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Mendel in the Kitchen: A scientists View of GM Foods
Mendel in the Kitchen: A scientists View of GM Foods
Date: 2/19/2010 3:37:03 PM ( 14 y ) ... viewed 2507 times
Met the author of this highly readable
and very important book last night
after Dr. Peter Agre's Opening Ceremony
down here at the AAAS Annual Meeting.
I consider this one of the most important books
of our time. It opens a point of departure for
the issue of our times, GMO's and their relationship
to The Future of Foods.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11000
I recommend that you study this book carefully.
I made some other comments in this blog called
Prove It!
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1575969
Please read Dr. Nina Fedoroff's chapter
on THE ORGANIC RULE
and SUSTAINABILTY.
Good quote too from Sir Arthur Howard,
an inspiration of my health mentor
Dr. Bernard Jensen.
Dr. Federoff quotes Sir Howard:
"These mushroom ideas of agriculture are failing;
Mother Earth deprived of her manurial rights is in revolt;
the land is going on strike; the fertility of the soil is
declining."--Sir Albert Howard.
She then gives an outstanding and easily readable explanation
of the Organic Rule that passed through the USDA. She points
out that many organic farmers have difficulty following their own
standard.
She then goes on to explain why she believes that
the GMO approach is a good solution to the world's ag problems.
Howard was a key figure in the founding
of agriculture that understood the importance
of soil fertility.
READ THE REVIEWS HERE ON
AMAZON and ORDER THIS BOOK
BIO NOTE ON
DR. NINA FEDOROFF
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/89337.htm
DR. NINA, incoming President of
AAAS featured in panel honor
founder of the GREEN REVOLUTION,
DR. NORMAN BORLAUG
How will we feed 9 billion people in 2050?
Will there be enough water for a thirsty world?
How can we improve the livelihood of our world’s 2.5 billion farmers?
For decades, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug worked tirelessly to answer these questions and provide resource-poor farmers with the tools needed to improve farming techniques and feed billions.
http://newseumcast.eventbrite.com/
HOW IS THE GREEN REVOLUTION GOING IN INDIA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution_in_India
REVIEWS OF THIS GREAT BOOK
Named to Library Journal's Best Sci-Tech Books for General Readers list for 2004
"...a clearly written history of plant breeding that focuses on the new field of the genetic engineering of crops. They emphasize the many contributions that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) now make toward increasing food supplies while at the same time raising the nutritional levels of some foods. ... Fedoroff and Brown present a strong case that plant breeding and genetic engineering have made and will continue to make substantial contributions to our food supply."
-- Science, October 29, 2004
"[Fedoroff and Brown] have produced not only an authoritative primer on the science and ecology of agricultural genetics, but a much-needed guide for the perplexed."
-- Natural History, March 2005
"Nina V. Fedoroff , a plant biologist, and her co-writer Nancy Marie Brown meticulously depict the past, present and future of genetics in agriculture. They mix didactic science (including diagrams reminiscent of a high-school biology textbook) with accounts of what farmers, naturalists, plant breeders and biologists have wrought over time. The saga brings rationality to the controversy now haunting the newest, most precise and most predictable manifestation of genetic modification -- gene-splicing. ... That gene-splicing is unproved, untested and unregulated is one of the Big Lies of current technophobia. Mendel in the Kitchen goes a long way toward exposing it."
-- Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2004
"This book is not so much a polemic as a primer, delivering in plain language and apt analogy the nuts and bolts of genetic science and its history, and ultimately making the case that the opponents of genetic engineering are wrong. ... We are shown, not told, the evidence for science s key arguments in support of genetic engineering: that bumping genes around is nothing new, nor is playing God with various domesticated life forms. ... [an] admirable book."
-- On Earth, Winter 2005
1:36 PM
February 19, 2010
HERE IS SOMETHING INTERESTING
5:53 AM
February 25, 2010
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20044.cfm
Robert Kremer is a microbiologist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and an adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri. He is co-author of one of five papers published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agronomy that found negative impacts of Roundup herbicide, which is used extensively with Roundup Ready genetically modified crops. Kremer has been studying the impacts of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, since 1997.
The Organic & Non-GMO Report interviewed Mr. Kremer about his research and the reluctance of the USDA to publicize the findings of the five papers.
What about glyphosate resistant weeds?
RK: We have eight different species of glyphosate resistant weeds in Missouri. Some species of Johnson Grass are found in fields where Roundup is used year after year. It is a very aggressive weed.
To solve the problem of weed resistance, genetic engineers are developing soybeans that tolerate Roundup and Dicamba, another herbicide. They are incorporating another gene resistant to another herbicide. When resistance happens again, will they then develop a plant resistant to five or six herbicides? It's an illogical circle.
he papers published in the European Journal of Agronomy received no publicity in the United States. Why is that?
RK: I was working with USDA-ARS to publish a news release about these studies. I've gone all the way to the administrators, but they are reluctant to put something out. USDA's thinking is that if farmers are using this (Roundup Ready) technology, the agency doesn't want negative information being released about it. This is how it is. I think the news release is still sitting on someone's desk.
FROM THE EUROPEAN REPORT
http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/dspace/bitstream/10113/35770/1/IND44260926.pdf
An unknown but interesting aspect of
these observations is the apparent persistent effect of glyphosate
on plant growth two or more years after application. Huber (Johal
and Huber, 2009) reviewed various microbial interactions with
glyphosate including those documented for toxicity toward ben-
eficial microorganisms(i.e., rhizobia, Mn-reducers, mycorrhizae)
and stimulation of detrimental microorganisms (Mn-oxidizers,
pathogenic fungi). Through these interactions, glyphosate changes
nutrient availability and alters pathogen virulence to plants. Some
of the more notable diseases in which glyphosate might be impli-
cated include Corynespora root rot in soybean, Marasmius root
rot of sugarcane, citrus variegated chlorosis (Xylellafastidiosa),
and take-all (Gaeumannomyces graminis) in cereal crops. Many
of the pathogens causing these diseases are stimulated either by
glyphosate exuded from roots, by the altered composition of root
exudates caused by glyphosate treatment, or through a combina-
tion of both exudation processes.
SECRETS OF THE SOIL
Mycorrhiza – The Secret Root System
The content and structure of soil is rarely a topic of hot conversation. Usually it’s referred to as dirt or mud. But if you are developing a garden for your family and friends to enjoy, a better understanding of how soil works and its constituent parts will greatly improve the health and vitality of all your plants.
The existence and benefits of Mycorrhiza is well documented and is proven to be an extremely beneficial fungus, found in healthy soils.
Studies have shown Mycorrhiza to positively influence 90% of all plant material. The translation from Greek means “fungus-root”. Mycorrhiza and plants have a symbiotic association, where each benefits from coexistence with the other. The fungus absorbs the by-products of organic matter found in the soil profile and the plant absorbs nutrients from the fungus. Mycorrhiza is the critical link between the plant root and soil. The ‘roots’ of Mycorrhiza are called hyphae, and when they grow, special fungal coatings are formed around the roots of plants that serve as an extended root system to the host plant – A secret root system.
http://www.verdanthorticulture.com/furtherreading/mycorrhiza.html
DIG IT! THE SECRETS OF SOIL
AT THE SMITHSONIAN
http://forces.si.edu/soils/
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