Consumer rights for safe food include the rights for food to be safe, nutritious, affordable, available, and sustainable. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms like crops that have been altered by changing their gene sequence to induce desired traits, such as making crops pest-resistant or herbicide-tolerant. While GMOs may have benefits, there is no long-term research on their safety as human food and growing evidence they can be hazardous. To avoid GMOs, consumers should eat local, unprocessed, organic food and fight for their right to safe food and GMO labeling.
2. Food must be •
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•
•
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Safe
Nutritious
Affordable
Available
Sustainable
3. What is more healthy?
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•
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boiled banana
kalamansi juice
gatas ng kalabaw
kaldereta
Chippy
Coke / Coke Lite
Birch Tree / Nesvita
hot dog
4. What are genetically modified
organisms (GMOs)?
They are organisms, e.g., crops, which
are altered by changing its gene sequence
in order to induce a certain desired trait.
5.
6. How GMOs are created
• The DNA is made up
of genes. A gene from
another individual or
species is inserted in
the DNA of the host
organism. E.g., the
gene of bacteria is
inserted into the DNA
of corn.
12. Why are GMOs created?
• to kill a crop’s pest, e.g.‘corn borer’ :
e.g., Bt corn
• to make the crop herbicide-resistant:
e.g.,Round-up ready corn
• to kill the virus attacking the crop:
e.g., Bt papaya
• to add nutrients:
e.g., Golden rice
• for bigger and faster growth:
e.g., salmon
13. Are GMOs safe to eat?
• No one knows for sure.
• No long term studies on safety of any GMO
crop as human food has ever been done.
14. But there is growing evidence
that GMOs are hazardous
From
-human epidemics
-animal nexperiments
- observations
15. Adverse effects
of GMOs seen
in humans
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•
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L-tryptophan epidemic
Starlink Corn epidemic
Bt pollen -allergies in Mindanao farms
Aspartame linked to MS Symptoms
GM Soya baby food -Infant deaths
GM insulin -- extreme fatigue and myalgia
GM hepatitis B vaccine - chronic fatigue and myalgia.
BT cotton - extreme allergies
50% increase in soya allergies
16. Modern diseases linked to GMOs
• Cancer – Americans have a 41% chance of
developing cancer.
American Cancer Society
• Diabetes - There are 25.8 million people in the
United States, or 8.3% of the population, who have
diabetes.
American Diabetes Association
• Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD Approximately 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17
years of age have ever been diagnosed with ADHD,
as of 2007.
American Psychiatric Association
20. How do GMOs get into our food
supply?
• Processed food – Use flour, sugar and
oil from Bt corn, soya,
canola
• Seeds for planting
• Chickens, pigs and cows are fed GMOs
21.
22. Countries which plant the most
GMOs
U.S. –
55 million hectares
Soya - 91%
Maize – 73%
Cotton – 87%
Argentina- 18
Brazil 12
Canada - 6
23. Consumers in countries or provinces that
have rejected planting of GM crops
England
Germany
Italy
Leichenstein
Austria
Japan
Peru
And many more…
Negros
Bohol
Mindoro
Ifugao
24. MORAL ISSUES
• Because of Intellectual Property Rights
agreements, only a handful of multinational
companies will control the food of the
world:
Monsanto
Bayer
Syngenta
Du Pont
25. Government denial
The Food and Drug Administration has
announced that GMOs are safe. What is its
basis?
Government supports GMO agriculture rather
than organic farming, has resisted GMO
labeling
27. What can we do as consumers?
1. Avoid food with GMOs
• Guideline: foods with corn and soya derivatives, high
fructose
2. Patronize organic food.
3. Eat / buy local, unprocessed, organic
4. Fight for our right to safe food
5. Ask your congressmen to support the labeling
bill.
6. Campaign against the planting of GMOs on
Philippine soil
28. Let us all all work for
Safe food, safe planet.
