Posted on 11/03/2012 6:26:28 AM PDT by Renfield
Australian scientists are expressing grave concerns over a new type of genetically engineered wheat that may cause major health problems for people that consume it.
University of Canterbury Professor Jack Heinemann announced the results of his genetic research into the wheat, a type developed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), at a press conference last month.
"What we found is that the molecules created in this wheat, intended to silence wheat genes, can match human genes, and through ingestion, these molecules can enter human beings and potentially silence our genes," Heinemann stated. "The findings are absolutely assured. There is no doubt that these matches exist."
Flinders University Professor Judy Carman and Safe Food Foundation Director Scott Kinnear concurred with Heinemann's analysis.
"If this silences the same gene in us that it silences in the wheat -- well, children who are born with this enzyme not working tend to die by the age of about five," Carman said.
Digital Journal contacted Heniemann and Kinnear for more information on their research and future actions they may take regarding this issue.
"To date we have not heard from CSIRO, nor are we aware that CSIRO has released any safety studies into the GM wheat," Kinnear said in an email response. "We are in the final stages of drafting a formal letter to CSIRO which will be requesting further information and asking for them to undertake the studies that are recommended in our reports."
According to the researchers, extended testing should be performed before the wheat is put on store shelves. "We firmly believe that long term chronic toxicological feeding studies are required in addition to the detailed requests made by Heinemann for the DNA sequences used," Kinnear stated.
"The industry routinely does feeding studies anyway, so it should not be too much more difficult to do long term (lifetime) studies and include inhalation studies," Heinemann added. "These should be tuned to the way people would be exposed to the product."
The researchers also cautioned consumers against eating the wheat if it is approved prematurely. "I would advise citizens to request that these tests be done and the evidence meet with their standards of scientific rigour if in the end it is approved for use," said Heinemann.
If the concerns surrounding CSIRO's GM wheat are not resolved, the issue could end up in court, according to Kinnear: "If CSIRO was to consider moving towards human feeding trials without conducting these studies, we would be looking at what legal avenues are available to stop them."
http://naturalsociety.com/gm-wheat-permanently-alter-human-genome/
http://gizadeathstar.com/2012/11/more-evidence-frankenfoods-for-the-new-frankenstein/
By what mechanisms?
Human stomachs contain hydrochloric acid, plus this wheat is processed and cooked before ingestion.How does the wheat gene survive the processing, the cooking and the stomach acid? After that miracle, how does the wheat gene influence human genes at the cellular level?
Do not eat GMO foods. I eliminated all corn and soy from my diet. Don't buy processed foods. Eat natural.
Food companies and the FDA are conducting a huge experiment on Americans. I choose not to participate.
Don’t confuse the issue with actual facts or science...
Without being too graphic, check your stool after eating a couple ears of corn. You will see whole kernels that survived intact.
There is no mechanism.
These so called scientists are today’s Luddites.
DDT bad
GM food bad
Hydrocarbons bad
No matter the innovation if it helps people, or people enjoy it, it’s bad.
How many years now have they been telling us that coffee is bad for us? Thousands of studies later there are only benefits.
Corn is not wheat. However, like the wheat, it is not eaten raw and must also pass thru the stomach.
You are seeing a cellulose shell on the corn after the (cooked/processed) corn kernel has passed thru the GI tract and what can be digested has been. That corn is also likely GMO and that still does not answer the question:”By what mechanism does the digested portion of the cooked and processed corn (wheat) affect human gene function?”
Cow patties also contain the remains of corn that were not digested. Cows still survive on it. So do chickens.
Examining one’s stool says nothing about plant genes affecting human genes with regard to the plant’s processing into food and further processing within the body.
I’m with you.
I can’t eat any wheat products anyway, as it causes massive indigestion. Corn and soy have been eliminated from my diet for several years. Basmati rice (from India) and potato - that’s the only starchy carbohydrates I will eat.
This wheat gives new meaning to the expression, ‘Frankenfood’.
Yeah, I know, I know.
I just wish basic biology, anatomy and physiology were taught routinely to everyone. Real critical thinking is extinct.
I am not a science professional. This technology called the Internet allows anyone at all discover the facts, the science and often this information is written at a 9th grade level and therefore accessible. If not, a 2nd window open to a medical dictionary or physiology site will clear things up for the non-professional.
But, no! It is easier to feed one’s ignorance and paranoia by swallowing undigested pap from someone’s agenda.
However, I am old and I was taught logic. That is another discipline that could be returned to the curriculum.
No, but it does say quite a bit about the individual, especially if they continue to play with it or throw it.
Hair on fire alert!! When you hear the term GMO everyone jump up, wave their hands in the air and run around the room screaming, “We’re all gonna die by age five!!!”.
Maybe the wheat was designed to get rid of millions of pesky humans. What kind of wheat does George Soros and Bill Gates consume?
You may now return to freaking out.
Cleaning your butt with corn cobs.
The more you ready and study this GMO foods issue, the more evil it sounds. Why mess with God’s natural production?
Of course, the Big Government, Business Socialist, and Free Trade Globalist crowd loves GMO food....because they can eliminate the competition. But at what cost? GMO food is not done to provide a better product...it is done so Big Government/Business Socialist/Free Trade Globalist can limit producers and production (note these are the same groups of people that always want Government Farm Subsidies)
An interesting book entitled WHEAT BELLY by cardiologist William Davis makes a similar point regarding the newer strains of wheat grown since the mid-sixties. He discovered by accident in his practice that when his heart patients went on wheat-free diets, their heart condition dramatically improved. He set out to find out why and the book is the result.
Lots of ifs, maybe. give me money for further study.
Hoping that was a /s. Granted, the Internet is full of BS on every subject.
I first heard about GW in the late 80s. I made it a point to find out what I could from sources I could trust. It was a matter of discernment. I guess it took a couple of years before I felt I understood some of the processes and learned that many of those processes are not even understood by the people who study them for a living. It was more difficult to tease out who was reliable and what was accurate/well-understood than it was to cover basic climatology. But, then, I loved that warmer decade and last winter and this warmer Fall, so I once I decided the planet was not in peril, I just relaxed and learned to enjoy GW.
I am still learning about everything. Much more interesting than being in a panic.
For those in the greater Houston area there will be a viewing of Genetic Roulette on November 17 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library - 8125 Ashland Way, The Woodlands, Texas at 9:30am.
The showing is free and open to the public.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.