The Gene Revolution: The Future of Agriculture

Thierry Vrain retired 10 years ago after a long career as a soil biologist and ended head of a department of molecular biology running his own research program to engineer nematode resistance genes in crops. In his retirement career as a gardener he learned five or six years ago how the soil ecosystem really functions and have been preaching ever since. He find himself with a good knowledge of genetic engineering technologies surrounded by people in fear of being hurt by the food they eat. He found that he cannot ignore them anymore and has joined the campaign to educate consumers about the potential health problems reported in the recent scientific literature.

Is Outrage Over the Monsanto Protection Act a Turning Point for the "Real Food" Movement?

www.huffingtonpost.com - June 13th, 2013

In March, when I first wrote about how the biotech rider -- called the Monsanto Protection Act by its vocal opponents -- undercut the constitutional concept of separation of powers, it seemed hardly anyone (other than the usual advocacy groups) was paying attention. But then a lot of people got mad, really mad.

Within a few short weeks the issue exploded in the mainstream media, with the surest sign the issue had hit the big time being (what else?) coverage by The Daily Show (hilariously titled, "You Stuck What Where?"). Another indication was outrage even from a Tea Party blogger.

Quick refresher: Biotech companies have to get permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to plant new genetically-engineered crops. In recent years, groups such as the Center for Food Safety have been gaining traction by filing lawsuits challenging federal approval, thereby stopping some novel crops from being planted when courts agreed that USDA failed to conduct proper environmental oversight.

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What Are We Really Eating?

Squirrel Feeding study GMO corn vs Organic corn

This was an actual real life experiment conducted on a farm in the fall of 2012 to see if animals really can tell the difference between GMO corn versus organic (non-GMO) corn. This picture is one of the five experiments that was conducted and every single time the squirrel always preferred the organic corn over the GMO corn. The squirrel always ate the organic corn up first then went to go eat on GMO corn last. They also used different varieties of both organic and GMO corn every time just to rule out the possibility that maybe the squirrel was getting to liking one variety over the other but to their complete disbelief he still always preferred to eat on the organic corn more! The results even surprised me.

Food and Health Industry NOT Linked!

Gluten Free Eggplant Parmigiana

1 (one) medium, very firm, shiny eggplant 

26 ounces fresh roasted tomato sauce of your choice 

8 thick slices fresh mozzarella 

3 large room temperature eggs 

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour blend 

2 cups gluten free Panko style Bread Crumbs 

Sea salt and black pepper 

Extra virgin olive oil 

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 F

Season flour with sea salt and black pepper. Cut eggplant into 8 equal size discs. Toss eggplants in flour to fully coat. In another bowl, whisk eggs. Dip eggplants in the egg mixture making sure to get it fully coated. Roll eggplant discs in bread crumbs (make sure to get a thick coating). Line eggplant discs in a single layer in a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning eggplant over halfway through cooking. 

Cover the bottom of a serving platter with hot tomato sauce and add eggplant discs in a single layer. Add a thick slice of fresh mozzarella on top of each disc followed by extra sauce (refer to picture). Scatter freshly grated parmesan cheese over the top. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over the top and grilled until cheese is bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Below is a single slice alternative to the family platter shown above

Grilled Lamb Kofta

1 lb ground grass fed lamb 

3 small green chillies, remove seeds 

1 large white onion 

1 large egg 

1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic 

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley 

1/4 fresh chopped mint 

1 tablespoon smoked paprika 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground all spice 

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Finely chop onion and green chillies using a food processor. Pulse in egg, garlic, parsley, mint, paprika, cinnamon, and all spice to make a smooth paste. Season well with sea salt and black pepper. Pulse in lamb to combine.Divide mixture into 8 equal amounts and mold evenly onto the ends of metal skewers (refer to picture). 

Grill under high heat for 10 minutes, turning over frequently or until cooked. Serve immediately with fresh yogurt and cucumber slices.

