Started on new non-gmo food!

[theFowlFamily]

today we began our new batch of meaties on a new, affordable non-gmo feed from Hiland Naturals. This blog is totally unscientific for very visually interesting! http://thefowlfamily.com/which-would-you-rather-eat/

 

[PDXcluck]

Ew. I hadn't heard about the hair overgrowth in the mouth. On the tongue, gums, or cheeks? Ew. Did the study say if it was salmon, cottonseed, corn, sugarbeets, alfalfa, soy, papaya, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, canola, wheat (still in testing) or ??? Which GM products were the hamsters eating?

The hair was growing in the gingival cavities and could be seen upon necropsy (see photo above). By the third generation of a diet heavy in GM-soy the hair growth was extensive and most hamsters were infertile.

Also, a GM-soy diet shrunk the testicles of rats and turned them from the normal light pink color to dark red/purple (photo below)...I couldn't make this up if I tried!



The only proof I need that the stuff really is terrible is how hard the biotech industry is fighting to stop any initiative that would mandate labeling of GM foods. If there is no harm, then why are they so steadfast against letting me know if it's in my food or not? Which is all I ask. I am not saying to ban it, just label it. Consumers right to know.

Do the research, demand GM foods are labeled, and I suggest not eating them!

cheers

 

[PDXcluck]

All very interesting.
What I would like to see is the clinical study results which supports its use. There are always vocal detractors, it seems. Okay. We get that.
So, what do the "pros" say?
I've worked in both the food and drug industry, and currently work for a multinational pharmaceutical company... yeah, I'm horrid, I know.
But I guarantee that somewhere, the studies exist on the other side. What does that evidence show?
It feels, at least to me, like it's being made inadmissable to this court.

The trouble is that safety and efficacy studies on new food, drugs, pesticides, etc. are almost all conducted by the manufacturers themselves, and thus become subject to the bias of the manufacturer. The FDA does a relatively terrible job in assuring the studies follow sound scientific protocol, and an even worse job if the name on top of the submission is Monsanto, or Merck, or Dow, etc... There are many FDA employees that go on to work for said companies, there are also many execs from the big companies that go to work for the FDA, the list is long and to me seems obvious that some conflicts of interest are present.

To be clear, I am not trying to pretend that the studies I posted above have no agenda. I don't know if they do or not, but usually this type of research has an agenda. The most telling information is to look at who is funding the research, for the papers above, given they were conducted in Russia, I had trouble figuring that out.

Nonetheless, I will continue to argue that the lack of hair growing in your mouth, your families mouths or your friends mouths, is a poor reason to continue to eat GM foods. There are many newborns within my family and circle of friends who are being fed GM soy formula and rapidly acquiring soy allergies. Based on the anecdotal recollection of some elders among us, this is odd and cause for some alarm. Likewise with allergies, asthma, eczema, and poor childrens health in general, there does (anecdotally) seem to be a recent uptick in such things. All this even though, relatively speaking, the general environment is 'cleaner' now that it was 20-30 years ago.

To sum, your evidence is not inadmissable in my court. Find it and present it, something exists because the manufacturers had to present something to the FDA/USDA for approval of their new and novel technologies into the market. To be truthful, I probably won't put a lot of faith in Monsanto's studies telling me it's OK to eat their GM soy, but it would be interesting to see the methodologies used and the results they found.

Cheers to levelheaded debate, I can get ahead of myself sometimes. Thanks to all posters for keeping this civil and my apologies if I went over the top in any previous posts. Its definitely a hot-button topic.

 

[Cindy in PA]

There again the problem with GMO food is that you have no choice but to grow everything yourself, as GMOs do not have to be identified! Not many can grow everything themselves, so they have to guess which foods they want to eat. Our government makes us label everything else and dictates that some things can't be "declared" (mainly if they are good for you), but they don't make big Ag label GMO products. Just label and let the consumer decide, period. That will never happen in this country, too much money in the business. JMHO

 

[carlye828]

Instead of talking about research, I would like to tell you about our real experience with a GMO versus a GMO free diet. So here is our personal story; take it for what you will. I'll try to make it short.

I like to cook everything from scratch, but my husband still enjoyed his college bachelor food; canned raviolis, frozen dinners, cheap frozen pizzas, and oh.... how he loves his ramen noodles! Just pop 'em in the microwave; he doesn't even have to talk to me! He can feed himself like a big boy!

A bit over 4 years ago, he got sick one day. Severe stomach pain, nausea, and constant, bloody diarrhea. After two weeks, it didn't go away. He went to the emergency room were they admitted him. He was hospitalized for almost a week, were they did lots of fun tests including colonoscopies. He was released and later diagnosed as having ulcerative colitis. Fun stuff.

He went to see his doctor and took his medication faithfully, and for over a year he was just as sick as he had ever been. His normal color was green and he lived in the bathroom. I grilled his doctor about his diet and what should I feed him, and read all kinds of books and online info on Chrons/UC diets..... none of it made a difference. During this time of research, I had stumbled across more information about GMO's, something that I never really gave much thought to before. I researched the crap out of them. I was so fed up with my husband's illness, it really consumed his life, that I took over. He pitched a fit when I cleaned out the pantry! It was like an episode of Wife Swap! "WHAT!? You're throwing out my ramen noodles? You're taking everything away from me!" We changed our diet to one free of GMO's and in less than 2 weeks my husband was in remission. He is now symptom free and has been for about 2 1/2 years.

Oh, and concerning the matter of the original post, my chickens are on a GMO free feed.

 

[Davaroo]

Now its non-gmo chicken feed? Food faddists have gone to the henyard - aaaaggghhhh!

 

[ladyokie]

Interesting, I will have to see if I can find someone near me to carry it. Thanks for posting!

 

[PDXcluck]

Now its non-gmo chicken feed? Food faddists have gone to the henyard - aaaaggghhhh!

Avoiding food that has been shown to cause hair overgrowth in the mouth and infertility in just 3 generations of lab hamsters is a FAD?

I call that common-sense.

 

[Spangled]

Avoiding food that has been shown to cause hair overgrowth in the mouth and infertility in just 3 generations of lab hamsters is a FAD?

I call that common-sense.

Ew. I hadn't heard about the hair overgrowth in the mouth. On the tongue, gums, or cheeks? Ew. Did the study say if it was salmon, cottonseed, corn, sugarbeets, alfalfa, soy, papaya, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, canola, wheat (still in testing) or ??? Which GM products were the hamsters eating?

 

[Jubilee1111]

I fed Highland Naturals non-GMO layer feed for several months. At first, I thought it was a great option instead of buying Coyote Creek organic. After awhile, the quality seemed to fall off a bit. There were big chunks of corn and not much else in the last bag I purchased. My chickens went bonkers for the Coyote Creek when I switched them back so I have just stuck with that.