Tag: Human health

TechNyou carry great story about GM wheat: the story of our daily bread |

GM wheat: the story of our daily bread | TechNyouBY JASON MAJOR TECHNYOU (reproduced here by kind permission of TechNyou) Australian consumers will soon be eating GM bread that has never been proven safe, according to Greenpeace. Greenpeace have lately been rattling the can about CSIRO’s proposed trials of GM wheat that have altered starch…

Syndicated

Deadly Choices — Junk science costs lives

Most of the time scientists can rely on publications that go through the careful critical review by other scientists. But sometimes papers get rushed through to publication, and there can be hasty, even harmful decisions made by journal editors. On the hopefully rare occasions were seriously flawed scientific studies have been got through the critical…

Syndicated

Real progress on EU E. coli outbreak: An Egyptian fenugreek seed source to European food disaster?

European Food Safety agency EFSA has traced the food chains from the seed sprout associated E. coli food illness in the EU that has killed 48 people. The evidence is pointing to imported Egyptian fenugreek seeds at this moment in the investigation. CIDRAP provide a good commentary on this, reposted here**. The problem may be…

Syndicated

The lethal elephant in the room: Real risks in our food

Even as speculation about imaginary risks of GM foods continues, particularly among some organic sector enthusiasts, real food risks in the food chain remain unmanaged. Exposure of fresh vegetable produce to manure is a case in point. Pathogenic Escherichia coli are one of more frequent health dangers of fresh vegetables. These bacteria can be present…

Food

A 21st Century Cheerful Guide to Better Health from GMOs

A little bit of regular harm does you a lot of good. If we are going to biofortify foods with extra doses of beneficial chemicals that are not essential nutrients, such as resveratrol found in grapes (see A GM wheat that prevents Alzheimer’s disease, extract below) or with polyphenols that are found in berries, it behooves…

Syndicated

Malaysian GM mozzie makes matters better

Sunday November 14, 2010Genetically-modified mozzie test shows promiseBy TAN SHIOW CHINstarhealth@thestar.com.my PETALING JAYA: The first-ever release of genetically-modified (GM) male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into the wild in the Cayman Islands has shown promising results. Researchers from the country’s Mosquito and Research Control Unit found that there was an 80% reduction of the A. aegypti population…

Syndicated

Suspicious seaweed source of serious serial soya sickness saga

Soy products are in the news due to an impending class action suit against a soy milk substitute distributer, but the culprit is seaweed. Kelp and its extracts can contain toxic amounts of iodine that can affect the thyroid. Thankfully Greenpeace is not issuing demands for the banning of all seaweeds in food. Hopefully the…

Syndicated

Improved nutritional value from GM spud developed in India

Next-generation protein-rich potato expressing the seed protein gene AmA1 is a result of proteome rebalancing in transgenic tuber Protein deficiency is the most crucial factor that affects physical growth and development and that increases morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries. Efforts have previously been made to improve protein quality and quantity in crop plants…

Syndicated

Chaotic UN decision making part of the human welfare problem

Daily Caller, September 20, 2010Not so pro-Bono An op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times about the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by rock singer Bono (yes, you read that right) was naive and misguided. The minimal successes at improving the health and wealth of the poor he cited have been vastly overshadowed by negative policies…

Syndicated

Malaysia mulls landmark trial of GM anti-dengue mosquitoes

AFP: Malaysia mulls landmark trial of GM anti-dengue mosquitoes By Beh Lih Yi (AFP) In this item AFP report that Malaysia is considering releasing genetically modified mosquitoes designed to combat dengue fever, in a landmark field trial that has come in for criticism from environmentalists. They describe the first experiment of its kind in Asia,…

Syndicated