fábulas sustentáveis

No? But may you will if you eat salmon. By now, you’ve probably heard that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first-ever genetically engineered animal for human consumption.  It’s an Atlantic salmon modified for fast growth with genes from two other edible fish, and it has been — and will undoubtedly continue to be — a lightning rod for all the issues associated with genetically modified foods.  There’s safety, there’s escape into the environment and there’s labeling: a trifecta of discord.  ... On both of those issues, there will always be some doubt. Safety can’t be proved (we can only infer it from absence of harm so far), and any containment system can fail.  So the questions aren’t “Is it safe?” and “Could they escape?”  The question is whether the risk in those two areas is outweighed by the benefits. ... So let’s talk about the benefits.  According to AquaBounty, the advantages are that the fish reaches market weight...

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its environmental assessment of the AquaAdvantage salmon, a faster-growing fish which has been subject to a contentious, yearslong debate at the agency. The document concludes that the fish "will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States." Regulators also said that the fish is unlikely to harm populations of natural salmon, a key concern for environmental activists.  . .. The FDA will take comments from the public on its report for 60 days before making it final.  . .. If FDA regulators clear the salmon, as expected, it would be the first genetically altered animal approved for food anywhere in the world. It was in the news in the last year but it is about not a new subject. It seems that this new nightmare will come true. After this, it might be just a question of time to be approved. How are they going to label an OGM fish in the supermarket? And is this fish s...

Physicist Vandana Shiva *, in a video launching the global Seed Freedom Campaign , calls this ownership of entire new species a form of slavery, and calls upon farmers and consumers to fight the privatisation of the genetic commons.  Could it be that she is being naive? Facing the spectre of world hunger amid continued population growth, maybe we will have to let go of our sentimental attachment to traditional farmers saving seeds, and transition to high-tech agriculture so that we can improve yields per hectare.  After all, we cannot clear much more cropland at the expense of forests and wetlands.  And to finance the enormous long-term investment necessary to engineer high-yielding, drought-resistant, pest-resistant varieties, don't we need to enforce a strong system of patents?  This position seems reasonable, but it is fraught with assumptions that collapse under close scrutiny.  First and foremost is the notion that we need chemical pesticides, h...

Vandana Shiva on the Problem with Genetically-Modified Seeds from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo .

The genetic modified organisms - GMO discussion in EU continue. Until now we have them just for the animals feed. Nevertheless we eat the animals. And we don't know how much it will spread for the normal crops.

The GMO salmon discussion keeps going. The pressure to the authorities is big since they take the decision to allow this fish to be sold as ordinary food to people. Until now FDA - Food and Drug Administration ( the agency within the U.S.A. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation ) still continue their negative answer. But we never now when this will turns out. Here are some interesting facts about the discussion: As we’ve noted before, agribusiness loves to tout the ostensible economic benefits of industrial food production, perpetually falling back on the old it’s-the-only-way-to-feed-the-growing-population-without-inducing-global-starvation-and-economic-catastrophe argument. Of course, as I find myself pointing out ad nauseam, these economic benefits are ...

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world's best-selling weedkiller Roundup, causes malformations in frog and chicken embryos at doses far lower than those used in agricultural spraying and well below maximum residue levels in products presently approved in the European Union. This is reported in research (1) published by a group around Professor Andrés Carrasco, director of the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and member of Argentina's National Council of Scientific and Technical Research. Carrasco was led to research the embryonic effects of glyphosate by reports of high rates of birth defects in rural areas of Argentina where Monsanto's genetically modified "Roundup Ready" (RR) soybeans are grown in large monocultures sprayed from airplanes regularly. RR soy is engineered to tolerate Roundup, allowing farmers to spray the herbicide liberally to kill weeds while the crop is growing. At a press conference du...

Food and Drug Administration is holding public hearings next month on the final approvals and labeling requirements for genetically modified farmed salmon by Aquabounty. Most expect that this genetically modified fish, which grows at twice the rate of normal Atlantic salmon, will be available to consumers within 18 months. This will be the first genetically modified animal approved for food consumption , and it has the potential to dramatically change the global farmed salmon market. Em Junho começaram a surgir notícias como por exemplo aqui , aqui e aqui sobre este assunto e agora já se fala na aprovação no EUA. Há algum receio da própria indústria de aquacultura de como é que os consumidores vão reagir. Os argumentos de sempre que justificam a produção de ogm's não são suficientes para uma decisão que pode ter consequências ainda não testadas, tanto na alimentação humana como no ambiente. E o argumento de sempre, de permitir uma maior produção para colmatar a falta de alimentos...

Uma entrevista da TSF muito interessante sobre OGM aqui . Portugal é o país da Europa que mais come arroz, per capita. Este cereal representa um pilar central na nossa alimentação e cultura gastronómica. E até agora não havia arroz geneticamente modificado em circulação na União Europeia. Mas a paz acabou. Neste momento a Bayer, uma multinacional alemã, pretende importar para toda a União Europeia uma variedade de arroz geneticamente modificado, para consumo humano. Este arroz geneticamente modificado foi manipulado para aguentar elevadas doses de um herbicida que mataria as variedades convencionais. Para evitar que o arroz geneticamente modificado chegue ao prato dos portugueses (e dos europeus), a Transgénicos Fora, Plataforma Portuguesa para uma Agricultura Sustentável, vai lançar uma campanha que visa pressionar o novo ministro da Agricultura a votar contra, em Bruxelas, ao pedido da Bayer. Esta campanha segue-se à que a Greenpeace também lançou, com os mesmos objectivos. Margarid...

Já não chega o milho, querem agora produzir na Europa também arroz geneticamente modificado. Noutros países já existem vários produtos como algodão, soja, e com o tempo a tendência é que surja uma versão geneticamente modificada de quase todos os alimentos que produzimos em grande escala. Porquê? Porque é para eliminar o fome no mundo ...hum, não me parece...a Bayer e outras empresas fazem um investimento e estão à espera de um retorno. Isto é para criar riqueza, é para as empresas terem lucro, para os produtores comprarem sementes e pesticidas "atómicos", para terem muito lucro a curto prazo com grandes produções e para a longo prazo estas empresas arranjarem uma solução para a asfixia e esgotamento dos solos. Para quando carne geneticamente modificada? Hands off our rice! Rice is daily food for half of the world's population. Genetically modified (GM) rice, on the other hand, is a threat to our agriculture, our biodiversity and a possible risk to our health. At present,...