Greenist Purity

The Horrors of Genetically Modified Food

Genetically modified organisms are seen by many as the avatar of the End.  Terrible evils will be unleashed upon the human race because genes are spliced and foods are made more productive, more nutritious, more technologically supercharged for human consumption.  In New Zealand, the Greens have long campaigned that it must be outlawed with a capital "O".  As it stands, there is a fair old sequence of hurdles to jump before genetic modification is deemed kosher.

The historical reality is somewhat different.  Most food that we consume has been genetically modified in one way, shape, or form.  Take the carrot.

We believe that carrots should be woody and unpalatable and horrid to eat

It never used to be orange until the jolly Dutch genetically modified it in celebration of the House of Orange--and forever after we in the West have been corrupted and physically sickened by this monstrous genetically modified vegetable, unknowingly imbibing craven Dutch nationalism.

Wikipedia provides a brief history of the carrot's genetic modification:

The wild ancestors of the carrot are likely to have come from Iran and Afghanistan, which remain the centre of diversity of Daucus carota, the wild carrot. Selective breeding over the centuries of a naturally occurring subspecies of the wild carrot, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, to reduce bitterness, increase sweetness and minimise the woody core, has produced the familiar garden vegetable^.

In early use, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds, not their roots. Carrot seeds have been found in Switzerland and Southern Germany dating to 2000–3000 BC.  Some relatives of the carrot are still grown for their leaves and seeds, such as parsley, fennel, dill and cumin. The first mention of the root in classical sources is in the 1st century. The modern carrot originated in Afghanistan about 1100 years ago.   It was purple in the 10th century in such locations as the Middle East, India and Europe.  It appears to have been introduced to Europe via Spain by the Moors in the 8th century.  The 12th-century Arab Andalusian agriculturist, Ibn al-'Awwam, describes both red and yellow carrots;  Simeon Seth also mentions both colours in the 11th century.  Cultivated carrots appeared in China in the 14th century, and in Japan in the 18th century.  Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands, where the flag included orange, in the 17th century.

Are new diseases rampant? Blame the carrot. Is cancer becoming a scourge upon the population? It's due no doubt to the widespread consumption of genetically modified carrots in the West.   We could go on, but you get the point. There is no doubt that Armageddon lurks because of the genetic modification of foods, carrots being the primary culprit.

. . . we are told that the banana is to undergo genetic modification. The banana! Is nothing sacred?

Now, in the face of all the evidence, we are told that the banana is to undergo genetic modification. The banana! Is nothing sacred? No--and it appears that it is the edge of a thickening  wedge. A tsunami of genetically modified foods is about to drown the human race in rampant disease and devastation.

Researchers Hope ‘Super Bananas’ Will Combat Vitamin A Deficiency

Melissa Hellmann
June 16, 2014
Time Magazine

If approved for cultivation, the genetically engineered fruit could revolutionize child health in much of the developing world

Genetically engineered bananas, packed with micronutrients, are to undergo their first human trial in the United States to test their ability to battle rampant vitamin A deficiency — a large cause of infant death and blindness throughout low-income communities around the world.

“The consequences of vitamin A deficiency are dire with 650,000 to 700,000 children worldwide dying … each year and at least another 300,000 going blind,” the project leader, Professor James Dale from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, told AFP.

The six-week trial backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation expects to have results by the end of the year and plans to have the bananas growing in Uganda by 2020. Standard Ugandan bananas provide sustenance to East Africa but have low levels of nutrients such as iron and vitamin A. “Good science can make a massive difference here by enriching staple crops such as Ugandan bananas with pro-vitamin A and providing poor and subsistence-farming populations with nutritionally rewarding food,” said Dale.

Researchers infused the staple crop in Uganda with alpha- and beta-carotene — which the body turns into vitamin A — as an easy solution to the problem that plagues the country, but the same modification could be used on different crops as well. If the bananas are approved for growth in Uganda, other staple crops in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya could also be engineered with micronutrients.

“In West Africa farmers grow plantain bananas and the same technology could easily be transferred to that variety as well,” Dale said.

For our part, we want to go on record as upholding the genetic purity of food. We believe that carrots should be woody and unpalatable and horrid to eat. At least cancer would not stalk the land. Vitamin deficiency, maybe. Hunger for sure. But cancer would be curtailed.

And as for genetically modified bananas, don't get us started. Apparently these beta-carotene bananas are going to be orange coloured. Yuk. One more Dutch conspiracy and myriads more super-diseases hover over humanity. Sure 700,000 lives per year may be saved by these genetically modified bananas. But purity is what counts.  Greenist purity.