Well, this GMO - Genetically Modified Non-Browning Apple - is gonna be on US shelves next week... Made in Canada. Sorry about that Murica
As an activist for things, non GMO food and the March Against Monsanto etc. is important to some of us. Really- all of us, ideally.
An apple grower in B.C. - on the west coast of Canada believes he's solved the whole Apple-browning nightmare (insert my sarcasm LOL)
Neal Carter, is president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits. He told Good Fruit Grower that a sliced GMO Arctic Apple of his can last 3 weeks without browning if they’re kept cold & washed in chlorinated water.
Ew.
There is less of the enzyme "polyphenol oxidase", which starts the chemical reaction that browns an apple's flesh when the cells are damaged by bruising, slicing, biting it, etc.
10 stores in the USA mid-west will start carrying the GMO apple in February / March, and the Fuji has also been approved in the U.S. reports state,
... and next month, pre-sliced Arctic Golden Delicious apples are slated to arrive. Kind of also an indictment on how (lazy??) we have become as a species if you want my opinion.
The Golden Delicious and Granny Smith varieties have been approved for sale in both Canada/USA.
There are a lot of us who have friends here everywhere and that includes on Steemit -- we have friends in the mid-west and so as a Canadian living in Canadastan.... I officially say I am sorry. Funny how they are shipping to you guys in the USA but won't feed it to us here right? Hmmmmmmm.
Gub'ment Policy wrangling work at it's finest methinks. Says the activist in me.
Health Canada says there's no published scientific evidence that genetically modified foods are more harmful than traditional varieties and have published a study on the official Government of Canada website saying so
So, that likely means there's a problem the minute any gov't tells you something is OK. ie - Fluoride in the drinking water.
Unedited here is that link and hoping @cheetah likes this direct link so everyone can see exactly what they are reading, I don't like having to hover over links to see what something is about, I'd rather see the link name and description unedited in official format, that is why I do that in my posts:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/fs-if/faq_1-eng.php#b2
A 2012 study from the Québec Apple Producers’ Association & the BC Fruit Growers’ Associations in Canada or as I call it now -- Canadastan showed 69% of answers didn't want Health Canada to approve the GMO fruit and that study is provided also in this link but who cares what the public wants, right? Government always knows best!
http://www.bcfga.com/files/file/GMO%20Survey%20July%203,%202012.pdf
I am pretty sure every government needs a lot more eyes on them.
Images courtesy of Pixabay where images are free content!
If you feel my posts are undervalued or you want to donate to tip me - I would appreciate it very much.
Bitcoin - 18J6RRuzX4V7b2CDbx7tWZYNBLkkGWsvWX
DASH - XgZvsvSZgPkNbmGbRhc3S1Pt2JAc7QHwiS
Monero - d8ecb02c09f70ec10504b59b96bc1f488af28b05933893dfd1f55b113e23fbff
Ethereum - 0x3Ad69Ff057C9533ca667B2d7E3E557F5eeFd4477
LiteCoin - LKdsnvSXk9JW99EiNicFMGKc1FXiBo9tUE
Yikes! I'll have to look out for those apples to avoid them.
I was really irritated finding this out today but not shocked, see how they will ship poison to another area, though and not breach their own
- guise of good governance?
If anyone understands this, you would, knowing what you know !!!
Interesting read on food and gene expression through epigenetics https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500842/
I personally know my store produce managers and have told them I will not by genetically modified foods. We need to speak up!
Just stopping back in again to say thanks for the comments, have a nice day!!
Amen.
I tell people with this and other things -- vote with your wallets
It's really bad that health is secondary in society.
But don't worry you have nice socialized healthcare, so that will just make up for it right?
LOL.
#BigpHarma
I do not see any issue with this GMO, lessening the expression levels of that enzyme will have no effect on anything other than the appearance of the apple or perhaps the apple's ability to grow large. While there is cause for concern in some cases with GMO technology, when used correctly it is safe. This is a minor modification, I can't see any cause for concern whatsoever.
Any idea why apples turn brown to begin with? Does it serve a purpose? I use it personally as an indicator of freshness, which seems a least somewhat valuable.
Like when you cut an apple? Why does the slice turn brown after sitting out in the air for a while? The apple has phenolic oxidases in it that will react with Phenol containing compounds in the apples flesh and oxidize them utilizing oxygen from the air (that wasn't available until you cut the apple) these oxidized species are brown, while the unoxidized forms are clear. There are a lot of compounds that can be oxidized and turn brown in an apple and they are present to varrying degrees depending on the type, they include: p-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-coumeric acid, flavonols, dihydrochalcones among many others.
It is an indicator of freshness as the oxidation of these compounds can change the flavor of the apple. However browning is not the best indicator of whether the apple is safe to eat as it is not caused by bacterial growth.
Does it serve a purpose? No it is the result of excess oxygen exposure to areas of the plant that the enzymes function in an anoxic environment. So the browning is the result of side reactions basically...
Read more here if you've access:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-1992-0506.ch024
and also:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0981942814002873
That's fine, but I'm curious if we know why the enzymes evolved in the first place. Do they serve any biological purpose, or are they just a bug? I'm not an anti-GMO crusader, but I like to understand what we're getting into.
Of course they serve a biological purpose, otherwise the plant would do away with them. However AFIK their precise cellular role is not known. They are speculated to be involved in redox reactions in the photosynthesis electron transfer pathway but that isn't known for sure either.
Funding for studies on plant chemistry are few and far between so progress in understanding the mechanism of enzymes like these isn't on anyone's priority list.
What is known is that people don't like their apples turning brown lol, so thats where the money is.
This wouldn't be the first time people poisoned themselves for aesthetic, financial, or popular reasons.
I'm completely against GMO foods as well.....another thing we have in common.
great. it will be in stores near me then. WTF.
Yep, it may seem glib that my title and tone was the way it was but I am honestly sorry.
apologies accepted. More reason to immigrate to Canada......at least you don't have Trump.
You really are not following much in the way of policy here clearly LOL.
Like I said earlier, I call it Canadastan for a reason. Police State. Bill C51 and tons of other stuff.
I know almost zero about policy in Canada.
All I know is Trudeau is hotter than Trump. I would much rather spend the next 4 years looking at him than at an old bag of narcissistic shit.
LOL
The US is responsible for the lions share of this garbage so far. I didn't do it, but the masses of my fellow Americans are standing by and allowing these atrocities. I guess that means there is guilt to be had, all around.
Agreed, same in Canada -- the masses really need to wake up, without that first stage, not much else will change, the system depends on sleeping masses. Some of us have been engaged and active longer.
I think a large percentage will never wake up. I am unsure if this has to do with will, inability, both, or neither, but I do think that as a result, we are in deep, deep trouble.
I really pondered saying nearly the exact same things but paused and went another way but I have agreed with what you are saying a long time now. I think "smart" phones and the zombie nation was the final straw for me.
So ironic people could be using their phones to learn things, truths, and the like but we all know this is not the case.
Pearls before swine. Unfortunately the ending of that little proverb is that the swine trample the pearls underfoot, and turn to tear those who cast them there, to pieces.
Yep, truth.
Good comments by you today!!! I appreciate you taking the time.
While I'm uncomfortable with the GMOs, mostly because of the environmental impact of the type of farming likely to employ GMOs, I think the health effects of an apple that doesn't express a gene as much are much less clear. That kind of genetic change is not so unreasonable in nature. Genes change fairly often depending on population sizes and selective pressures. I would argue that an apple that doesn't express a gene as much is innocuous compared to adding fluoride to water. What I find troubling is that we're creating these changes for naive, short-sighted economic reasons.
I've seen enough evidence from a clinical perspective on both issues here I name and you echo.
Poison is poison at a genetic level and especially in cases where there is no maximum dose.
I can drink 20 glasses of water a day and eat 10 of these poison apples and you can consume half and your exposure is half of mine. People never talk about that.
It is called Toxic Bio Accumulation and your body is not designed to get rid of stuff like this. I have worked on both fluoride and incinerator campaigns as an activist and policy researcher.
I'd love to know if the gene that's not being expressed has any evolutionary purpose. Why do apples turn brown? Are we removing a bug or are we removing a feature?
Apples turn brown because the apple is 'rusting' in a sense. Oxygen is reacting with iron in the cells. The enzyme in question helps that reaction go faster. From an evolutionary perspective, I would speculate that it's a mechanism for liberating the seeds faster, which could speed up production of offspring. By turning down/off that gene, we're keeping the seeds locked away for a longer period. Incidentally, it's really difficult to discern bug from feature because we don't know enough about any biological system. It's a bit like when we thought a significant portion of the human genome was 'junk' DNA. Turns out we were wrong and things are much more complicated than we imagined.
Sounds fair. Making a genetic modification that reduces the plant's ability to reproduce sounds like a fairly typical domestication story.
I'm not sure why, but this particular GMO gives me the heebie jeebies. Maybe it's that apples turning brown feels so normal and natural, and like there just can't be enough benefit in turning it off to justify it. But I'm well aware that I may be being totally irrational.
I think your 'irrationality' may be completely rational. Tinkering with something deemed as 'ugly' just to add a little more visual appeal seems trite. We could definitely be using that research money for better things, like @opheliafu mentioned.
As long as everyone has the choice to have an informed option, I think people should be allowed to eat this garbage if they want to.
Barry consider making a post about usage of Vitamine C and D to cure stuff. Im really interested in this - just please add dosage vs weight/height etc there - thats hardest inf oto find.
That's up the lone of some things that I have studied for years along with other natural health practices.... TY for the input my man!
Most people do not get enough in a day of either of those, or how to combine it with adding enough K2 to offset the D properties in excess so again..... thanks