I really don't want to be seen as Mister Doom and Gloom, but I find certain things interesting.

Article in yesterday's paper on the possible effects of exposure to plastics on humans.

Basically said urine tests are increasing showing more of the chemical phthalates than researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and elsewhere, feel comfortable with. This chemical is apparent extruded by PVC and other plastic products, including fingernail polish and soda bottles, which are everywhere in daily life.

Over exposure may cause birth defects and distrupt hormonal functions, which control normal cell developement and reproduction.

I was born in 1946. Thinking back to my school days through high school I don't remember a single case of allergies or attention-deficit disorder. Maybe they weren't just recognized or I didn't know about them. Now they seem so common. This was about the same time plastics come into wide use (remember the party scene in The Graduate?).

Children are exposed to plastics essentially from the day they are born - diapers, bottles, teething rings, toys, etc. Perhaps even from the day they are conceived through Mom.

Seems even vegetarians can't escape this one. Even as you read this you are sitting in front of a mostly plastic PC using a mostly plastic keyboard. Hey, but then, no one has ever gotten out of life alive.

-- Ken S. in TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

Ken, I firmly believe that many of our illnesses are...environmental...due to the eating of chemical-rife "foods", and also the pace of this world (esp. in USA) where one is constantly on debt's treadmill. Homesteading, of course, is a good plan to escape- or at least minimize-these woes. I believe also we are holistic beings of body, soul and spirit and that lack of well-being in one realm will affect the others. Nah, you're not being a doom and gloomer (Whats the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? The pessimist has more information! lol).

-- Beth Weber (talmidim88@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

Ken, I sure appreciate you bringing this stuff to our attention. I don't read newspapers much. I'm allergic to the ink, on my skin and I can't breathe the smell without getting sick. I sure have to agree that our environment causes much illness, since I have environmental illness-chemical poisoning. But even more than that, illness is caused by unforgiveness. And then there's germs, etc. Look in other's grocery carts the next time you're shopping. How much real food are people buying? What kind of chemicals are they cleaning with? I used to clean houses for a living, it's incredible what people think they have to have to clean with, when all they really need is vinegar, baking soda and salt. Sorry I got off the plastic subject. I have a friend who owns a pizza shop, he told just the other day that most of the toppings: pickles, olives,etc. are in plastic now instead of gallon glass jars. BTW, pop tastes better in glass bottles-not as much air gets to them. Just a couple of thought. Any suggestions on how to use less plastic?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

Ken, Your not like Mr. Gloom and Doom, more like Mr. Wizard and Mr. Rodgers ( educational and informative). I agree with the position of our environment causing problems. The plastic in humans, very understandable. Since AIDS, health workers experience toxic reactions to latex, Alzheimers cases, since the incorporation of aluminum in soda cans and cookware. (one of the signs is aluminum deposits in synaptic receptors) have shown marked increases each year. We have had nothing but plastic drink bottles for ten years now, its time side effects began surfacing

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

I agree. Plastics are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I've also taken it one step further in terms of additives and preservatives (many of which are "synthetic" -- i.e., not natural). We've all but eliminated preservatives, artificial colorings and artificial flavorings from our daily lives. I try to use plastics and synthetics as little as possible, but it's hard to escape them in todays world.

Since making these changes, I have noticed behavioral and health differences in both of my sons (for the better). I can't begin to tell you how much the change has helped our family.

Another BIGGIE is bioengineered food. Do you really want a fish gene in your tomatoes? It's gotten so that it doesn't matter what you buy -- you don't know what you're really eating, and it's having an adverse effect on all of us. Look at the cancer rates. It's already having a huge effect.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), August 27, 2000.

On a similar note, do you realize that the people who almost entirely sponsor the Breast Cancer Awareness programs that focus on self examination and early detection are also not only the company that manufactures the cure (pharmaceuticals, treatment regimes, etc,) but, in another dept. "down the hall", manufacture nearly all of the chemicals that have been shown or suspected of causing of exacerbating it.

