A must read for farmers

[Fransisco]

Speaking tour? Well if I did one on the subject I'd have to quote Professor Bruce Ames.

"99.9% or more of the chemicals we eat are natural. For example, 99.99% of the pesticides we eat are natural chemicals that are present in plants to ward off insects and other predators. More than half of those natural pesticides tested in high dose animal tests are rodent carcinogens [that is, they give laboratory rats cancer] . There are about 10,000 or so different natural pesticides in our diet, and they are usually present at enormously higher levels than synthetic pesticides.

Cooking food also generates thousands of chemicals. There are over 1000 chemicals reported in a cup of coffee. Only 26 have been tested in animal cancer tests and more than half are rodent carcinogens; there are still a thousand chemicals left to test. The amount of potentially carcinogenic pesticide residues consumed in a year is less than the amount known of rodent carcinogens in a cup of coffee.

We estimate that Americans eat about 1.5 g of natural pesticides per person per day, which is about 10,000 times more than they eat of synthetic pesticide residues."

Then Parsley you can counter by saying that eating organic just feels right.

[parsley]

May I suggest, fran, and I am so bold here I admit, the thrust of your speaking tour should pronounce the desirability of and encouragement of genetically modifying each one of the 10,000 or so different natural pesticides in our diet, because these natural pesicides will indeed pose MORE harm to humans than the natural pesticides do; because as you say, the naturals contain enormously higher levels than the expertly created synthetic pesticides.

Obvioulsy mother Nature needs a bit of counselling.

Name the project, drum roll, ta dah:

Substitutional Genetic Therapy.

"Nature, the bitch, is faulty, we're gonna give her a gene patch"

And then, fran, promote public funding for the entire exercise, promote partnering with Canadian Food Inspection, with deep-pocketing by the Federal Government.

Finally, get all licening and inspections done by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. hee hee.

If your human experimentation is faulty, and your the pesticide reduction causes genetic infertily, send the bill to the Feds.

The next 0-generation will never have to pay,anyhow.

Pars

[Fransisco]

It doesn't look like mother nature is the one that needs the counseling.

[parsley]

Well, I had to spin the quoted document a bit(okay, a lot). That fits with the "it feels right" comment you graced me with, though. LOL

And I am feeling a bit mischievous today. And fran, you're ever the good sport. Pars

[Kodiak]

This could be an interesting (and far less frustrating) discussion if all writers to this forum posted in English instead of gibberish. Some of you are logical, articulate, and have sound arguments which are well written. Others need to remember lessons learned in elementary school; maybe even remember the lessons they once taught there.

[parsley]

[parsley]

And the link for fran is because he IS smart and I thought he'd be particularly interested in it.

[parsley]

Click on your mouse kodiak if you are too confused. And go help plan a menu.

[Fransisco]

Interesting tidbit here. Looks like they're starting to realize that maybe a zero tolerence policy is not in their long term best interests.

EU Agricultural Ministers To Mull Risks Of Strict GMO Policy

The European Union Council of Agricultural Ministers will meet
Monday to discuss the economic risks posed by the EU's tough policy of
rejecting agricultural imports that contain tiny residues of
unauthorized genetically modified material, an EU official said Friday.

The issue made headlines in June when Germany and Spain blocked
cargoes of US soy...one of which amounted to 35,000 tonnes...that were
found to contain traces of GM corn not yet approved in the EU. After a
number of separate incidents, a total of 200,000 tonnes of soy had been
denied entry by mid-July, according to the EU Commission.

High on the agenda of the Agricultural Council will be the problems
faced by the trading block's livestock industry, which is hugely
dependent on imports of soymeal as the chief component of animal feed.
Feed and food industry representatives have warned due to tight global
stocks the EU faces severe soybean shortages and soaring feed prices in
the coming months unless it eases its zero-tolerance policy.

[furrowtickler]

Child obesity comes from the "home" they live in. Lazy parenets produce lazy children. Our kids are in dance, hockey,swiming, gymnastics, and school sports. We eat out alot b/c of time issues - but our kids are as active as we were or more - not one pound overweight and probably never will. BTW internet/wii/computer - not a problem if they are active, don't give them the time/chance. It makes our life seem crazy but the only spare time is for reading books or homework - so far.
Pars the problem lies with the parents not the kids, feed them right and keep them active. Nothing against organic food, but the food we produce is not the problem, it's the parents, end of story.