Mudede slams GMO academic

08 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Tobaiwa Mudede and Richard Hondo
We refer to Dr  Edward Mabaya’s article, ‘‘Zim should reconsider GMO ban’’, which appeared in The Sunday Mail of 1 June 2014. Dr Mabaya opened his article by quickly pointing out that he was not incentivised by interested parties to come up with the article, to nip the suspicion in the bud, as it were. How enlightening! One wonders why he found it necessary to do that in the first place. The article, coming from someone so educated and apparently in the relevant field of agriculture, has the danger of luring people into accepting GMO foods as harmless foods, throwing caution to the wind, as it were. Dr Mabaya claims that ‘‘GMOs have been studied extensively and found to be safe.’’

He conveniently omits the fact that the organisations which did the studies are the same ones who are behind the production of GMOs.

In an obvious attempt to eliminate doubts in people’s minds, he went on to state that organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the American Medical Association, the US National Academy of Sciences, and the European Food Safety Authority, have all endorsed GMO-based foods as safe for human consumption, without saying who funds these organisations.

It doesn’t help this! Dr Mabaya goes on to rubbish the findings of non-American organisations which are in direct conflict with the so called findings of the pro-GMO organisations he has listed. More notably, however, he has conveniently omitted to mention those American organisations which oppose GMOs, organisations such as the following:

Centre For Food Safety in the USA
The Cornucopia Institute in the USA
GMO Free USA
Institute of Responsible Technology in the USA, to name just a few.
This has seriously unbalanced his article and exposed his bias.

The fortunate thing is that Zimbabweans are highly informed people, not easily hoodwinked into believing anything that is printed. They need facts, Dr Mabaya, to back up any claims. You cannot dangle a dangerous product and say to them “the Americans and the Europeans are eating this product and they are saying it is safe” and expect Zimbabweans to take your word for it. No. Not any more.

There is no running away from the fact that GMOs contain altered, and therefore, corrupted DNA, the code of life that God programmed into Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden. God created the Garden of Eden to provide all the nutrients that human life needs, IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORM. What the advocates of GMOs are saying is that scientists, not God, now know better what is good for the human being. Sounds preposterous, does it not?

Despite what Dr Mabaya says, GMOs remain corrupted foods. The promoters of GMOs are motivated by cash returns. Like Dr Mabaya, they are quick to point out that GMOs are produced at a much lower cost than normal foods, the yields are a hundredfold compared with those of normal food, they have a longer shelf life, etc, etc, all pointing to a greater capacity to feed the teeming population of the world more cost-effectively.

Yes, this is very true. But is this a good enough reason to expose people to disease? If hunger is destined to kill people, is giving them a disease-causing alternative the answer? Surely it is not beyond the capability of scientists to enhance God’s original design? Oh, we nearly forgot, God’s original design does not bring in billions in profit. That is a big reason to work against it, never mind the long-term consequences to human health that these GMOs pose. How can we forget money, of all things!

Let us now look at some of the health perils posed by GMOs. We will use USA research findings, to play fair with Dr Mabaya. Contrary to pro-GMO assertions, the altered genes in GMO foods ARE NOT DIGESTED IN THE GASTRO-INTESTINAL TRACT (GIT) because they are not digestible. They enter the blood stream, where they functionally interfere with normal genetic processes.

Research has  established indisputable GMO link in the following diseases and health conditions:
OBESITY – It has been shown that animals fed on GMO feeds got fatter quickly and retained the weight, causing obesity, unlike those fed on normal feeds. Now, obesity is a major inducer of hypertension, because the extra fat has got to be stored somewhere, and the body uses the blood vessels and the surface of organs such as the heart, causing them to constrict. The now narrower lumens of the blood vessels create resistance to blood flow, causing blood pressure to rise. In order to keep the blood circulating against the induced high resistance, the HEART has to pump harder, i.e. itoverworks. If the hypertension is not controlled, the heart will eventually fail to cope, and heart failure results.

Before this happens, the abnormal blood pressure will cause serious destruction of blood capillaries, especially those around organs such as the kidneys, which then become starved of nourishment and fail to function as a result. In the case of kidneys, this contributes to RENAL FAILURE.

Both heart failure and renal failure cause death AND ARE TRACEABLE TO GMO CONSUMPTION via obesity. So, is it no idle talk when we say GMOs KILL, please note.

IMPAIRMENT OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM – The animals fed on GMO feeds also showed impaired ability to digest protein, due to alterations in the micro-structure of their intestines caused by the corrupted genes from the GMO feeds.

INDUCTION OF DISEASES – Further research has established a link between GMO consumption and induction of such diseases as inflamatory bowel disease (IBD), colitis, autism sSpectrum disorders (ASD), auto-immune diseases, asthma, sterility and sexual dysfunction and others. The problem of sexual dysfunction is a huge problem in the USA, where males become impotent around the age of 24, at the prime of life.

INDUCTION OF FOETAL DEFORMITIES – Because the altered genes in GMOs are not destroyed in the GIT as stated before, they finally enter the blood stream, where they interfere with normal metabolic processes, causing genetic disorders such as foetal deformities. Thus, many children in the USA are born with serious abnormalities. GMOs remain bad news, whatever their advocates say to the contrary.

It is very significant that the USA government has legislated for the MANDATORY LABELLING of GMO products in the United States, to give people the opportunity to make a choice. Sadly, most countries in the developing world have not yet done so.

Yes, foods containing GMO ingredients are being imported and openly marketed in Zimbabwe. This is because they come in UNLABELLED, presenting authorities with no reason to deny them entry. This is very unfortunate, actually sad, granted. But it is no reason to make the situation worse by allowing the actual production of GMOs in the country. The situation is bad enough as it is.

People usually look to the educated in their midst to provide good guidance.

Sadly, Dr Mabaya has not lived up to this expectation.

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds