By combining two existing tests for GMO identification, a Chinese research team has developed a comprehensive test that they claim is 97% accurate for “known commercialized modification” of crops developed up to 2012. They claim this test is twice as accurate as any other, and that it is expandable to include future genetic modification.
Welcome news to farmers owning conventional fields, who face the constant menace of crop contamination from windborne GMO seeds landing them in legal and economic difficulty, through no fault of their own and without much recourse.
“Despite strict regulations, unauthorized GMOs have been occasionally released into the market. There is thus an urgent need for high-capacity monitoring of GMOs,” wrote the research team, led by Li-Tao Yang from Jiao Tong University, China.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, the residents of Kauai might be wishing for this method of “high-capacity monitoring” to prove their points in court. Dupont, Syngenta and Agrigentics Inc. have filed a federal lawsuit, claiming that the island of Kauai’s anti-GMO law is unconstitutional. The three companies collectively lease 11,500 acres on Kauai for test farms and research facilities. They grow a mix of biotech seed crops, including corn, soybeans, canola and rice.
The anti-GMO law requires large agricultural companies to disclose pesticide use, report genetically engineered crops, and create buffer zones between pesticide-sprayed fields and public areas like schools, hospitals and homes. Planet Waves last reported on the bill on Oct. 11, 2013; it was subsequently passed in November and is set to take effect in August.
Councilman Gary Hooser, who co-introduced the bill, said the lawsuit is an attempt to bully the residents of Kauai and maintain secrecy around what pesticides they are using.
“These companies do not want our county to set a precedent that other communities are going to follow,” he said.
Editor’s note: This article is a sample of what you’d receive each Friday in the Planet Waves subscriber edition. In addition to Eric’s weekly horoscope and lead article on an astrology or personal growth topic, we publish short articles on ecology, politics, relationships, art, economics, and of course, the week’s astrology in each edition. — Susan
Dear Susan,
Thank you for reporting on this. Once I learned the dangers of GMO food, especially that some can actually cause your body to become a pesticide/herbicide factory, I tried to avoid putting even one bite of food containing GMOs in my body. Here in Bali, there is a strong possibility that any or all of these lovely rice terraces that everyone loves to look at may be growing GMO rice. And in general, here in Asia as in many places, where rice is a staple and people look with no comprehension whatsoever when you ask for no rice or wheat, it can be difficult to get a full meal at a restaurant.
As I’ve been traveling, in trying to avoid gluten, GMO, MSG, refined sugar, tuna that might have spawned near Fukushima, non-organic or badly treated chickens, nightshade vegetables and chocolate that can make it difficult for me to move, and soy (usually GMO and full of phytates and estrogens that grow breast cysts and fibroids), I have been either confined to a few meals from a few health food restaurants or had to compromise and pay the cost. I usually have to pick through the food I do get to remove ingredients that I do not want to eat. If I have food delivered I have to check it when it arrives, because my request for no tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants or bell peppers is either not communicated to the chefs, or not taken to include things like ketchup or tomato sauce, tomato or based curries, or soups that are potato-thickened. Many restaurants use prepackaged bases for soup or dressing that contain MSG. Though I can use my muscle testing system to help decide what is safe to eat, it would be great to have a small low-cost instrument or testing kit, that an individual or group could use to detect GMOs and other noxious substances in food. I hope the technology gets to a point where this is possible.
Just a little note on the pleasurable side of eating in Southeast Asia for balance: I’ve been wondering how I can settle back into New England without jackfruit, snake fruit, durian, dragon fruit, cheap papaya, soursop, rambutan, etc.