If you pay attention, you will notice that not only does their program list NOT contain initiative to decrease the prevalence of the disease, they don't seem interested in doing much to prevent the disease, as doing so would invlove regulating (heavily) the production and usage of the other half of their product line. Prevention of cancer means eliminating the things that we all know and love for their ease of use, upkeep and maintenance, and disposability. Knowing that it would bankrupt the company that produces the cure to prevent breast cancer, the funded focus is almost exclusively on early detection, ie get it, then worry about it (after all, we have extended the lives of sufferers soooo much of late that it is protrayed in the media as almost more of a tragic inconvenience than the life-shattering diagnosis that it still is and probably always will be).

Perhaps it's just me, but I think that this sort of getting-it-from- both-ends marketing is abominable, but, because of lobbying, initiatives to prevent, rather than treat, the disease are often under-funded, if funded at all, and always brushed off by the mainstream media, etc. as being to draconian in their requirements that we the people give up our Ziplocs (TM) and 2-liters for our collective better health. I realize that eliminating plastics is unfeasible and, on the whole, undesirable. No one would dipute the benefits plastic has made in the medical field, and in making our cars more gas efficient, etc. But many casual-exposure plastics such as convenience food packaging and cheaply made goods could easily be phased out if people could be convinced that their health is more important than convenience. Just my HO.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

I just heard something the other day on public radio. They were interviewing a scientist who'd just completed a study that indicates that hyper-cleanliness MAY cause an increased incidence of alergies. Supposedly it didn't give the body a chance to develop defenses against the more common alergins.

On the other hand I too was born in the mid-fourties and had scads of allergies as a kid that I later outgrew and I don't remember my mom being a clean freak.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), August 27, 2000.

Hey. Speaking of poisons. Whatever happened to nuking the food? A while back my Barb was so sick with food poisoning I just tossed her a pillow and blanket and let her live in the bathroom a couple of days!! Any thoughts on that? Sorry Ken if this is a subject change I can start a new thread......Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

Kirk, and anyone else who might get food poisoning -- keep some charcoal capsules on hand -- I think you can get them at the pharmacy. At the first sign of symptoms, start taking those capsules, lots of them. Can't say exactly how many. If things get too bad, of course you'd better high-tail it to the doctor, as food poisoning can be quite serious, but the charcoal evidently can do a great deal towards minimizing the symptoms, and shortening the course of the illness. I first heard about this from a magazine article, some guy was visiting a fellow out in the boonies, and while he was there, the old sourdough got food poisoning. He made the visitor make charcoal from the fire, and feed it to him in water, and they both believed that the treatment saved his life, as they were too isolated to get to a doctor. I thought at the time that it was kind of odd, but read something else about it later that backed it up, and there shouldn't be any problems from taking the charcoal, as it is pretty inert stuff. If you had to make your own charcoal in a pinch, though, you would want to be very careful about what you were burning.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 27, 2000.

My mother who is and always been a neat freak has terrible lung and heart problems. I firmly believe that all the chemicals she used has caused most of her problems. If she or my father saw ONE fly in the house--out came the spray and EVERY room was given a good "spraying"! She cleaned with bleach and other harsh products every day and we were made to do it as soon as we were old enough (8 Or 9 years old). I have already lost my father and a sister to cancer!!!

By the way has anyone heard about the corn pollen that is killing butterflies and other insects??? Some 20 million acres have been planted????My husbands uncles have been talking to me about it but I am only getting parts of the stories!!!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 27, 2000.

Moderation in all things! That is the credo I have tried to live my life by. Except, of course, books and chocolate. With all the knowledge and evidence we have that shows that everything on the planet and everything in our bodies are interconnected, why do so many persist in overdoing a good thing and poisoning our ecosystem and ourselves? My grandson was born on the 16 of this month. Just a week and a half ago. He has multiple heart and kidney defects that may have been caused by the medication my daughter took. She is epileptic and the medication has been shown to cause these defects. She questioned her doctors prior to becoming pregnant and they assured her the baby would be fine. Whether or not medication caused these problems, the doctors did not do their homework. We had the pharmacist look this up. It lists these birth defects. I have tried so hard to educate people that whatever, we take into our bodies, effects us. I can tell a difference in the way we feel when we eat our own eggs and produce. I find it so hard to eat something that has been stored in a product derived from petro chemicals. It can't be good for us. When I was in grade school. I remember watching movies that bragged how man could now control nature. Nature cannot be controlled. And we must learn to be leary of new miracle products that will make our lives easier. Chances are, those products will just make someone richer. I have found a way to reuse plastic jugs before recyling. Target Practice!

