Precaution Potatoes! - Out of the EU and Organic Production

-
The discovery of transfer DNA (T-DNA) in sweet potato indicates horizontal transfer of genetic material from bacterium to plant.  The process is identical to that used in the generation of other transgenic plants, and transgenic plants bear the same bacterial DNA sequences used in the transfer process.

The sweet potato is thuslly out of compliance with European Union standards, and must not be cultivated on organic farms. We must follow the Precautionary Principle- right? 

Almost 50,000 angry petitioners stand up against sweet spuds! 


For decades anti-GMO groups have warned us against adding genes and T-DNA to genomes.  What do the critics say about T-DNA insertions?
  • ·        There are no long-term studies showing their effects or if products are safe.
  • ·         There is no way to guess at unintended consequences. Like causing Morgellon’s Disease and other infections.
  • ·         Sweet potatoes and foods with them must be labeled in the EU, as they contain a transgene.
  • ·         Sweet potatoes may no longer be grown in organic production, since organic cultivation specifically forbids transgenic plants.
  • ·         And right now Babes Against Biotech are feverishly unearthing every sweet potato grown in Hawaii and throwing them into a volcano.


Bummer.  These are radical adjustments, but are in keeping with the legal definitions and provisions as stipulated.  Just because the rules make no sense and are poorly conceived is no reason to stop following them now.  We have known this for a long time, and we need to enforce the rules, after all, it's for the children.

For me, it is sad because I love sweet potatoes, and don’t even get me going on how I can shove my face full of sweet potato fries.  Now that they are going to have to enter the rigorous deregulation process and may not be approved for 10 years, I’m going to stockpile.

And if you live in Benton County, Oregon—if you like your sweet potatoes, make sure you get out and vote, as your orange tasty spuds are now up for referendum.


Of course, my apologies to the sweet potato industry and I’m sorry that you are the new victim of stupid.   These are the rules that have been established by non-scientific minds, and it reinforces that we need to change the rules to something that makes sense. 

Popular posts from this blog

Food Babe Visits My University

-
Image
It was 6:30 pm in the lab and I was just thinking about the last things I'd need to get done before I could go home.  Typical night.  Usually I'm riding home about 7 pm, but an email popped up asking me if I was going to go watch the Food Babe.  A click on a link would take me to the note on a UF Dean for Students Good Food Revolution Events website.  Vani Hari would be spreading her corrupt message of bogus science and abject food terrorism here at the University of Florida. Oh joy. There's something that dies inside when you are a faculty member that works hard to teach about food, farming and science, and your own university brings in a crackpot to unravel all of the information you have brought to students. She might have started from honest roots.  Her story says she was duped by an organic yogurt stand (join the club) into buying taro toppings that were filled with artificial, non-organic colors.  She realized that she could use social media to coalesce
Read more

Film Review: The Need to Grow

-
Image
The recurring ads on Facebook pulled at me to watch The Need to Grow , a documentary film about food and farming.  As someone connected with these areas professionally and personally, I thought it would be worth a watch.  Here is a review. First the good things.  The film is nicely shot and well written.  The majority of the work builds on themes such as nutritious diets healthy soils, and efficient energy. Those are the central underlying values of the film, and ones that I wholly endorse.  However, where the film falls apart is in its approaches to achieve those end points.  Two of the "experts" recruited for the film are none other than Jeffrey Smith and Vandana Shiva, two people with little training in science or farming (and no, Vandana Shiva is not a physicist as the film claims).  The narrator is actress Rosario Dawson, who early in the film makes the proclamation, "Agriculture is the most destructive human activity on the planet." It is clear where t
Read more

Coordinated Disinformation Campaigns on Twitter

-
Image
 Today on twitter I kept seeing the same message coming up, over and over again.  What the heck is going on?  Mia's mom wants major restaurant chains to know that she's not exactly up on the science. The link goes to the Center for Food Safety, an organization that really isn't that is much more of an anti-technology club than a food safety concern.  They speak out against any application of biotechnology, such as the release of the disease-suppressing GE mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.  Somehow when CFS launches a twitter campaign they plaster the Tweet Stream with the exact same message over and over again.  My feeling is that they do this to create the impression of a mass consensus, a movement to essentially bully retailers and restaurants. In this case it is the AquaAdvantage Salmon, a fish grown in inland tanks in Indiana.  First invented in 1989, the salmon has had a rocky road to market, despite the magic of growing to market size in half the time and on a fraction
Read more