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=** __Bioengineered Foods and Their Negative Effects on Society__**=

http://www.cqs.com/50harm.htm In the years between 1997 and 1999, genetically-modified ingredients suddenly appeared in 2/3 of all US processed foods. In just those three years, as much as 1/4 of all American agricultural lands were converted to raise GM crops. But in other countries, the same things are becoming partially banned, restricted or requires labeling - and with strict legal penalties for non-compliance. This applies to laws in Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Portugal. The same trend has further spread to Latin America, the Near East and Asia.

According to http://www.soilassociation.org/gm at least 13 animal feeding trials now show a range of alarming health effects in animals fed GM: lesions in the gut, toxic effects in body organs, unexplained deaths and stunted growth in their offspring.

Although genetic engineering presents many new possibilities, it also presents many problems.

One of these problems, is cross-pollenation between different species of plants which can cause the modified genes to be transfered to the pollen recipient. What this means is that if a plant is engineered to be resistent to herbicide, and that plant fertilizes a weed plant nearby, the weed could produce offspring that carry the modified gene, making the weed resistent to herbicide. The concept of interspecies pollination was proven by Norman Ellstrand at the University of California, when he showed that radish plants could succesfully hybridize with weeds.

Another disadvantage of genetic engineering is food alergies. "An estimated two percent of adults and eight percent of children have food allergies, which can be deadly (http://whyfiles.org/062ag_gene_eng/5.html)." Food alergies were found to be an issue when a company growing soy beans gentically altered their crops with high protein producing genes from the Brazil nut, which some people happened to be allergic to. Although Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the company experimenting with this combination, was producing a high protein soy feed for animals, decided to stop production, stating there was no easy way to completely keep the beans out of contact with the human food distribution system. In addition to cross-pollenation, bioengineered foods have a negative effect on people.

Some people are discovering new allergies they never knew they had or that they even thought existed. This is a problem because a mysterious reaction can vary from mild to extremely dangerous and needs immediate professional help/care. The Food and Drug Administration makes it mandatory to label a product that includes one of the common allergy-causing foods, this does not protect against other not-so-common allegies that some consumers may have.

Although there is only a 'low risk', [|low risk is not no risk]. The United Kingdom's Food and Agricultural Organization gave a report that was very hypocritical. They were quoted, "...foods derived from the transgenic crops currently on the market are safe to eat". But they later cautioned that crops must be evaluated case by case. So why are companies selling foods that they know are not 100% safe to the health of humans? Why are they willing to take the chance on unsure beliefs over whether or not a company's products are safe or not?

Some believe that if it becomes well-known among the human race that bioengineered foods are bad for them, then, if they so choose, they may purchase these products as long as they are labeled. It should clearly state in //large// lettering that the product is bioengineered and whether they choose to put their health in jeaprody is completely up to them. Since bioengineered foods are not unlawful, you, as a consumer, must chose whether or not to put yourself, animals, and the future generations of foods and plants in danger.