Want McFrankenfries With That Burger?
I can't take any credit for the name, but I got an email the other day that McDonald's is considering a new genetically engineered potato that the FDA may soon approve for its french fries.
The email reads: "GE foods have not been adequately tested, aren't labeled and are potentially unsafe. In the case of GE fries, that's a particular problem because they're marketed to children. But McDonald's can help keep GE potatoes off the market, because if they won't buy it, then farmers won't plant it."
The email then goes on to note that McDonald's is the biggest buyer of American potatoes and if this goes through, there's no doubt that they soon will be part of the food our children eat when they go to the fast food franchise.
So far, according to a Web site hoping to get people to unite and protest the upcoming FDA decision, more than 10,000 people have signed a petition to keep the McFrankenfries off the menu.
My son and I don't often eat at McDonald's (he likes Burger King's chicken nuggets better, and so do I, after reading somewhere that a worker allegedly left a box of frozen nuggets on the counter and they melted into a liquid). But if we think we're not eating genetically modified food, think again.
They're everywhere. Corn. Soy. Sugar. Aspartame. Papayas. Dairy. Even zucchini and squash, according to whydon'tyoutrythis.com.
Europe's ahead of us on this. According to rt.com, Monsanto, "the world’s largest seed corporation says it has dropped its bid to get more genetically modified crops onto the European market due to the wide-spread popular opposition. The biotech giant says it will expand its share of the natural seed market instead."
In the U.S., some states -- despite immense pushback from the agricultural industry -- have been able to demand that these bioengineered foods contain labels. My state, Connecticut, was the first in the nation to make it law in June. Such labels are already required in Europe and Australia, according to The New York Times.
listverse.com alleges a whole panoply of reasons GMO's are dangerous -- cross-pollinating and contaminating regular crops, creating super bugs and super weeds, and the most scary of all -- we don't yet know what they will do to us over the long-term.
So how can you avoid these GMO's? There's no guarantee but presumably, shopping for organic products could help, or find out about the places, like McDonald's, that may use them, and avoid them.
The email reads: "GE foods have not been adequately tested, aren't labeled and are potentially unsafe. In the case of GE fries, that's a particular problem because they're marketed to children. But McDonald's can help keep GE potatoes off the market, because if they won't buy it, then farmers won't plant it."
The email then goes on to note that McDonald's is the biggest buyer of American potatoes and if this goes through, there's no doubt that they soon will be part of the food our children eat when they go to the fast food franchise.
So far, according to a Web site hoping to get people to unite and protest the upcoming FDA decision, more than 10,000 people have signed a petition to keep the McFrankenfries off the menu.
My son and I don't often eat at McDonald's (he likes Burger King's chicken nuggets better, and so do I, after reading somewhere that a worker allegedly left a box of frozen nuggets on the counter and they melted into a liquid). But if we think we're not eating genetically modified food, think again.
They're everywhere. Corn. Soy. Sugar. Aspartame. Papayas. Dairy. Even zucchini and squash, according to whydon'tyoutrythis.com.
Europe's ahead of us on this. According to rt.com, Monsanto, "the world’s largest seed corporation says it has dropped its bid to get more genetically modified crops onto the European market due to the wide-spread popular opposition. The biotech giant says it will expand its share of the natural seed market instead."
In the U.S., some states -- despite immense pushback from the agricultural industry -- have been able to demand that these bioengineered foods contain labels. My state, Connecticut, was the first in the nation to make it law in June. Such labels are already required in Europe and Australia, according to The New York Times.
listverse.com alleges a whole panoply of reasons GMO's are dangerous -- cross-pollinating and contaminating regular crops, creating super bugs and super weeds, and the most scary of all -- we don't yet know what they will do to us over the long-term.
So how can you avoid these GMO's? There's no guarantee but presumably, shopping for organic products could help, or find out about the places, like McDonald's, that may use them, and avoid them.
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