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

Genetic engineering. The corn has been genetically engineered to contain Bt (a natural pesticide - bacillus thuringiensis), with the idea that this would provide the corn natural protection and it wouldn't need chemicals. Proponents of organic methods and environmentalists (gasp! yes, THOSE nuts!) have been arguing against this because the result would be insects that would build up immunity to the Bt. This has already happened with some strains of Bt, due to indiscriminate use -- not following proper guidelines. Sort of like antibiotics. And now the pollen of some of the corn (I think there are different strains) is killing monarch butterflies.

Articles:

There are others out there, as well as tons of article on genetic engineered or modified foods, if you want to do a websearch. They're frequently called GM foods.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 27, 2000.

" I wonder if I will ever get the hang of this. . . .

Articles:

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 27, 2000.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 27, 2000.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May99/Butterflies.bpf.html

http://webmd.lycos.com/content/article/1671.50529

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/butterflies9905 19.html

http://www.ucsusa.org/agriculture/browner.aug11.html

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 27, 2000.

Thank you Kathleen!! I didn't know that about charcoal. Makes sense doesn't it.....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

I am a nurse. Guess what they give to someone who comes in to the ER with a drug overdose? Charcoal! I too believe we are poisoning ourselves with petro chemicals. All the plastics and all the chemicals in our food and then if that is not enough, we over process it and take out all the good stuff! No wonder cancer is so common. Eliminating all plastics from our world would be an impossibility - what about the computer???? But I think we will all be better off if we eliminate or limit what we buy food-wise packaged in plastic. Maybe sooner or later someone will get the idea (as in the manufacturers). We use plastic and styrofoam cups, even plastic dishes, we sleep on foam pillows, more than likely our mattress is covered with polyester. What have we done to ourselves? When I say we, I am speaking of the general public. Everyone would be healthier if we got back to a more natural lifestyle as God created it not as man poluted it! An interesting web-site on chemical sensitivities is wwwourlittle place.com

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), August 28, 2000.

Scary stuff. A few years ago I saw a show...60 Minutes or that type of thing...where they were talking about a chemical, that leaches from the type of plastic used for soda bottles, that is a synthetic female hormone and all the problems that can cause...and people have the nerve to ask me why I try and grow our own food. Jeesh!

For those of you interested in keeping up on the genetic engineering of our foods, chemical usages, organic practices, etc, you should get on the email list for the BioDemocracy newsletters. What follows is the most recent issue. I dont necessarily agree with everything they say in all their newsletters but hey, who always agrees on everything? Im sorry that it is so long but I wanted to post it in its entirety

BioDemocracy News #28 Son of Frankenfoods

BioDemocracy News #28 July 2000
Son of Frankenfoods: GE Trees, Fish, and Functional Foods
News and Analysis on Genetic Engineering, Factory Farming, & Organics
by: Ronnie Cummins
BioDemocracy News is a publication of the Organic Consumers Association

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Son of Frankenfoods: GE Trees, Fish, and Functional Foods

Quotes of the Month:

"Those of us in industry can take comfort of a sort from such obvious Luddism. After all, we're the technical experts. We know we're right. The 'antis' obviously don't really understand the science, and are just as obviously pushing a hidden agenda - probably to destroy capitalism." Robert Shapiro, CEO of Monsanto. "The welcome tension of technology: The need for dialogue about agricultural biotechnology." Center for the Study of American Business, CEO Series, no 37, February 2000.

"E. Berry Summerour, an agricultural analyst with investment bankers Stephens Inc., said he expected consumer suspicion of GMOs to fade in the next few years as the industry markets more consumer-friendly products such as rice with higher vitamin A content or edible vaccines. 'It's going to take a lot more communication, and it's going to take some of these products to get to the market without fumbling,' Summerour said. But it (biotechnology) is going to be here, it's going to be a fact of life.' '' "U.S. Food Industry Targets Biotech Education" by Julie Ingwersen, Reuters news story July 6, 2000.

