Caution: GMO Non-Browning ‘Arctic Apple’ Coming Soon – Would You Eat It?
Like the decrepit hand of a wicked witch offering us all a shiny red apple, the latest GMO project puts a new poison in one of our favorite fruits. This time, it is Neal Carter, inventor of Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) offering the latest genetically modified atrocity, named the Arctic Apple. The company will offer its first non-browning apple through the ‘wonders of modern science,’ but I’m not sure its safe to take a bite.
The motivation is to reduce a genetic issue in apples – the oxidation of the fruit which causes it to brown when it has been exposed to air. The British Columbia based company says this is a serious problem which causes a loss for the industry at every level of the supply chain on their website.
Furthermore, the GMO fruit won’t “exhibit slicing damage, result in shrinkage, and put more money in grower’s pockets,” according to OSF, but that’s only if the public takes the bait.
Okanagan Specialty Fruits also claims that GMO foods are highly regulated, naming Health Canada and the US FDA as sources of responsibility for food safety. But most of us already know that the FDA rubber stamps genetically altered foods without really paying attention to the concerns of scientists who show that genetic alterations could be harmful to human beings – preferring to give biotech corporations carte blanche when it comes to destroying human health.
The FDA outright lies to consumers about GMO foods. Monsanto and GMO growers spent more than $40 million recently to keep our food from being labeled in California, and more illegally in Washington for the same reason. Wouldn’t you want to know if you were eating a ‘real’ apple or a poison one?
Read: Monsanto’s Top 7 Lies About GMO Labeling
The problem with not labeling GMO foods is explained by Dr. Martha Herbert, a Harvard Professor:
“Tracing health problems to genetically engineered foods is almost impossible right now, because these foods are not labeled and there is no way to keep track of them. So there is no scientific basis at this time for saying that these foods are problem-free [link added].”
The FDA isn’t the only one who lies, either. Back in 1990, Monsanto even said, “Food labeling has Monsanto’s full backing.” More like, Monsanto will twist the truth at every juncture, just like the politicians that support the biotech farce.
Many places in Europe already support the labeling of GMO foods, but there is another layer of evil to contend with in GMO food creation. If genetically modified apples mix with an organic apple orchard, which is inevitable since you can’t control bees, butterflies, and wind, then all we will have to eat is the fatal GMO variety. The USDA even considers GMO contamination completely normal. Biotech doesn’t need a fairy tale to put us all to sleep – it’s crafting the fruit to put us all in our graves surreptitiously.
The seeds are labeled, FARMERS choose them.
Demanding to know about them in the end product is like demanding Ford tell you the breed of cow used for the leather seats in their cars.
GMO foods are SAFE, in fact safer than organic crops. They cause less environmental damage than organic crops and the nasty pesticides used on them.
You obviously have not read the research. Are you aware that your health depends upon enzymes…living ,molecules which activate processes and metabolize ? Without them, you will not have healthy decomposition and absorb nutrients. The non-browning has to be due to eliminating an enzyme or enzymes. The first gmo food was a flavor-savor tomato and didn’t last long due its insipid cardboard flavor. Organic crops don’t use pesticides. Where do you think the increasing diseases are coming from? Give an animal the choice of healthy or organic food and gmo’s and they will choose the healthy food. Read research from Europe or the US. We are the only big country that does not give people a choice by labeling. ? I eat raw apples every day. I will not eat one that does not brown, because I know the health results.
Enzymes are not living, they are just chemicals.
Organics do use pesticides, some of which were discontinued by conventional farmers because of their danger and impact on no target species.
I have read the research from the EU and it says that GMOs are SAFE
Google EU GMO research
“What makes organic farming different, then? It’s not the use of pesticides, it’s the origin of the pesticides used.
Organic pesticides are those that are derived from natural sources and
processed lightly if at all before use. This is different than the
current pesticides used by conventional agriculture, which are generally
synthetic. It has been assumed for years that pesticides that occur
naturally (in certain plants, for example) are somehow better for us and
the environment than those that have been created by man. As more
research is done into their toxicity, however, this simply isn’t true,
either. Many natural pesticides have been found to be potential – or
serious – health risks.2
Take the example of Rotenone. Rotenone was widely used in the US as an organic pesticide for decades 3. Because it is natural in origin, occurring in the roots and stems of a small number of subtropical plants, it was considered “safe” as well as “organic“.
However, research has shown that rotenone is highly dangerous because
it kills by attacking mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of all living
cells. Research found that exposure to rotenone caused Parkinson’s
Disease-like symptoms in rats 4, and had the potential to kill many species, including humans. Rotenone’s use as a pesticide has already been discontinued in the US as of 2005 due to health concerns***, but shockingly, it’s still poured into our waters every year by fisheries management officials as a piscicide to remove unwanted fish species.
…
Just last year, nearly half of the pesticides that are currently
approved for use by organic farmers in Europe failed to pass the
European Union’s safety evaluation that is required by law 5. Among the chemicals failing the test was rotenone, as it had yet to be banned in Europe.
…
Not only are organic pesticides not safe, they might actually be worse
than the ones used by the conventional agriculture industry. Canadian
scientists pitted ‘reduced-risk’ organic and synthetic pesticides
against each other in controlling a problematic pest, the soybean aphid.
