The FDA - Looking out for . . . us?

I'm sure that somewhere, deep in the annals of the FDA history, this government entity was formed to help protect the general population from all kinds of evil.

From the FDA website:
"The Food and Drug Administration is the oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency in the U. S. federal government...Although it was not known by its present name until 1930, FDA’s modern regulatory functions began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act, a law a quarter-century in the making that prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated and misbranded food and drugs...providing basic elements of protection that consumers had never known before that time."

Noble words. And a noble cause.

Here's the basic problem with this entire theory. Taking a group of (potentially) underpaid bureaucrats, and then putting them in charge of keeping ungodly-rich-people-employed-by-companies-with-gobs-of-cash-laying-around "honest" seems to me a flawed plan from the get-go.

No. I don't have a better idea. I'm just pointing out the basic flaw to putting the Government in charge of regulating, well, anything really.

(For the record, this is the conservative part of me. I'd prefer the government stay the hell outta my life and my way.) This edition will focus a little on what I feel is one of the major failings of the FDA - their failure to adequately regulate GMO veggies.

The FDA is now referring to GMO, or Genetically Modified foods, as "bioengineered". When they first issued guidance on the labeling of bioengineered foods in 1992, particularly fruits and veggies (yes, very soon Genetically Engineered ANIMALS will be introduced into our food supply), they completely comfortable with a policy which "does not establish special labeling requirements for bioengineered foods as a class of foods. The policy states that FDA has no basis for concluding that bio engineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding."

Therefore, no need for special labeling. No need to tell the consumers (that's us, the ones they are protecting) whether the food they are eating is traditional or GMO.

Well, it seems that decision caused some people to make somewhat of a stink. So, enter the Federal Register of April 28, 1993 (58 FR 25837), where the agency requested data and information on certain labeling issues that had arisen from the labeling guidance in the 1992 policy. In 1999, the agency announced that it would hold three public meetings (64 FR 57470; October 25, 1999).

Upon sifting through the consumer response, they found that most of the opinions regarding labeling were requesting that these foods be labeled appropriately, and that the consumers should know whether they are eating bio-engineered food, or the old-fashioned kind.

Despite this outpouring of opinion, the FDA ultimately decided to uphold their original finding. From the FDA website: "The comments were mainly expressions of concern about the unknown. The agency is still not aware of any data or other information that would form a basis for concluding that the fact that a food or its ingredients was produced using bioengineering is a material fact that must be disclosed under sections 403(a) and 201(n) of the act. FDA is therefore reaffirming its decision to not require special labeling of all bio engineered foods."

So, basically, because no adverse reactions had occurred yet, there was no need for labeling, even though the general public vehemently requested it. The general public seems to have an irrational fear of the unknown, and therefore their wishes are unimportant, and we will decide what's best for them.

Pretty arrogant.

OK, but if the FDA considers them to be essentially the same as regular ol' veggies, what's the evidence that they are indeed unsafe? Maybe the average consumer IS just afraid of the unknown?

Well, at the most basic definition, these are organisms which have had their rDNA altered, introducing non-food-stuff DNA into the food-stuff DNA through genetic splicing. This is a bit different than the traditional method of selective breeding, which takes generations to affect change. What would they cross? Hmm. Which is my favorite?

Let's discuss Roundup Ready foods. Monstanto has developed a variety of veggie seeds which produce food to resist insane amounts of their proprietary weed killer, Roundup. What does this mean? Well, the farmer can sow these seeds on untilled land, then pummel it with herbicides that kill EVERYTHING but for the genetically engineered plants.

(Mmmmm. You can taste that pesticide now, can't ya? Mmmm. Yeah. That's a spicy meat-a-ball.)

So what could go wrong with this plan? Well, it seems that this process has created a sort of "superweed" resistant to lower doses, causing the need to increase the herbicide. What else could go wrong? Well - what if the farmers downwind from the farms that use this herbicide-resistant GMO product were to find out that the very resistance designed to increase yield actually pollinated WEEDS THEMSELVES? So that the weeds are actually MORE resistant to herbicides than the crops? Whoops! No. I didn't make that up. "Cross-Pollination Leads to Triple Herbicide Resistance"

Feel like washing your veggies yet? Well, I hope the people who use this soy in processing are as thorough as you. Because while you can wash your own veggies with some success, you can't wash soy that's already been processed into shampoo, can ya. Nope. You can't wash shampoo. The irony is overwhelming.

To be completely honest, you can't really wash all the residue off. Since these veggies can survive multiple dosing, the pesticides are absorbed into the cells of the veggies themselves. Now who could stand to profit from the need for increased exposure to herbicides? Oh, right, the company who SELLS herbicides. The same company that sells the resistant seeds. Well, thank God for them!

A recent study testing the effects of glyphosate on human cells which "corresponds to low levels of residues in food or feed" has found that "the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death around residual levels to be expected, especially in food and feed derived from R[oundup] formulation-treated crops" Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells.

And this story ignores the basic problem - I'm not even sure what exactly they spliced with these poor veggies to induce this sort of super-veggie strength!

But hey - even GMO foods sprayed repeatedly with dangerous poisons don't really count as "substantially" different from, say, a carrot grown in your backyard. Really?

Yeah. Go FDA. You have MY faith. And my tax dollars. Good lookin' out yo.