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The Frankenfoods 15: OCA's Corporate Target of the Month: Kellogg's (USA)

Call, fax, e-mail, or mail a letter to Kellogg's. Tell them you'll boycott their brand-name products unless they can guarantee you in writing that they will ban genetically engineered corn and other ingredients from their breakfast cereals and other products.

Telephone 1-800-962-1413 Fax 616-961-2871
e-mail (via their website)
Mail: Kellogg's Company
Attention: Carlos M. Gutierrez, CEO
One Kellogg Square, P.O. Box 3599
Battle Creek, MI 49016
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Frankenfight Round Two: Get Ready for the Next Generation of GE Foods and Crops

Evidence continues to mount that the First Wave of genetically engineered(GE) foods and crops (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, herbicide-resistant, virus-spliced, and Bt-spliced crops) are in serious trouble. Although the Gene Giants are struggling harder than ever to keep up appearances, mounting global opposition to Frankenfoods--and adverse reports from the lab and fields--signal the beginning of the end for the first generation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Although critics and campaigners still find ourselves fully occupied in slowing down and reversing the First Wave of mutant crops, the international balance of forces are starting to tip in our favor. Among the favorable signs are the following:

* Increasing global opposition to GE foods and crops, including now North America. Almost 90% of gene-crops are currently produced in the US and Canada. While major foreign export markets for GE-tainted foods and seeds continue, slowly but surely, to close down (Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil) consumer opposition in Canada and the US increases month by month--in spite of, or perhaps even partly because of, the multi million dollar PR campaign being waged by agbiotech interests. Latest industry-funded polls show 59% of Canadians flatly opposed to GE foods, while 51% in the US say the same thing--with the overwhelming majority in both countries expressing mounting concern over the lack of safety-testing and labeling. In Europe up to 70% adamantly oppose GMOs, while 82% of Japanese are opposed. In response North American farmers are already starting to cut back on major GE crops--corn, soybeans, and canola. Latest July USDA estimates show a 20% drop in GE corn acreage and a 6% drop in soybeans, while Canada analysts predict a 10% reduction in GE canola.

* Leading food companies and supermarket chains all over the world, fearing the growing consumer backlash, are removing, or else preparing to remove, GE ingredients from their brand-name products. As soon as giant supermarket chains and global meat and fish companies ban GE grains and animal feeds--a basically irreversible process already well underway--the global market for American corn and soya will collapse. Although there was only a 6% drop in US farmers planting Roundup Ready soybeans this year, by next year we can expect major reductions.

* Adverse reports from the lab and fields. As predicted for years by biotech critics: canola superweeds have appeared in Canada; Bt crops are damaging beneficial insects and soil microorganisms, promoting pest resistance, and disrupting ecological balances so that previous minor pests like Stink Bugs on cotton are proliferating; increased IGF-1 levels in BGH-derived milk is posing higher cancer risks; herbicide-resistant soybeans are decreasing yields and causing farmers to use 2-5 times more herbicides than conventional farmers; antibiotic-resistant genes (found in all GE foods) are transferring "horizontally" from Frankenfoods into the bacteria of the digestive tract, so that animals and humans ingesting GMOs are likely incubating ever more virulent pathogens; and Cauliflower Mosaic Viral Promoters (found in almost all GE foods) are likely setting off hazardous biochemical reactions in our bodies. For more information on GE hazards see the Organic Consumers Association website and its links.

A recent Wall Street report showed little enthusiasm on the part of investors for purchasing Monsanto's stock. Leading life science corporations like Pharmacia & Upjohn, Novartis, Dupont, and Aventis are either decreasing planned agbiotech investments or else spinning off their agbiotech divisions. In short prospects have dimmed for the Biotech Century. But don't worry the gene engineers tell us, even if you haven't liked the Cafe Biotech menu thus far, you'll just love the second generation of GMOs currently being cooked up in our labs, test plots, fish tanks, and tree farms.

A look at the propaganda and activities of the Gene Giants reveal a simple yet sinister five-year plan:

* Distract consumers from worrying about the ever more obvious hazards of the first generation of GE foods and crops by dazzling them with tales of how the next generation of GMOs will (1) feed the starving masses; (2)nourish and vaccinate the poor; (3) make foods, even junk foods, more nutritious; and (4) solve the problems created by the unsustainable practices of the global timber, paper, and fishing industries.