They found that not only were the synthetic pesticides more effective
means of control, the organic pesticides were more ecologically damaging, including causing higher mortality in other, non-target species like the aphid’s predators9.
That is from an article in Scientific American
If you Google it, you can get a list of pesticides used on organic crops.
Organic produce also tends to have higher rates of contamination from manure.
Great. GMO’s may be the answer to all of our problems. So label them. Those, like you, that believe they are wonderful will happily and merrily buy them and eat them knowing they are saving the earth and their fellow man. Those that don’t want to consume them will happily stay away from them. Personally I don’t want them banned, i want them labeled. The market will take care of the rest.
They are labeled for the consumers of them, Farmers.
If you don’t want to eat them then choose organic or non GMO labeled.
I have on problem with voluntary labeling, whether it is for religious reasons, Kosher and Halal, or animal welfare; free range, humane slaughter; or for trade, free trade; environmental, shade grown; flavor, corn fed, grass fed, Angus; locality, Cal oranges, Olanthe corn, Rio Grande grapefruit, Noonday onions. I could go and on with voluntary labels we see all the time. Those are fine.
I object to an expensive, for the government, and for the farmer, the miller, the producer and for the consumer, government mandated labeling program. Since a GMO papaya is not using the same addition/deletion as GMO corn, or sugar beets or the Arctic apple, a GMO label by itself is meaningless, UNLESS, you are wanting it to be equated with a ‘skull and bones’.
Religious reasons….ahhhh, NOW we know why you post such drivel. Go away.
Stop spreading your beliefs. You’re a virus that needs to be stopped. I hope for the sake of mankind you don’t breed.
Another brain dead tard. Good try. Read up on the REAL research that is showing how completely damaging GMOs are to the human body and DNA. They alter the DNA in the GMOs….and our bodies respond to those GMO DNA changes by changing our own DNA. Yeah…glad you’re ok with that. I, and MANY others, aren’t.
And interestingly enough, Monsanto hasn’t even done studies of any kind on many of their GMOs. And they greased the palms of our politicians to get the Monsanto Protection Act passed….which, by the way, prevents us from suing Monsanto, if their not-tested-on-humans GMOs cause death or damage to humans. AND…if they are soooo good for you, why is Monsanto spending MILLION$ to not have foods that contain their GMOs labeled as such?
Doesn’t sound like such a bargain to me. I’ll stick to organics thank you very much.
Not tested? GMO is the most tested food you can eat. Try looking for information on science sights, not ‘natural news’.
There isn’t even any concern about them and you write this freak-out article over nothing. Talk about audience pandering. It’s just like what the GOP does on Fox News.
People have put quite a bit of work into addressing some of the concerns you mention in this article.
Note that apples are almost always vegetatively propagated, so cross-pollination is not a big concern.
I imagine Monsanto saw no reason to oppose labeling back before activist groups decided that GMOs- all of them- are the worst thing in the world. These apples are about as benign as it gets, but they’re still getting almost as much hate as herbicide-tolerant crops.
Your last paragraph is spot on Lukas. It amazes me how some people immediately equate Monsanto to any mention of GMO’s. And you’re right, these apples are just that – apples.
I would not only eat them but also would grow them if I could. And feed them to my children and family and friends. I want to know why people think they know best and want to destroy any research into these products.
The difference between live and dead foods are the active enzymes present in the food. Enzymes play a vital part in the digestive process, take away the enzymes and you wont digest that apple completely. If you don’t get enough enzymes with your food, your pancreas has to secrete more pancreatic juice to compensate for the lack of enzymes, this puts a lot of stress on the pancreas. If you’re always deficient in enzymes you will “wear out” your pancreas over time, this can lead to diabetes later on. I hope that helps.
‘Live and dead’ foods? Live foods are something that is still GROWING, once an animal is killed or a fruit is picked it is no longer ‘live’
The enzymes are not alive, they are just CHEMICALS.
Stupid, fruit just picked is definitely “alive”
Have at it. We’ll be reading about you in the obituary section of your local paper.
Have you heard of or seen gmo harm anyone? Read this OP again. Now how many have organic contaminated food hospitalized or killed? Your risk assessment is poor.
So, tell me some examples.
Since I am almost 63 and in good health, there is more chance of you dying from some contamination from your organic food, than there is me dying from eating GMOs.
What sort of “contamination”?
The opposite is true, it’s GMO that are not researched.
The shill that have been assigned to attack this site have a tame band of at least five up tickers. Those votes should be ignored along with the spurious comments they support.
Calling a shill, no mater what side, loses you any arguments. Godwin’s rule number 2.
I disagree, when posts that fundamentally go against the ideas of the great majority of the the people interested in this site get many up votes virtually instantly something is clearly going on.
Ockhams razor trumps Godwins rule decisively.
Would I eat it?, I have a hard enough time eating non/low nutritious and over pesticide sprayed apples of today. There are not any American tree grown apples that last past Feb/March before going bad. It’s amazing what irradiation and oxygen free rooms can do to an apple.
When I bite into an apple and it doesn’t start turning brown from oxidation in a few minutes, it ends up in the trash. It’s bad enough that it takes 25 to 50 apples to equal the nutritional value of just one apple grown just a hundred years ago.
@Cairenn Day
you definitely drank the koolaid…
with all due respect who pays you to spread the drivel you spew???