THAT soya bean drink you are sipping could have been made from genetically modified beans. But it is unlikely you will ever know for sure.
The reason: unlike dozens of developed countries around the world, Singapore does not require manufacturers and retailers to label food as genetically modified.
While the foods have not proven to be unsafe, their sale has sparked protests from Indonesia to the United States, driven largely by fears about the long-term effects of tinkering with mother nature.
According to the Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) about half of the corn, canola oil and soya bean sold in Singapore is genetically modified.
The odds are that plenty of food in the larder - from nachos, to poultry, to baby food to soy milk - could contain ingredients whose genetic makeup has been altered in a bid to make them plumper, tastier or resistant to disease.
Dr Wong Kwok Onn, head of the survey and safety review branch at the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), said that Singapore's reliance on imported food means '(genetically-modified) foods could be anywhere on the market now'.
Consumers, though, have little way of knowing what they're buying.
Singapore laws allow manufacturers and importers to leave off or even remove labels that would tell consumers they are buying genetically modified food.
Many companies, Dr Wong said, do just that because they are 'worried that Singaporeans might not accept them.'
While the issue is a major one around the globe, it is only just gaining steam here.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_216491.html
is Firepig a genetically modified pig?
Originally posted by BenBenDeZhu:is Firepig a genetically modified pig?
No idea. I wouldnt know whether i am genetically modified unless my parents tell me so.
BenBenDeZhu, Are you born stupid or genetically modified to be stupid?
born silly but pigs normally dun have fire
can eat can liao lah........
no need huan lo so much......
as long as is food...
Luckily i dont drink much soya beans.
Originally posted by FireIce:can eat can liao lah........
no need huan lo so much......as long as is food...
Agree...
You won't know for sure which will cause which until half a century had past...
Ya and the worst thing is our government thinks most of us can survive till age 80+ and beyond.
who doesnt?
bt if got, we eat organic oso.
So anyone saw the newspaper article?
Originally posted by FirePig:So anyone saw the newspaper article?
I read it the other day. There is no known harm caused by genetically modified food as yet. However, Europe has banned genetically modified food and there was a big hoo ha when some of it's imports from America were "tainted". I was kinda pissed when i read the article. It kinda insinuates that it's ok when nothing is really proven, long term effects at least.
Well, from what i know, if we eat nearly any of the wheat based products or products with corn syrup, fructose etc, and practically NEARLY all processed food that is imported from America, there will be GM food in it. The big industrial coperations over there unfortunately began putting GM based foods into their produced about 10 or so years ago without labelling and it became such an institution that they've said its now 'accepted' by the American public, even though they were never told about it until pretty much a year ago or so.
The very very annoying thing now is over in the US of A again, their gonna soon to be allowing cloned animal products, which IMO, i think is a very bad idea. For one, its too early to know if its actaully safe, and number two, if it starts a trend for cloning animals and it becomes a main stay in the meat industry, many a species of lets say a cow and pig might die off which i think is a terrible thing that would happen.
And because America is again also a little messed up, in a few states their now saying tis ILLEGAL to put on the milk cartons whether the cow that the milk came from were given growth hormones in spirit of 'free marketting' which as we all should well know is a whole load of bullshit. Hopefully this wouldn't effect Singapore's dairy and meat supplies and we are told what is what.
Another cause for concern is once again the term of 'organic' which is being fought over by the same big companies over across the pacific so that they can basically say if theres, for example, 30% of organic milk with 70% non-organic milk it would be considered as organic, marketting and all that crap again of course. Pity that one coutnry has to affect nearly every other frekin one. Argh.
old news isnt it?
might be old, but its still important nontheless.