The small herd of pigs in a research barn in Guelph look like ordinary pigs.
They act like ordinary pigs, and presumably, they would even taste like ordinary pigs if anyone dared to break the law and sample one.
But these are Enviropigs. The transgenic creations of university researchers, they are the world’s most controversial environmentally sensitive swine, and they’re not legally fit to eat. At least, not yet.
Under development for more than a decade, the University of Guelph’s 20 Enviropigs are close behind a Canadian-made supersized salmon in a race to become the first genetically modified animals allowed into the food system.
Starting with the discovery that an E.coli gene could produce a digestive enzyme that regular pigs lack, the Guelph scientists realized they could introduce genetic material from that bacterium into pigs to minimize the environmental impact of the animals’ waste, reducing a major pollutant from large-scale production – and allowing pork producers to cut operation costs.
The market may soon need Enviropig. To feed the projected world population of nine billion in 2050, food production will have to increase by 70 per cent, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Genetically engineered organisms will have to be part of the equation, according to the globe-spanning community of experts concerned with meeting those looming targets
They tout this as the planet’s answer to end starvation. The real answer is the simplest and most logical solution: eat vegetarian. Period.
In absolute agreement with your statement Johannes, “The real answer is the simplest and most logical solution: eat vegetarian. Period.” According to the theory of trophic dynamics, it requires 10 times as many crops to feed animals being bred for meat production as it would to feed the same number of people on a vegetarian diet. Currently, 70 percent of all the wheat, corn, and other grain produced is fed to farmed animals. By choosing to be vegetarian, one is partaking in a conscious simple living strategy.
According to the Worldwatch Institute, “Massive reductions in meat consumption in industrial nations will ease their health care burden while improving public health; declining livestock herds will take pressure off rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural resource base to rejuvenate. As populations grow, lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, while at the same time making grain more affordable to the world’s chronically hungry.”
Another good reason not to eat pork! Thank you so much Johannes for the update on this current GMO project – the Enviropigs ~
Public awareness on this important topic of gmo (genetically modified organism) foods is so important – especially since research has not yet proven that GMO food is safe for humans…
Interesting that the Enviropig project describe the process of using E.coli bacteria to produce the genetically engineered pigs ~
This made me think of the following statement from an article about the dangers of GMO foods:
“One of the reasons people have concerns about dangers of GMO food is that many of the foreign genes that are being used to alter DNA come from viruses or bacteria and these have never been in the human food supply in the history of mankind.
The dangers of GMO food can really be frightening. Due to the genetic modification that comes from shuffling DNA, scientists can create mutant super viruses in the lab within minutes. These are viruses that have never existed in nature. If these viruses were to be introduced in the food supply, the consequences would be unknown.”
http://www.gsarticles.com/education/the-dangers-of-gmo-food.html
Also according to Foodconsumer,org – GMOs may cause new diseases, antibiotic resistant disease and nutritional problems that are normally caused by toxins,allergens and carcinogens…
Blessings, Johannes, for this important topic of awareness! ~ Coralina ~