Genetic Engineered Food Disaster?

[lynnpax]

LARGEST PET FOOD RECALL EVER

A Genetic Engineered Food Disaster?

By Dr. Michael W. Fox

I have received several letters from dog and cat owners thanking me
for 'saving their animal's lives' because they were feeding them the
kind of home-made diet that I have been advocating as a veterinarian
for some years. These letters came after the largest pet food recall
in the pet food industry's history.

On March 23, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets
announced that rat poison in contaminated wheat gluten imported from
China was responsible for the suffering and deaths of an as yet
uncounted numbers of cats and dogs across North America. The poison
is a chemical compound called aminopterin.

Veterinary toxicologists with the ASPCA and American College of
Internal Veterinary Medicine shared my concern that there may be some
other food contaminant(s) in addition to the aminopterin that was
sickening and killing many pets. Experts were not convinced that the
finding of rat poison contamination was the end of the story.

On March 30, the FDA reported finding a widely used compound called
melamine (formed by dehydration of urea and used in the manufacture
of plastics, as a wood resin adhesive, and in slow-release urea
fertilizer), in the suspect pet foods. The FDA claims the melamine
was the cause of an as yet uncounted number of cat and dog poisonings
and deaths. The FDA could not find the rat poison, aminopterin, in
the samples it analyzed; however a lab in Canada, at the University
of Guelph, has confirmed the presence of rat poison. There may be
other substances of a hazardous nature not yet discovered in these
manufactured pet foods that include other ingredients considered
unfit for human consumption, and from around the world.

The Associated Press cited the Environmental Protection Agency as
having identified melamine as a contaminant and byproduct of several
pesticides, including cryomazine. People began to question if there
is also pesticide contamination of the wheat gluten. Is there a
possibility of deliberate contamination, or is it the result of gross
mismanagement and lack of effective food-safety and quality controls
that accounts for levels of melamine reported to be as high as 6.6%
by the FDA in samples of the wheat gluten?

A brief internet search quickly reveals that the widely used insect
growth regulator cryomazine is not only made from melamine, but it
also breaks down into melamine after ingestion by an animal. Wheat
gluten is wheat gluten, fit for human consumption, so the question
remains, what was wrong with this gluten that it was only bought for
use in pet food?

On April 3 Associated Press named the US importer as ChemNutra of Las
Vegas, reporting that the company had recalled 873 tons of wheat
gluten that had been shipped to three pet food makers and a single
distributor who in turn supplies the pet food industry.

What of the uncounted number of people whose cats and dogs became
sick, and even died? Several letters that I have received indicate
costs of in the thousands of $ per animal; and what of long-term care
costs for animals suffering from chronic kidney disease?

While Congressional hearings are now being called for by grieving pet
owners, and class action suits put together, this debacle could have
catastrophic consequences not only for conventional agribusiness, of
which the pet food industry is a lucrative subsidiary, but also for
the agricultural biotechnology industry, with its millions of acres
of genetically engineered crops around the world.

I reach this conclusion, until there is evidence to the contrary, for
the following reasons:

1. The wheat gluten imported from China was not for human
consumption, because, I believe, it had been genetically engineered.
The FDA has a wholly cavalier attitude toward feeding animals such
'frankenfoods' but places some restrictions when human consumption is
involved (yet refuses appropriate food labeling).

2. The 'rat poison' aminopterin is used in molecular biology as an
anti-metabolite, folate antagonist, and in genetic engineering
biotechnology as a genetic marker. This could account for its
presence in this imported wheat gluten.

3. The 'plastic', 'wood preservative', contaminant melamine, the
parent chemical for a potent insecticide cyromazine, could well have
been manufactured WITHIN the wheat plants themselves as a genetically
engineered pesticide. This is much like the Bt. insecticidal poison
present in most US commodity crops that go into animal feed.

4. So called 'overexpression' can occur when spliced genes that
synthesize such chemicals become hyperactive inside the plant and
result in potentially toxic plant tissues, lethal not just to meal
worms and other crop pests, but to cats, dogs, birds, butterflies and
other wildlife; and to their creators. (For details, see my book
Killer Foods: What Scientists Do to Make Food Better is Not Always
Best. Lyon's Press, 2004).

How else can one account for samples of pet food containing as much
as 6% melamine? It was surely not mixed in such amounts when the
wheat gluten was being processed, but rather was already in the
wheat, along with the aminopterin genetic marker. My suspicion is
that the FDA was aware that the gluten came from genetically
engineered wheat that was considered safe for animal consumption.

I could be wrong. But a greater wrong is surely for the pet food
industry to use food ingredients and food and beverage industry
by-products considered unfit for human consumption; to continue to do
business without any adequate government oversight and inspection;
and for government to give greater priority to agricultural
biotechnology and the patenting of genetically engineered crops and
animals, and not to organic, humane, ecologically sound and safe food
production.

I believe that there is evidence of gross negligence, not simply on
the part of the pet food industry, but by all who are responsible for
food quality and safety in the global market that is clearly
dysfunctional. The Pet Food Institute should start an emergency fund
to compensate all veterinary expenses incurred as a result of this --
and any future -- mass poisonings of people's beloved animal companions.
Wedding officiant and ceremonialist
http://home.earthlink.net/~lynnpax/
City shelters put to death 23,684 dogs and cats in 2004.
An estimated 4 to 6 million dogs and cats are euthanized in America's
animal shelters each year because they are not wanted. We used 5 million to be safe. (Reference: HSUS Pet Overpopulation)

Divide 5,000,000 by 365 for how many pets are killed each day (13,698.63)

[Tanya Marquette]

lynn
at what point does the fox article end? i cant tell if the end
of the post are personal commentaries from you or not?
i would like to forward the fox post to others but need to know
what is yours vs his comments. i hope that it is okay to forward
the article.
tanya

[lynnpax]

Sorry Tanya,
(I forgot to remove my tag for this list)

The article ends just before Wedding officiant and ceremonialist.

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, "Tanya Marquette"
wrote:
the
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recall
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the
poisonings
several
gross
controls
for
Las
care
pet
have
of
for
engineered.
is
have
genetically
and
do
food
for
fund
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companions.
America's
million to be safe. (Reference: HSUS Pet Overpopulation)
(13,698.63)

[Tanya Marquette]

thanks. i was a very good article and i will
pass it around.
tanya

[Irene de Villiers]

Lynnpax wrote:

The email of the person who posted this did not look compatible with Dr
Fox.
Is Dr Fox a member here or did he authorize a copy of his article here?
(There was no acknowledgement of removal of copyright or permission.)

The article reads interestingly but I would take issue with several
assumptions made in it. I'll refrain from quoting in case it was a
copyright infringement. (Many people do not seem to know that permission
of author is required to put an article or email somewhere the author
did not put it.)

Firstly Fox assumes that genetically engineered food only goes to pets.
Not true. The FDA refuses to differentiate GM and normal foods and there
is no way to tell how much we are eating.
In Europe, the EU DOES differentiate, but Monsanto et al are too
powerful in the USA and have pushed through a ruling at FDA level that
"they are essentially the same so no differentiation is needed".

Another assumption is that the contaminated wheat gluten from China only
went to pet food manufacturers.
This is not likely the case since FDA has no differentiation for either
imported or locally produced grain - so there is nothing to prevent
anyone using "grain" or "wheat gluten" (undifferentiated as to GM
status) where they please. In addition, more recent investigation
evidence suggests the wheat gluten from China may well be in the human
food chain as well.

The matter of what exactly has been killing the pets in the current
kidney failure cases, is as yet unresolved and per the New York State
testing lab which first found the aminopterin in the food, the research
is ongoing.
THE FDA found melamine there because they looked for it. The same
Chinese company has been reprimanded previously by the FDA for using
melamine "as an additive" after some "research" supposedly showed that
melamine was safe to use in pet food. The Chinese company was known to
be adding it as a filler (cheaper than real food) in January when the
FDA told them to stop doing it.
So when the recent issues struck, the FDA again checked for melamine
and found it.

Fox assumes it got there by accident or by GM roundabout ways, but it
has been on the list of additives companies wanted to add for quite some
time.

As to the GM theory for melamine:
It is true that melamine is being detected in urine by testing labs at
FDA - and that melamine CAN be a by-product of cryomazine being eaten,
and broken down in the body - but the logic and the chemistry are missing:
* The FOOD contains melamine directly, not cryomazine - so the melamine
found in the animals is not from cryomazine breakdown but directly from
melamine as a "food additive".
* The cryomazine is not toxic enough to explain the acute kidney
failures we are seeing.

The idea that there may be other poisons yet to surface in this, is
plausible.
The company in China which is the known source of the toxic wheat
gluten, also provides several other foods for export.
But for now - the smart move is not to us ANY food *pet or human)
containing wheat gluten - I'd also avoid pet foods with "wheat" as a
precaution.
The recall list is totally useless at telling us what's good or not good
- it is nowhere near complete. One MUST use the ingredients list.

So far - the ONLY pet food company I know is safe, is ProPAc. They use
whet from the Midwest, processed in their own plant top human food
standards. All their ingredients are US sourced except Lamb from
Australia. (I've been recommending this brand since 1996 when it came
out, especially the kitten dry food - which I suggest for all cats and
dogs all ages - due to the better protein and magnesium ratios.)

Dr Fox is right that there was gross negligence - but that's present in
most pet foods all the time.
For example just look at how many "holistic" pet foods contain foods
toxic to dogs and cats like garlic, alfalfa, yucca, broccoli and
rosemary extract.
And look at how many supposedly premium foods have no meat in them but
are called "prescription diet" for carnivores? They contain by-products
(chicken by-proeucst means whatever is left after the chicken meat is
removed, such as beaks and feet) and soy or wheat gluten as supposed
protein sources for animals only designed to handle meat amino acid ratios.
Also note how many supposed healthy pet foods "of human grade" contain
toxins and also damaging vegetables and fruit for cats who will suffer
urinary tract disease and or intestinal disease as a result.

It's HARD to find a food that is DESIGNED to suit the nutritional needs
of cats and dogs. The ProPac I suggest is the one that comes closest -
and I'd not call it perfect either. Not one of its runners-up for
ingredient list suitability, is safe. Every company on the runner-up
list is importing junk from China to go into the food. The runner-up
list is:
Annamaet kitten/cat
Nutro Max kitten
Maxximum kitten (Walmart)

The supposed premium brands (Iams, Hills, Eukanuba, Royal Canin) that
you will get from vets, are some of the worst foods out there - you need
only look at the ingredients list to see that - and not wait for toxic
wheat gluten.
Wheat is irritant to carnivore systems and wheat gluten as a protein
source is inappropriate altogether - so no pet food should contain wheat
gluten in the first place - whether from China or the MidWest's best
organically grown source.
But guess who controls the FDA and the USDA and AAFCO "standards"
for pet foods - it's the lobbyists from Hills, Iams, and Royal Canin.

For example *they* keep asking for permission - making label law
proposals - to label chicken beaks and feet type by-products as "chicken
protein" to better hide what's in there and dupe consumers into thinking
they are buying real chicken.

So the lack of quality in the supposedly "premium" foods - whether
veterinary supplied or "holistically designed human grade" is all
intentional.
There's plenty of research out there to show what cats and dogs REALLY
should eat.

It's just not in any of the commercial foods - bar very few as above.
It would be nice if the current tragedies led to opening the pandora's
box on what is really needed in the industry - but I am not holding my
breath:-(

Seems my suggestions on ProPAc have caused ProPAc to be out of supply
anyway...............

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Irene de Villiers]

lynnpax wrote:
Only if the author of the article agrees.
Emails fall under the automatic copyright laws too:-)

.....IRene

--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."