* Delay or derail strict national and international regulation of GMOs based upon the precautionary principle by cutting "backdoor deals" among the bureaucrats of the largest G-8 and OECD nations. Create further delays by prolonging endless debate at World Trade Organization meetings or the Codex Alimentarius.

* By the time the Gene Giants delay regulations and distract the public for 3-5 years, GMOs and GMO contamination in the environment will be so pervasive that the public will become fatalistic. By then the second generation of GMOs will be on the market and the Luddites and anti-globalization campaigners will have been divided, coopted, or defeated.

The only way we can stop this diabolical plan from succeeding is by waging a protracted battle on two fronts. While stepping up our resistance to the First Wave of Frankenfoods and crops and literally driving them off the market, we must simultaneously start to educate and mobilize the global grassroots against the forthcoming Second Wave of GMOs. For a start let's take a critical look at GE functional foods, trees, and fish.

Gene-Altered "Functional Foods" --Dubious Benefits and Human Health Risks

One of the central myths propagated by agbiotech over the past few years is that GE crops will increase farm productivity and feed the world's 800 million hungry people. But as respected anti-hunger organizations like Oxfam, Christian Aid, and Food First, and experts like Vandana Shiva have revealed, this claim is nothing more than a lie and . The world already produces twice as much food as necessary to provide all six billion of us with a nutritious and adequate diet now. Sensing that many people are no longer swallowing the "GE Will Feed the World" myth, the Gene Giants have had to modify their tune. Now they say that new gene- altered "functional foods" being readied for market will be fortified with vitamins, spliced with disease-fighting capabilities, or altered so as to be less fatty and healthier.

The flagship product of GE functional foods is the so-called vitamin A enhanced "Golden Rice,'' bankrolled to the tune of $100 million by the Rockefeller Foundation and offered by the GE Giants as a "gift" to the developing world. Unfortunately this miracle rice is a hoax, and likely a dangerous hoax as well.

First of all poor people have vitamin A or Beta-Carotene deficiencies, not because there's something wrong with the non- genetically engineered rice they're eating, but because they don't have the money or resources to eat a well-rounded diet with lots of green and yellow vegetables, fruits, and fish. Even if Golden Rice will actually grow in the real world in diverse terrain and climates (an open question since so far it's only been grown in the lab), for poverty-stricken people unable to afford much more than rice it's not going to solve their nutritional problems. The insidious consequence of Golden Rice and related myths of other GE functional foods is that it may delay or indefinitely distract the world community from getting to the root of the problem-- i.e. poverty and injustice. Wasting billions of dollars subsidizing research on GE crops is worse than misguided, it's literally criminal. Land reform, poverty reduction, and sustainable/organic agriculture are the solution to world hunger, not genetic engineering.

Second of all genetically engineered rice (and other functional foods) will still contain potentially hazardous GE constructs such as viral promoters (derived from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus) and, most likely,antibiotic-resistant marker genes as well. In addition scientists warn that over consuming Vitamin A can be dangerous for pregnant women, young children, people with liver disease, diabetics, and people with hyperthyroid conditions. How do the gene engineers propose to regulate the dose of Beta-Carotene that people will be ingesting with a diet composed primarily of Golden Rice? And of course similar hazards arise when you look at other vitamin-enhanced GE foods in the pipeline such as soybeans and other grains or vegetables. Even scarier is the notion of dosing people with indeterminant amounts of live vaccines or medicines gene-spliced into their food. Not to mention the ecological consequences of drug or vaccine-spliced plants spreading their mutant characterists into non- GE crop varieties or related species via genetic pollution.

