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March 20, 2000
The Windsor Star
Modified foods a threat, MD fears
If you are what you eat, what will we become, asks this story, as we
increasingly consume food that's been genetically rejigged to grow bigger,
repel bugs or survive a blast of Roundup?
Dr. Tom Barnard, a Leamington physician alarmed at the expanding array
of
foods that, unbeknownst to consumers, has been genetically modified, was
quoted as telling the annual meeting of the Friends of Ojibway Prairie
on
Sunday that, "Nobody knows the answer. It doesn't mean it's bad,
we just
don't know."
Barnard said an estimated 70 per cent of the food we buy in the grocery
store contains some sort of GM food and there's talk of putting human
growth hormone genes in tomatoes or salmon, adding, "We wonder why
there's
this huge rush to push these foods on to our plates," when there
has been
little scientific study to prove their safety. "This is the biggest
thing
that's going to change the lives of our kids and grandkids and we'd better
find out as soon as we can what parts of this are good and what are not."
The story say given that so much of what's available in grocery stores
may
contain genetically modified food, what do we eat, to which Barnard was
quoted as saying, "Basically, I don't eat anything out of a package,"
and
recommended fresh, non-processed food as much as possible, especially
fruit and vegetables. There is some organically grown food available in
this area, he said and if consumers demand it, more will be made
available.
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