Regulators Discover a Hidden Viral Gene in Commercial GMO Crops

www.independentsciencenews.org - January 24th, 2012

How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered something potentially very important about the safety of products they have been approving for over twenty years?

In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012). This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers. This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. It also may disturb the normal functioning of crops, including their natural pest resistance.

What Podevin and du Jardin discovered is that of the 86 different transgenic events (unique insertions of foreign DNA) commercialized to-date in the United States 54 contain portions of Gene VI within them. They include any with a widely used gene regulatory sequence called the CaMV 35S promoter (from the cauliflower mosaic virus; CaMV). Among the affected transgenic events are some of the most widely grown GMOs, including Roundup Ready soybeans (40-3-2) and MON810 maize. They include the controversial NK603 maize recently reported as causing tumors in rats (Seralini et al. 2012).

The researchers themselves concluded that the presence of segments of Gene VI “might result in unintended phenotypic changes”. They reached this conclusion because similar fragments of Gene VI have already been shown to be active on their own (e.g. De Tapia et al. 1993). In other words, the EFSA researchers were unable to rule out a hazard to public health or the environment.

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The Rise of the New Food Culture

www.huffingtonpost.com - December 11th, 2012

So gassy are the arguments about our food system and its effect on life and health in America -- arguments that hop from obesity to Type 2 diabetes to GMOs to food deserts to e coli to high fructose corn syrup -- that it's easy to miss a heartening truth, one we can be thankful for in this season of eating. The truth is that America is in the middle of inventing a new food culture, and no one, not the foodies nor the food activists nor the Grocery Manufacturers Association of America, can predict how powerful a force for change it may be. This food culture, spreading across the land like the bloom on a soft-ripened cheese, has the power to cure a lot of what ails us. Deep cultural change is the one force that can overcome generations of political and market inertia that have led to our overweight condition. A taste for better food could lift us from the adolescent excesses of our 20th century eating habits -- and begin to reduce the obesity that has been the result.

American food culture in the last century swallowed the factory-to-table promise whole, a promise that seemed validated by the triumphs of nutrition science: Diet was perfectible for the shiny, fast-paced life that was God's destiny for Americans. Daily we would rise to vitamin-enriched spongy white breads and toaster pastries and powdered breakfast drinks; we would lunch on mass-manufactured hamburgers; we would snack on Hostess Twinkies; dine on huge steaks. We would replace water with soda, and make our beer taste like water. We would conquer the world on this high-octane fuel, in vast portions for our growing bodies. The anonymous food scientist was the de facto head chef of the nation. None of the factory foods, taken alone, was or is bad; taken together, though, and dominating our diet: That turned out to be a different story.

The perfectible diet revealed its fatal flaws when chronic disease rates (first heart disease, much more recently Type 2 diabetes) rocketed and were linked as early as the 1950s to the supersized, supercharged, supersalted, superfatted foods we loved. But we would also awaken, slowly, to the limitations -- in variety and in taste -- of the food we ate. Newly prosperous Americans traveled and encountered deep food cultures abroad, in Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. Maybe pasta in cans wasn't the best pasta? Among the travelers were people like Alice Waters, who brought the real-food word home and insisted that a whole new story about American food was possible. The environmental movement blossomed, throwing light on problems with farming and fishing, and beginning to reconnect the idea that quality of food supply depends on quality of farming practices.

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Kenya Bans GMO Foods

www.nature.com - December 4th, 2012

Scientists fear that Kenya's recent banning of the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may be a significant blow to progress on biotechnology research and development in the country.

A cabinet meeting chaired by Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, this month (8 November), directed the public health minister to ban GMO imports until the country is able to certify that they have no negative impact on people's health.

In a statement to the press, the cabinet said there was a "lack of sufficient information on the public health impact of such foods".

"The ban will remain in effect until there is sufficient information, data and knowledge demonstrating that GMO foods are not a danger to public health," it added.

