A RACE LIKE NO OTHER - Liz Robbins

____________________________

GENETIC ROULETTE:
The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods
Jeffrey M.Smith

Scientists have since worked on some interesting combinations. Spider genes were inserted into goat DNA, in hopes that the goat milk would contain spider web protein for use in bullet-proof vests. Cow genes turned pig skin into cowhides. Jellyfish genes lit up pigs' noses in the dark. Arctic fish genes gave tomatoes and strawberries tolerance to frost. Potatoes glowed in the dark when thirsty...

The bias of the FDA in favor of company wishes over science is not unprecedented at the agency. In July 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility distributed a 38-question survey to nearly 6,000 FDA scientists. Nearly 1,000 scientists responded, disclosing that 61% knew of cases in which "Department of Health and Human Services or FDA political appointees have inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions," and 60% knew of cases "where commercial interests have inappropriately induced or attempted to induce the reversal, withdrawal, or modification of FDA determinations or actions."

"What I saw generically on the pro-biotech side was the attitude that the technology [GMO] was good, and that it was almost immoral to say that it wasn't good, because it was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the naked.... And there was a lot of money that had been invested in this, and if you're against it, you're Luddites, you're stupid. That, frankly, was the side our government was on." - Dan Glickman, US secretary of agriculture under President Clinton.

On Christmas Day 1859, the Victorian Acclimatization Society released 24 rabbits into the Australian countryside so that settlers could hunt them for sport and feel more "at home." The rabbits multiplied to well over 200 million, spreading out over 4 million square kilometers. That Christmas present now costs Australian agriculture about $600 million per year.

__________________