[RDavidson]

Wouldn't it be great if eating things with an extended shelf life somehow gave us extended "shelf life?"

Eat Twinkies. You'll live longer.......but you may also have poor health the entire time and feel like crap.
Doc. It's a hard decision, but I think it's time to stop the intravenous Nacho Cheese Doritos and switch to Cool Ranch.

[Alan]

From this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMb7iunzAss
'Preservatives might be preserving you'

There is a bit of truth in that, some forms of vitamin C have been used as preservatives in packaged food products. I've also seen some food preservatives recommended as nutritional supplements.

[FullRangeMan]

I should have clarified in my earlier post. I do share your concerns about soylent and soy in general. In fact, I didn't realize the health issues until you posted. All things considered, I will avoid soy (which I don't eat much anyway). And yes, real food is real food.

I also don't know what transgenic food means - will have to read it up.

In the transgenic seeds Monsanto and other companies mix DNA or Genes from 2 different realms, vegetal and animal.

They mix plant genes with strange ones as fish, amoeba etc creating a hybrid that does not exist in nature and potentially dangerous of contamination of all the planetary environment and the human race.
They say that long life tomatoes have a amoeba gene etc.
If they say it the real situation is much worse.

[mresseguie]

FRM,

I'm not trying to be confrontational, but I need to ask about your statement, "They say that long life tomatoes have an amoeba gene, etc."

Do you have any links to support this supposition? Links to reputable scientific studies are much preferred over blogs or opinion posts in forums.

Unfortunately, 'they' can say all manner of things without need for scientific analysis or proof. However, I am open to any proof or evidence supporting your comment about amoeba genes being used in GMO tomatoes.

Respectfully,

Michael

[steve f]

Anytime you eat foods not near their natural state, you are asking for trouble.

[FullRangeMan]

Michael,
Just translate it for you:
Transgenic plants are created in the laboratory with genetic engineering techniques that allow "cut and paste" genes from one organism to another, changing the shape of the body and manipulating its natural structure in order to obtain specific characteristics.
There is no limit for this technique; for example, you can create unimagined combinations like animals with plants and bacteria.

We publish here 12 questions and answers about transgenic taken from the site of Greenpeace Brazil.

1. Why Greenpeace opposes transgenic?

Unknown consequences - Greenpeace campaigns against transgenic liberalization or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment and opposes its use in food and feed. For the organization, the results of the use of transgenic are unpredictable, uncontrollable and unnecessary.

Loss of Biodiversity - We know that the harmful consequences of new technologies often can only be realized after many years. Possible consequences of transgenic, scientists predict the loss of biodiversity, which can negatively impact the ecological balance and food security.

Increase the use of pesticides - The use of transgenic with herbicide resistance in agriculture can lead to the emergence of "superweeds" and the ecological imbalance of the soil, in addition to the contamination of soil and groundwater due to the intensified use of pesticides.

Threat to food security - past, think of patenting plants, animals or genes could not even be considered. Today, with the patent on life, the producer must pay royalties for the patented plants and seeds that produce, for all future generations. This is a threat to food security and biodiversity.

Lack of studies - worrying consequences for human health would be the appearance (or increase) in allergies caused by genetically modified foods; increased resistance to antibiotics; and the emergence of new viruses by the virus recombination "engineered" with existing ones. Transgenic are being used indiscriminately in food and feed, because there were not enough studies done to prove its safety.
What we demand is to be implemented the Precautionary Principle on the issue of transgenic.

2. What damage to health and the environment caused by transgenic?

To this day, no one knows the extent of the impact that these genetic experiments can cause to humans and the environment. The most serious environmental impacts of transgenic crops are: the decline in biodiversity; GE contamination (crossing of GMOs with conventional plants); the emergence of superweeds (resistant to herbicides), the disappearance of beneficial species; and increased use of herbicides.

In relation to human health, which is known for now is that the transgenic have caused the increase in cases of allergy, especially among children, as well as increased resistance to antibiotics. Two transgenic plants can cross each other and generate a descendant not expected or anticipated by scientists. In Canada, for example, Roundup Ready transgenic canola crossed with transgenic canola Liberty Link, which resulted in a supertransgénica canola. Furthermore, the transgenic plants can produce new and unknown substances toxic to humans.

3. Transgenic reduce the need for pesticide use?

Today there are two different technologies that represent nearly the whole of transgenic planted area in the world: transgenics bred to produce a toxin that replaces insecticides called "insecticidal plants"; and transgenic designed to be resistant to herbicides, a type of pesticide that kills weeds (weeds).

The transgenic Roundup Ready soybeans in the class of plants with herbicide resistance. Roundup is the commercial name of the herbicide glyphosate. Thus, the genetically modified plant name means "Roundup ready". In 2003, the crops with herbicide resistance accounted for 73% of the area planted with transgenic worldwide.