Promoting Healthier Junk Foods

While 800 million people in the world suffer severe health problems from being malnourished, another 800 million people, mainly in the industrialized North, suffer from obesity--closely related to the public over consumption of junk foods, meat, and animal products. Here again the Gene Giants tell us they've got a solution, namely genetically engineered junk foods and factory-farmed meat (french fries, cooking oil, beef, pork, margarine) which are lower in fats or calories. But as food activists from in Britain point out, the next generation of Frankenfoods are mainly "about making basically unhealthy food (such as chips and crisps) a little bit healthier... But even if they were to work as is claimed in the corporate PR, these foods are in reality completely unnecessary when judged against the benefits of a truly healthy and balanced diet. Instead, by convincing consumers that unhealthy, fatty foods are nutritious, these new crops might instead lead to a deterioration in people's health."

Genetically Engineered Tree Farms: The "Final Solution" to Global Deforestation

Forestry and pulp paper production is now one of the largest and most lucrative industries in the world, with an estimated value of the world's timber harvest annually of $400 billion. Unfortunately for the planet and its living creatures, corporate greed and unsustainable forestry practices have caused massive deforestation and devastation to the planet's biodiversity and carrying capacity. Confronted with rapidly accelerating environmental damage and species extinction, and now undeniable global climate disruption, a growing segment of the public have become alarmed and concerned. As a consequence the large transnational timber and paper corporations, such as International Paper, Weyerhauser, Boise-Cascade, UPM-Kymmene (formerly Champion International), and Mitsubishi, along with the oil, auto, and utilities industries, find themselves under increasing public scrutiny and pressure.

Sensing a major business opportunity, Monsanto and the Gene Giants have sat down and begun negotiating with the world's largest timber and paper companies (as well as the other major greenhouse gas/climate disruption culprits, the oil, auto, and utilities companies) and have come up with a "final solution"--plant billions of fast growing, herbicide-resistant, fiber-altered GE trees on tree plantations all over the globe. This way transnational corporations will be able to produce more timber and paper for the voracious global market (without changing current forestry or paper (industry practices), soak up some of the climate-disrupting CO2 greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (faster-growing trees on vast tree plantations will soak up more CO2), and reduce toxic pollution in the paper industry. Down the road the biotech lobby also promise us pest- resistant fruit trees and even tastier and more nutritious fruit.

All this may sound rather nifty at first, until you start to think about some of the downsides of gambling with the future of our trees, of tampering with the genetic structure and life cycle of the world's forests.
For example:

* GE tree plantations will replace biologically diverse forests with fast-growing, herbicide-resistant identical trees planted in even rows with no "competing" plants growing underneath them. Native forests will be logged and replaced by corporate tree plantations even faster than they are now, since GE trees will grow much faster and will be able to be sprayed with world record amounts of toxic herbicides such as Monsanto's Roundup.

* Trees produce enormous amounts of pollen, which can travel up to hundreds of miles. Trees also distribute their genetic material through seed dispersal, regeneration from roots, runners and suckers-- not to mention horizontal gene transfer to fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Normal trees will inevitably cross with GE mutants (herbicide resistant, fiber-altered, or Bt-spliced trees), creating "supertrees" which will crowd out natural forests. This in turn will kill off beneficial insects, decrease the food available for wildlife, and force tree pests into adjacent natural forest areas where they will wreak havoc.

* Fast-growing GE trees (which can grow more than three feet a month and can be harvested in four years) use up tremendous quantities of water and will kill off other trees and plants by depleting the water table. In addition the leaves from Bt-spliced trees will create toxic soil conditions, undermining the entire soil food web and natural systems of composting on the forest floor.

* Scientists warn that the enormous quantities of pollen generated by Bt-spliced and other GE trees will likely cause major allergic reactions in humans.

* GE trees patented by Dow, Novartis, and other companies altered to produce less lignin (the substance in the cell walls of trees and plants that makes them strong and stiff) will cross-pollinate will trees and other organisms and cause major alterations in the forest ecosystem.

* Timber and paper corporations promoting low-lignin trees say that pulp paper processing will be able to use less chlorine and toxic chemicals in dealing with GE trees--obscuring the fact that there are already commercially viable non-timber low-lignin plants that we should be using to produce paper products (hemp, kenap, and residues from food crops) instead of trees. Turning to low-lignin GE trees will also cover up the fact that pulp and paper companies are deliberating poisoning the environment by refusing to upgrade their mills with new technology that could enable them to avoid using chlorine and other toxic chemicals and then discharging their dioxin- laden wastes into the air and water.

* GE companies are planning to use Terminator or Terminator-like technologies to produce GE trees which are sterile, thereby not only making the trees grow faster but also giving them a monopoly over their patented gene-altered tree varieties. Given the imprecision of gene-splicing, the intricate, little understood, and long-term evolution of trees in relation to changing climatic conditions, and the inherent instability of the genome of genetically engineered trees these Terminator traits will inevitable contaminate "normal" trees all over the world. As one British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph put it:

"Terminator trees, genetically engineered never to flower, could ensure a silent spring in the forests of the future. Such trees will grow faster than before, but will be devoid of the bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and squirrels which depend on pollen, seed, and nectar."

If all this sounds less than reassuring, how about herbicide-resistant genetically enginered grass for lawns and golf courses, a new product line being readied for mass commercialization in the United States? See

Frankenfish: How to Make the Global Fish and Marine Life Crisis Even Worse

Industrial-style commercial fishing and environmental pollution are slowly but surely killing off all of the fish and other marine life in our oceans and surface waters. Rather than make the transnational fish corporations change their practices (almost a third of all fish caught by factory fishing boats are killed and then tossed overboard for example), and stop factory farms and industry from polluting our waterways, the Gene Engineers and factory-style fish farms have a "better idea"--genetically engineered Frankenfish. Building upon the bottom line unsustainable practices of industrial fish and shrimp farms (feeding antibiotics and rendered animal protein to fish, allowing caged fish to escape and kill off native wild species, polluting delicate wetlands and fish breeding areas, using up more fish protein to feed captive fish than is produced by the full-grown fish, etc.), the proponents of GE fish tell us they'll help feed the world by producing faster-growing, disease-resistant mutants in gigantic tanks and fish nets. Like GE trees, Frankenfish are being highly touted and promoted. For consumers, restaurants, and fish farmers the idea of a GE Atlantic salmon which grows twice as fast or six times faster than a normal salmon might sound like a good idea. But this GE blue revolution in aquaculture, which Canadian and US officials may possibly approve for commercialization as soon as next year, has its downside. Consider these hazards:

* GE fish will inevitably escape from confinement, just as millions of fish from commercial fish farms already do every year. Once out of confinement fast-growing GE fish eat more and will will consume food needed by native species. GE fish will carry viruses or other diseases that can ravage native populations.

* As the New York Times (May 1, 2000) reports, recent studies ( A Purdue University Study published in the Nov. 1999 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) show that native fish will more readily breed with giant Frankenfish than they will with their own native breed. Over the short run this means that Frankenfish will breed and multiply while native species will die out. Of course over time these mutant breeds will likely be unable to adapt to changing environmental conditions and then they too will die out. "In addition," the Times points out, "there is the possibility of unpredictable environmental disruptions, like those that occur when non-native species invade ecosystems, as the zebra mussels have the Hudson River." GE fish companies argue that their new Frankenfish will be sterile, so you don't have to worry about them interbreeding with wild relatives. But even the proponents of GE fish admit there's no way that companies can guarantee 100% sterility in their Frankenfish, not to mention the frightening possibility that these sterility traits could be inadvertently transferred to native species.

* Scientists warn that increased levels of growth hormones in GE fish could be hazardous to humans. Certainly fish whose altered genetic structure makes them constantly pump out unnatural levels of growth hormones will be genetically weakened and more susceptible to disease. To protect and maximize their investments in these fast- growing but sickly mutants, fish farmers will need to feed these fish more antibiotics and rendered animal protein in their feed. This in turn will mean more antibiotic residues in fish that consumers eat, as well as more antibiotics in our surface waters and waste systems. Some scientists warn that since fish, like mammals, produce prion proteins, feeding hormone-supercharged GE fish additional rendered animal protein could conceivably cause fish to produced malformed prion proteins--thereby causing a Mad Cow-like disease to emerge in fish.

* Green salmon. Genetically engineering fish is inherently unpredictable. GE fish have been born with grotesquely deformed heads and gill flaps, with descendants of some GE fish showing deformities, even if the parent fish had appeared to be normal. One batch of young GE salmon were pale green instead of the normal brown color of young salmon and rather than turning pink as they matured remained green.

