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  • SATURDAY JULY 7 2007 4:00 PM

You Eat Living Pollution

Submitted by Rahodeb

Edited by Rahodeb

Tags: GMO, Mutant Rice,



Just thought you might want to know that if in the past year you enjoyed a helping of Uncle Ben's rice, Rice Krispies, or--gasp--a Budweiser, you most likely ingested a little bit of Liberty Link.

Originally made by a biotechnology company called Aventis Crop Science (and acquired by Bayer in 2001), Liberty Link is a genetically modified variety of rice with genes that have been altered to resist a weed killer called Liberty, which also happens to have been made by Aventis.

The thing is, the Liberty Link rice that you may have consumed in your breakfast cereal, side dish, or beer backer wasn't approved for human consumption, and its presence in your chow was due to a contamination.

Testing revealed that the genetically modified rice contained a strain of Liberty Link that had not been approved for human consumption. What's more, trace amounts of the Liberty Link had mysteriously made their way into the commercial rice supply in all five of the Southern states where long-grain rice is grown: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri. Bayer and Riceland then informed the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which announced the contamination last August.

So, what did the USDA decide to do in response to the pissed off consumers and anti-GMO activists who'd been feasting on this living pollution? You gotta hand it to them--this is a brilliant demonstration of indifference and denial: They retroactively approved the LIberty Link rice, saying that the manipulated genes are "similar to those inserted for years into canola and corn, with no apparent ill effects"

The experts at the USDA, the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration, all of which bear some responsibility for regulating transgenic food, say the contamination is nothing to worry about.

Nothing to worry about. Nice. I feel a whole heck of a lot better, don't you? Seriously--Europe, Japan, and even Iraq refuse American rice because they understand that despite the repeated assurances of our "experts," genetically modified crops can't be managed or controlled.

"This is a new kind of pollution," says Andrew Kimbrell, director of a Washington advocacy group called the Center for Food Safety, which opposes transgenic food. "You don't see it. It disseminates. It reproduces. It mutates. It's living pollution."

Guess what? If the old adage that "you are what you eat" applies in this day and age, well...

You're a mutant.

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Comments
Moonrabbit

Moonrabbit

Vancouver, BC
February 2005

JUL 07, 2007 04:31 PM

Wow I've eaten...... None of that stuff in the past year or two. Maybe a couple rice crispy squares.
Why would anybody drink budwieser?

JoLeigh

JoLeigh

SUICIDEGIRL

Florida, USA

JUL 07, 2007 04:37 PM

MY GOD!
I eat rice everyday

that may explain the glowing in the dark thing...
wierd

AceT

AceT

Portland, OR
April 2004

JUL 07, 2007 04:47 PM

It was tasty too.

Ferretbite

Ferretbite

Mexico
September 2006

JUL 07, 2007 04:50 PM

Why would anyone drink Budweiser?

unravled

unravled

Portland, OR
August 2003

JUL 07, 2007 04:58 PM

Moonrabbit said:
Wow I've eaten...... None of that stuff in the past year or two. Maybe a couple rice crispy squares.
Why would anybody drink budwieser?



Or eat converted or prepared rice?

I can happily say I haven't eaten any of those things either.

Charybdus

Charybdus

Lafayette, LA
July 2006

JUL 07, 2007 05:08 PM

Typical for the FDA, but I don't particularly think its a big deal. People have been eating tomatos with a flounder gene interted in them to prevent freezing for years if you bought your tomatos at the local Safeway. People have the screwwed up idea that genetically modifying foods is misguided and scary. Piffle. How is it any different than the animal husbandry/selective breeding we have been performing since we domesticated animals/raised crops? There we simply breed in or out traits we desire in an animal/plant. This is just a lot quicker.

Skywisdom

Skywisdom

Portland, OR
December 2005

JUL 07, 2007 05:10 PM

One time I made some uncle ben's rice, crumbled rice crispy treats over it, and then poured Budweiser over the whole thing, and ate it for breakfast. And by one time, I mean every day for the past year.

pmonkeyEsquire

pmonkeyEsquire

I'm lost
May 2004

JUL 07, 2007 05:16 PM

That's why I eat Basmati rice! Whew!!! tragedy narrowly avoided!

Twelve

Twelve

Bay City, MI
April 2007

JUL 07, 2007 05:17 PM

It really is easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

blazenlow1313

blazenlow1313

Pottsville, PA
August 2004

JUL 07, 2007 05:36 PM

so could this addage to budwieser affect someone mentally if its not something thats fit for consumption? i ask cos someone i know has always been a bud man and in the last year or so hes become a totally vile nutjob. he doesnt drink a beer or two a day. he usually has like 12 or more a night, and has done so for about 20 years. so could this be a side effect considering that hes drank the same ammount for as long as i can remember and up until about a year ago he was a pretty happy go lucky drunk?

Pwndcake

Pwndcake

Portland, OR
October 2004

JUL 07, 2007 05:56 PM


You're a mutant.



Sweet. My healing factor will protect me from the side effects of eating that rice.

bairdduvessa

bairdduvessa

Centerville, MA
April 2005

JUL 07, 2007 06:03 PM

i ate 5 rice crispy treats today...yum

photoline

photoline

Edmonton, AB
January 2005

JUL 07, 2007 06:43 PM

Ahhhh, the missing LINK.....

photoline

photoline

Edmonton, AB
January 2005

JUL 07, 2007 06:45 PM

JoLeigh said:
MY GOD!
I eat rice everyday

that may explain the glowing in the dark thing...
wierd



Ahhh, but think of all the energy you're saving!

Synthiviper

Synthiviper

Chicago, IL
June 2004

JUL 07, 2007 06:50 PM

Ferretbite said:
Why would anyone drink Budweiser?



Because they hate themselves and are actively trying to find ways to make their deaths as slow and painful as possible.

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