The assessment over the first nine years of transgenic crops in the US shows that the first three years of crop plants with herbicide resistance, there was a reduction in the amount of pesticides used in agriculture in this country. However, the sixth year on the amount of pesticides used in transgenic crops has increased dramatically. This was largely due to the emergence of "superweeds".

This may be compared with the use of an antibiotic to fight a disease. At first, the effect is very good. But over time, the micro-organism acquires resistance and it becomes necessary to increase doses of the antibiotic. Until one day he has no more effect, and you need to switch to another product.

4. Some scientists and research institutions claim that has not been proven that the transgenic is harmful to health and the environment. Why discriminate technology?

Greenpeace argues that environmental protection mechanisms are established to prevent the risks of transgenic. For the organization, all transgenic product must undergo environmental impact assessment (EIA / RIMA) prior to its release. The transgenic soy has not been subjected to any study of this type, but it is being cultivated in the country indiscriminately.

Measures to ensure the safety of transgenic foods are as weak as those dealing with their environmental risks. However, authorities governing this type of product in the US, as the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), continue to approve the use and distribution of transgenic products. In most cases, decisions were based on evidence presented by the companies themselves. In Brazil, the CTNBio (the National Biosafety Technical), government agency that evaluates the safety of genetically modified foods, adopted the same procedure to give a positive opinion for Monsanto soybean varieties in September 1998. In the European Union, there is a strict criterion.

Officially, have not yet been studies related to the environmental safety of soy. Until now, it was not even allowed the application of Roundup (glyphosate) for the plant, which is necessary in the case of transgenic soybeans - in conventional soybeans that herbicide is applied to weeds which are in the soil before soya spring up. The studies presented so far have only been performed in other countries and by their own biotech industries.

5. How and to the transgenic Roundup Ready soybeans were genetically modified?

Were inserted into the Roundup Ready soy gene Monsanto several different species to the plant acquired pesticide resistance to glyphosate. This pesticide has the function of eliminating weeds in soybean crops. So with the transgenic soybean farmers can use the pesticide at will, eliminating all weeds without causing damage to soybean plant. Among the genes are inserted into the RR soya a virus, bacteria and two of a flower, and three genes accidentally inserted.

The soil bacterium Agrobacterium sp CP4 provided the most important gene for transgenic soy, called EPSPSCP4. This gene encodes an enzyme that modifies the biochemical behavior of the plant, allowing the glyphosate herbicide does not kill the plant. With making function of the "genes package" inserted operate without interruption, was inserted into the RR soybean mosaic virus cauliflower (CaMV35S), called the promoter gene.

Petunia hybrida flower, a gene was removed called CTP encoding a peptide. Since the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefasciens provided the NOS gene responsible for function as a result of the end of exotic genes.

In addition to these genes that are part of the package patented, have been discovered, some years later, three fragments of unknown genes present in soy RR. Two of them were discovered in 2000 - A 72 base pairs (smallest fraction of the genetic code) and one with 250 base pairs were identified as EPSPSCP4 gene fragments broken. Another, discovered in 2001 with 534 base pairs, is called "unknown". In 2002, scientists discovered that one of the unknown gene fragments and encode RNA (ribonucleic acid) and thus may be producing unknown proteins.

6. How is the control of food and medicines made from soybeans, for the presence of GMOs?

To have a control of medicines made from soy, as well as all foods containing soy, must be known the origin of the raw material, ie the grains that are purchased from farmers. The rapid test transgenic grain is fast and cheap, while the test done on processed foods is time consuming and expensive. Sometimes, depending on the type of processing, it is not possible to test DNA in the final product. Therefore, the transgenic control should be done along the production chain, from the field to the industry.

The consumer, whenever you have questions, you should contact with the company responsible for the product in order to question whether it exercises control to prevent the presence of transgenic in their food or medicine.

Greenpeace maintains on its website the updated Consumer Guide. In the green column, are the industries which have a strict control of raw material to prevent transgenic contamination.

7. Why not consume transgenic? What is actually harmful or not?

The responsible consumption is a powerful tool for anyone who wishes to contribute to the conservation of nature. The option to consume or reject a product can be an expression of his concern for his health or of his intention to protect nature. By avoiding the consumption of transgenic, you are preventing them from being planted, and so help to protect the environment and the Brazilian biodiversity. Our recommendation is: if you have option, avoid buying those products.

8. What is the difference between breeding and genetic modification?

They are two completely different techniques. Transgenic are produced by genetic modification, and never for breeding.

Genetic improvement is a biotechnology technique used for millennia for various purposes. It is based on genetic combination of two plants of the same species by sexual crossing or, in some cases, from plants of different species but the same genus with great similarities between them. The descendants of this cross are selected, choosing only those individuals that have the desired characteristics, such as increased productivity, resistance to insects or diseases. The breeding works with the genetic diversity within a species.