The Second Wave of genetically modified organisms--so-called functional foods, GE trees, and GE fish--promise to be just as bad as the First Wave of agbiotech Frankenfoods and crops that consumers and campaigners worldwide are trying to drive off the market now. So as we step up the attack on the First Wave of GE foods and crops we must simultaneously begin to launch a preemptive strike against the Second Wave which is rapidly bearing down on us. Stay tuned to our website and BioDemocracy News for the latest developments.

###

Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association
6114 Hwy 61
Little Marais, Mn. 55614
Tel. 218-226-4164
Fax 218-226-4157
email: ronnie@organicconsumers.org
http://www.purefood.org

To subscribe to the OCA's free electronic newsletter,
BioDemocracy News/Organic View,
go to the OCA website or
send an email to:
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-- William in WI (thetoebes@webtv.net), August 28, 2000.

Thanks William for the info. I just finished proof reading a report my son wrote for homeschool on enviromental problems. I sure wish we'd had this information earlier.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 28, 2000.

That WAS long, William, but I thank you for posting it. I am going to sign up for the newsletter. I think that's great that 51% of Americans are opposed to GM foods -- and that doesn't mean that the other 49% are FOR GM foods -- probably uninformed or apathetic. I wonder what percentage are actively supportive of GM foods?

Organic Gardening magazine, online, has an OG Watchdog section that addresses these issues too. Check it out at:

OG WATCHDOG

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 28, 2000.

i wanted to inject a bit of humor here. in regards to john's posting about super clean house causing allergies i would like to ask ken about adding another listing in his book on making money. my house is far from being supper clean so could i open an allergy treatment center? gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), August 28, 2000.

Gail:

It has already scrolled out of my e-mail files, but an item on the Internet said if you don't expose children to various health disorders in the childhood, they are more prone to health problems later in life. Babies and young children are given 'preventive' shots on a regular basis. To get your first grader enrolled in school they need a host of shots. Is that really, really necessary? OK, so they might become sick, and expose other students, but is the prevention worse than the long term effects? Remember that swine flu disaster of years ago. OK, so maybe I was a casual observer, but it just seems to me kids today have a host of health problems I didn't notice when I was growing up.

On exposure to plastics having possible health effects, in the gsme of life, nature bats last.

-- Ken S. in TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 28, 2000.

Thank you, for introducing the topic. It might have been three months ago, or last year, I got wind of the Plastics. Plastic is made from oil, right? I mentioned to most disbelieving hubby, that all those plastic bottles, just might not be so good, since the oil might leach, leech. He looked at me like I had grown two heads. But on the front page, there lies the headlines, "Scientist have found plastic in humans". And it isn't in their boobs.

-- Redemmed for (us@lastforresearch.com), August 29, 2000.

Someone told me that margarine is just one molicule away from plastic! Is that true? That is scary.I never really thought about how much plastic is around. And never, never thought about it being bad. Oh ME!

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), August 30, 2000.

Not sure about that, Bonnie, thought I THINK I heard that too. However, I do know that margarine is made from hydrogenated and/or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils. The hydrogenating process changes the usually healthful oils into trans-fatty acids, which have been linked to heart disease and cancer. If you read labels, you will discover that the majority of fats in foods are these hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils. :-( To make it even worse, those oils are usually soybean, canola, or cottonseed.

Why are those bad? Well, if you've seen some of the prior threads, soybeans are frequently genetically modified (such as Round-Up Ready). Canola is coming under suspicion of causing health problems too, though I don't have any specifics at the moment. Cottonseed oil is a by-product of cotton production. Since cotton is grown as fiber and not food, it is not subject to restrictions on pesticide use, and cotton is one of the most heavily pesticided crops grown. :-(

Here is an article to read more about hydrogenated fats: Hydrogentated fats & oils

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 30, 2000.

At least in Central NC, the Sam's Clubs have huge bottles on good olive oil (in plastic, unfortunately) that go for only $12 or less a bottle (liter or two), as opposed to the over priced supermarket quantities, good brands too. I take it out of the bottle and re- bottle in old wine bottles asap to limit leaching. If you're trying to avoid GM oils, this may be your best bet.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 01, 2000.