Next time, we'll go into more detail about the largest creator of GMO foods - Monsanto. Many people (myself included) consider this company to have the potential to end the world. Well, presumably the world will survive, but it will be uninhabited by humans.

Want to avoid GMO foods as much as possible? Visit http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com to work within the guidelines as they exist.

Check the links section for the sources of this article, and a slew of other sources of information. Visit Monsanto's website for an explanation of why they should rule the world.

Notes from a disheartened environmentalist, looking out her snow-covered window...

Let me begin by saying I love the earth. Not so much ALL the people on it, but the earth is my mother, and the source of all that keeps us alive.

That being said, as far back as High School I was pro-environment. That was the mid-eighties, for the record. When I heard that my aerosol hair spray was putting a hole in the ozone layer, I switched to a pump style spray bottle - even though it meant my super-tall Jersey Girl eighties hair was a little less big, it was a sacrifice I felt I had to make.

A group of my friends banded together and formed SHAPE - Students Helping ... well, something about protecting the environment. Did I mention it was like 20 years ago? There was no recycling program in our school then, and so we put boxes in every classroom, and we all got to school early and went to each room and collected the cans and bottles to recycle. And endured a significant amount of "trashpicker" jokes - not an easy thing in High School.

Now, as an adult and a mother, I want to make sure we do everything we can. We recycle in the house, and my kids, 3 and 6, know what's recycling and goes in the "back" trash can, and what isn't. We have a compost bin on our counter, and they know banana peels and orange peels go into compost. We have a chemical-free, pesticide-free, fertilizer-free (but for the compost) garden in our backyard every year. We water the garden almost exclusively from the two water collection barrels we have installed by our gutters.

Our lawn is chemical free. It shows, but what can ya do. The cleaners in our house are all from environmentally-conscious companies like Seventh Generation, or are homemade from vinegar and baking soda. (We do keep bleach cleaners on-hand in case of some sort of mildew emergency in the bathrooms.) We use recycled paper. We use recycled paper towels. God help us, we use recycled toilet paper. I even moved to walking distance from my work so that I would cut down on emissions from my car.

We belong to a local organic veggie co-op. We buy cage-free organic eggs (allegedly, anyway) and organic milk and dairy. Organic meat is incredibly expensive, so we haven't completely committed to that yet. (Although watch for chicken labeled "hormone-free" and priced higher - in fact, they're not ALLOWED to use hormones in chickens. So it's not really saying anything at all.)

What's my point? I'll tell you.

That global warming has become a joke pisses me off. I believed it for a long time - and arranged my life differently to try to do my part. The whole time, I was thinking in the back of my head - really? Carbon dioxide is so bad for the world? But, well, science is science. Whole corporations were built - and making a ton of money - based on this "science". It became the call of the environmentalist - if you didn't believe it, or even dared question it - then you must HATE the earth, and you're a "denier" and you're dumb and don't deserve to call yourself an environmentalist. In short, toe the company line, or you're out.

Well, it turns out the science isn't as clear-cut as everyone would have us believe. Even if it is true, there's enough doubt cast by self-serving, arrogant scientists partnered with huge government agencies and multi-million dollar corporations - the axis of evil, it seems - to cover up holes in the theories and push this agenda to the point of insanity.

Now what? I will NO LONGER toe ANYONE'S company line. I will think for myself.

And as an environmentalist, and a pro-earth type person, I think that the focus on Global Warming to the exclusion of everything else was a mistake from the beginning.

For example,

• Fish, a source of rich nutrients and essential fats to the human race, are now so polluted that it's recommended we limit our intake to only 2 servings a week, due to the risk of mercury poisoning. Pregnant ladies are afraid to eat fish at all, even though it contains nutrients ESSENTIAL to the health of their unborn children.
  
• Run-off from pesticides and chemicals are causing amphibians to spontaneously change genders? Chemicals in waters that we all enjoy are causing very strange reproductive issues - so far, only in smaller animals, but for how long?
  
• The FDA, who is supposed to be looking out for us and our health, are so entrenched with corporations that they allow very strange "additives" to be added to various foods without enforcing labeling - because they're "additives", not ingredients. Did you know that your deli meat may have been treated with a special bacteria-eating virus to prevent Listeria? They approved this chemical for use, and decided that we didn't even deserve to be told it's being used. About 500 people die from Listeria. As a percentage of the American population, that's pretty low to risk the entire deli-meat eating population, don't you think? But that we aren't even told? Unimaginable.
  
• GMO foods, a relatively new phenomenon, are completely infiltrating our environment. Maybe they're good, maybe not, but again, I'd like the choice. Do YOU know which foods at the grocery store are GMO? No, of course not, because again, the FDA decided you don't really need to know. Even if you're buying organic, as we do, you may get GMO foods, because, ya know, the wind blows sometimes.

I fear that these more immediate concerns will kill the human race LONG before global warming, and yet, for years, these were all on the back burner.

Maybe it's time environmentalists reevaluate their priorities, and instead of clinging to the global warming "science" and losing credibility every day, we could use this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the fight for healthy veggies, fish and meat, more environmentally-friendly farming and fishing practices, forcing businesses in environmentally-UNfriendly situations to green-up a little, and dealing with issues that are threatening THIS generation.