The directive comes three years after the government's establishment of the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), tasked with exercising general supervision and control of the transfer, handling and use of GMOs.

The NBA board chair, Miriam Kinyua, tells SciDev.Net that for now, the government directive will stand. However, she added that researchers will continue to provide the government with information arising from research into GMO safety, so that a possible review of the directive can be undertaken.

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Peru Bans Genetically Modified Foods As US Lags

www.stumbleupon.com - November 29th, 2012

Anybody planning to sneak genetically modified seeds into Peru should think twice – the country has just launched a historic ban on GMOs. Following a long struggle by the last administration’s environment minister Antonio Brack and several activist groups, current President Ollanta Humala signed a law last year that prohibits the import, production or use of GMO foods for the next ten years. The law went into effect last week, and would-be violators face huge fines. 

As large corporate groups like Monsanto continue to push their GMOs on countries around the world, many activists and lawmakers are pushing back. Including Peru, which initially supported GMO imports following pressure from the private sector keen to boost biofuel production. But for the next ten years, the country is relatively safe thanks to President Humala, whose law decrees fines as high as USD14 million and foods could be seized and destroyed.

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GMO Cow Produces Hypo-Allergenic Milk

www.nzherald.co.nz - October 2nd, 2012

AgResearch scientists have bred Daisy, the first cow in the world to produce high protein milk that may be hypo-allergenic.

AgResearch scientists who may have produced a world-first in genetic modification - the possibility of hypo-allergenic cow's milk - want New Zealand to benefit from their findings.

While some scientists have hailed the discovery as a breakthrough, anti-GM groups have called early results taken from a genetically modified cow as a worrying development.

Its developers have been cautious not to speculate over the research's commercial potential, describing it only as a science discovery whose applications could be several years away from being understood.

The team had sought to find if they could produce milk which contained less beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) - a milk whey protein known to be allergenic.

A large proportion of the 2 to 3 per cent of infants who were allergic to cow's milk had a BLG intolerance, said Dr Stefan Wagner, one of the paper's lead authors.

The scientists first tested the process in a mouse model engineered to produce the sheep form of BLG protein in mouse milk. Using a technique called RNA interference, two microRNAs were then introduced into the mouse to knock down the expression of the sheep BLG protein - resulting in a 96 per cent reduction in the sheep BLG protein in mouse milk.

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Cluten Free Corn Fritters

3 cups non gmo corn kernels

2 large eggs, room temperature

4 tablespoons gluten free flour blend

2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill

1 teaspoon baking powder

Sea salt and black pepper

Coconut oil (for frying)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, stir well to combine. Season with sea salt and black pepper. In a large skillet, add one cup of oil to the pan on medium heat. When hot, drop teaspoonfuls to the pan. Don't flatten it, leave it in a heap and don't mess with it until the first side is ready to flip (about 3 minutes). Flip over for a further three minutes. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Season with fresh black pepper and sea salt.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar/icing sugar. Serve with pure maple syrup on the side.

Crispy Black Bean Fritters with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce

These quick-to-make fritters are full of flavor. To make them even lighter, separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then carefully stir in with all the other ingredients.

Crispy Black Bean Fritters:

3 cups black bean, cooked

1 large yellow pepper, remove seed, chop into small pieces

1 small white onion, diced 

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 large tomato, chopped into small pieces

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour

2 eggs, room temperature

Sea salt and black pepper 

Extra virgin olive oil (for frying)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, stir well to combine (add more flour if it's not binding). Season with sea salt and black pepper. In a large skillet,add three tablespoons of oil to the pan on medium heat. When hot, add tablespoonfuls of the bean mixture. Fry on one side until golden brown and crispy (about 3 minutes). Flip over for a further three minutes. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Season with fresh black pepper and sea salt.

Serve with dipping sauce on the side

Cilantro Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1/2 small green chili, seeded and finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon sugar Sea salt and black pepper

Blend all the ingredients for a smooth consistency. Season with sea salt and black pepper.