasons, but marketing ones.
USDA Undersecretary Bruce Kni ght called it a transition period for “allowing the marketplace to adjust.” He wouldn’t say how long the moratorium should continue…
…FDA won’t require food makers to label if their products came from cloned animals, although companies could do so voluntarily if they knew the source. Last month, meat and dairy producers announced an industry system to track cloned livestock, with an electronic identification tag on each animal sold. Customers would sign a pledge to market the animal as a clone.
So, we have GM cloned animals set to go to market, no labeling required, and bills set to implement a tracking system for all livestock.
Tracking problem solved for the GM giants. You don’t have to go to a field and drag a cow back to the lab, or bring your equipment to the cow. If these bills pass, the animals will already be in a database, courtesy of Congress.
And just what does this mean to the small rancher?
(1988) The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in a new policy that could substantially change how lifestock and poultry are sold, has determined that companies holding patents on new animal forms have the authority to require farmers to pay royalties.
The royalties would be paid on the sales of patented animals and on generations of their offspring, meaning that farmers would have to pay patent holders a fee for adult animals and for generations of calves, colts, lambs, chicks, and piglets produced through the 17-year life of the patent. (New York Times)
Now let’s connect the dots. We have patents on GM animals, and most GM animals are clones. The FDA has approved both for our food supply, with no labeling required. We have, poised to be set in motion, a tracking system for all animals. Farmers have to pay royalties “on the sales of patented animals and on generations of their offspring, meaning that farmers would have to pay patent holders a fee for adult animals and for generations of calves, colts, lambs, chicks, and piglets produced through the 17-year life of the patent.”
Isn’t this beginning to sound familiar? Does Percy Schmeiser ring a bell? Here is a possible scenario:
A GM bull gets out of a factory farm down the road and mates with a regular cow on a neighbor’s ranch. Since the neighbor is required to report and trace every animal’s movements, he must account for the new calf or face penalties. The factory farm has reported that the bull has gotten out, and was recovered at the neighbor’s ranch. The neighbor does not have a bull, so it is logical to assume that this new calf is a product of the GM bull and his cow. If testing shows that the calf is GM, just like Percy Schmeiser, the neighbor is now responsible for a patent holder’s fee for that animal and any offspring it may have.
© Barbara H. Peterson
April 8, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Hmmm. Since when is the FDA concerned about the safety of the nations food supply when they wittingly and knowingly approve drugs with dangerous (and in some cases deadly) side effects. My opinion is that they are and have been for decades, in bed with big agribiz and Monsanto. Its just one big happy family bent on the ultimate control of our food supply and power over the masses. “Control a nations food supply and you control the people”.
April 8, 2009 at 7:29 pm
My thoughts exactly, Robert. I believe that they are poised to take over every aspect of our food supply with the introduction of these bills, and the approval of GM and cloned animals for the food market. Designer food. I believe that the only chance we have is to get busy growing as much of our own food as possible in order to stay as healthy as possible to be able to fight this takeover. Sick people cannot fight. Healthy people can.
April 9, 2009 at 2:34 am
Dear Barbara Peterson;
I am a grass roots farmer from southwest Kansas and I have seen first hand the truth behind your words! Your site has given me hope that not everyone has been distracted or lulled into a deep sleep!
Good sounding words are a perfect cover to hide deceptive practices behind!
For sometime, I have signed my name on international discussion groups as: Jerold Hubbard, Top Soil Miner…Alias Grass Roots Farmer! The word farmer brings feelings of stewardship! Some native American growing food Sustainably for people’s consumption in the USA!
This could NOT be further from the truth! 90% of farming practices today….ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE……AND THEY ARE CERTAINLY NOT…NATURAL!!!!
The Land Institute, in Salina, Kansas is the only place I know of that has been trying to return farming practices into a more natural, sustainable practice…BUT…it is NOT easy!
They emphasis PERENNIALIZATION and NATURAL FARMING PRACTICES!
Because of the ANNUAL grass programs I have been engaged in for over 40 years, (Annual grasses would be like corn, milo, wheat, oats, and I do grow annual flowers, sunflowers)…I have not only been a TOP SOIL MINER……I HAVE ALSO BEEN…..A CREATOR OF AN INFRASTRUCTURE or ENVIRONMENT..that selects for…..or supports PESTS…….ALL TYPES OF PESTS!
These pest include such things as, antibiotic resistant bacteria, pest fungi, pest weeds, pest insects, pest animals such as birds and etc. and last but certainly NOT least……..PEST CORPORATIONS….. that will eventually act to control all the food, money, health and mental state, of those who consume their product and live on THEIR PLANET!
Thanks for your time;
Jerold Hubbard, TOP SOIL MINER, PEST CREATOR, FRESH WATER ELIMINATOR….ALIAS….GRASS ROOTS FARMER!