Since transgenic or genetic modification, also known as genetic engineering, biotechnology is a technique which was introduced in 1973. In transgenesis, the genetic code sequences are removed from one or more organisms and inserted into another organism of a different species. The main implication of transgenics is the breakdown of sexual barrier between different species, allowing crossings impossible to occur naturally, such as between a plant and an animal, a bacterium and a virus, animal or an insect. The exotic insertion of genes into a plant, for example, can result in unpredictable effects on their biochemical and metabolic processes.

9. There are medications made with transgenic?

The best-known product produced by transgenic is insulin. Drugs, enzymes, reagents, and various products are produced by transgenic microorganisms in a confined environment. This means that these microorganisms are trapped inside laboratories and factories, which has no contact with the environment or with the consumer. This kind of use of transgenics, the contained use, does not represent a danger to the environment. The consumer receives a chemical purified and analyzed and also has no contact with the living transgenic. The safety assessment protocol of these chemicals is much more rigorous and detailed than the one used to ensure the safety of GM foods.

Quite different is the idea of ​​using food plants for the manufacture of medicaments outdoors. Imagine a transgenic corn for contraceptive production contaminating conventional corn pollination and by coming to the plate of thousands of people. This type of plant for the production of drugs is dangerous because of the possibility of contaminating the food chain. Have you thought about taking drugs, enzymes and hormones every day for his food, not knowing?

10. It is true that cigarettes are developing modified to contain more nicotine?

Yes it's true. This news was published in the media in 2003, but it seems not depart from the scope of the research and continues unauthorized commercially.

11. There are transgenic bananas?

FAO (World Organization for Food and Agriculture, linked to the UN) pointed to the fact that small farmers around the world grow a wide range of bananas that are not threatened by diseases that attack the varieties mainly marketed in Europe and North America. According to FAO, "Fortunately, small farmers around the world have ensured a wide genetic variation that can be used for the future improvement of this crop Banana is a crop essentially clonal with many sterile species, which makes progress through. conventional breeding slow and difficult. For this reason, new methods and improvement tools, including biotechnology, will be helpful to develop resistant bananas that can be grown. This does not necessarily mean that we should adopt transgenics. "

12. There is a golden rice?

Yes, but it is not used in commercial plantations. Golden rice is a transgenic created with the intention to reduce vitamin A deficiency in populations that traditionally feed on rice. Years of research have been spent and the result was a grain of rice with a pro vitamin A content too low. To ingest the minimum daily amount of vitamin A, an adult male would have to eat 9 pounds of cooked golden rice per day. The solution to vitamin A deficiency is a diversified food habit, with the intake of fruits and vegetables. The main cause of vitamin A deficiency in these regions is the power based only on rice.
There is more stuff in your language:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDzgqVH4QUc
But this account was canceled. In transgenics subject one name always rule=Monsanto.

[mresseguie]

FRM,

Thank you. Unfortunately, that doesn't discuss the question of amoeba genes' being used in long-life tomatoes.

Michael

[Folsom]

I've only found one case of a man particularly sensitive to the phytoestrogen in soy. The reality is that the phytoestrogen is actually good for displacing the man's higher quality estrogen he already has because the phtytoestrogen is so low in quality that it doesn't trigger an estrogen response from cells in virtually all men. However soy is a powerful antioxident that can cause problems for people that process things slowly, as it acts more like a clotting system to a fair amount of people. For some other people their body will unbind their B antigen sugar (blood type B only) from their blood cells and all of that free floating sugar doesn't do any favors for the liver.

Soylent probably lacks a gazillion things we find in vegetables and fruit; whether we know what they do yet or not.

[bladesmith]

It looks like most of the protein comes from rice,not soy, although it does have  soy products in it.

I was wondering about it, in another fashion/way. It could be used as an alternative to all of those SHTF type peeps. Although its self life is only two years. You could buy it and use it when the SHTF and all of the grocery store are empty and you have no other food available.

(I met many Philippine Gorillas, while I was in the Philippines that lived in the jungle and had very little meat for long periods of time. There diet was made up of rice and beans. They have grown up in a different culture, very resilient people, who are very tough. )

[WGH]

I was wondering about it, in another fashion/way. It could be used as an alternative to all of those SHTF type peeps. Although its self life is only two years. You could buy it and use it when the SHTF and all of the grocery store are empty and you have no other food available.

Soylent should provided for the trip to Mars, then it could be advertised like Tang commercials in 1966:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWghCdIqedA

I had to Google SHTF because I had no idea what it meant, now I do. Reminds me of the "duck and cover" drills and all the backyard fallout shelters built in the late 50's to early 60's.

[rajacat]

You meant guerrilla didn't you?

[bladesmith]

You meant guerrilla didn't you?

Yes, I did, But there is no stopping my "auto correct". not the first time auto correct has sabotaged me...

[konut]

... or funerals.

[FullRangeMan]

FRM,

Thank you. Unfortunately, that doesn't discuss the question of amoeba genes' being used in long-life tomatoes.

Michael

This was in the beginning of transgenic era, perhaps was other vegetable, but the combinations shown by the international press was alarming, as amoebas and fish combined with vegetables.