Thursday, January 15, 2009

Once the genie is out of the bottle

There is no way to put him back in...

WASHINGTON The U.S. food supply is at risk of being invaded by unapproved imports of genetically modified crops and livestock, a USDA internal audit report released Wednesday said.

[snip]

The audit found that the USDA needs to develop screening measures to weed out undeclared GMO crops and livestock. The department currently has no measures in place to identify a shipment of unapproved GMO imports unknown to the U.S. regulatory system, the report said.

The United States has been a forerunner in developing GMO plants and animals since the 1990s, but other countries are beginning to invest more in biotechnology.

[snip]

Although the implications associated with Americans consuming unapproved GMO food are unknown, the health and environmental concerns that it poses could threaten commerce.

The USDA's lack of policies and monitoring capability on the matter reflect the United States' dominance over the global market concerning genetic modification.

"Department officials stated that they have not needed such a strategy because most transgenic plants were first developed within the U.S. regulatory system, and it was unlikely that anything unfamiliar would be imported," the report said.

[snip]

In a letter to the Office of Inspector General, the USDA said it would create a plan for monitoring GMO plant and animal developments worldwide by November 30. But further action on policy would require approval from the incoming administration.

So we're only supposed to eat Monsanto grown frankenfoods? They don't like it when we get foreign genetically modified food products? Why? Horning in on their efforts to wedge their way in between the plant and the farmer, the pig and the plate? Aren't they always telling us chemicals in our food is good for us and wonderful for the farmer?

What could go wrong?

2 comments:

Steve Bates said...

I propose that GM foods from Monsanto be described with the term "Monsanitary" ...

ellroon said...

Ha! Excellent. But it sounds too clean. How about Monsanturated, Mono-santo, Monsatoxic.... Something that shows how Monsanto started off wonderfully and now is the worst kind of corporation that stands in the way of people and their right to feed themselves.