An open pollinated crop (often abbreviated to OP in seed catalogs) is pure and will reproduce identical plants, while a hybrid (or F1) is a cross between different varieties. When you plant hybrid plants, you will get a crop of similar plants which will likely mature earlier and be more vigorous than an open pollinated variety, but if you save seeds from those plants, the next generation will be a mismatched pool of totally different plants. Some will be like the parent hybrids, while others will be like each of the varieties that the hybrids originally came from. If you buy your seeds each year, hybrids are great, but if you want to save your seeds each year, you want open-pollinated varieties. Gardeners have saved their own seeds for thousands of years. It is vital that we continue to do so, not only to preserve the heirloom varieties passed down for decades and centuries, but more importantly in face of the rapidly growing monopoly of genetically engineered (or GMO) seeds that has taken over the market. Genetically engineered (aka genetically modified organisms or GMOs) different than hybrids. The following article explains it well.
Science Fiction Horror Story
by Michael Pearl
Which word in the title is erroneous: Science—Fiction—Horror—Story? It’s the word fiction. The food you eat is no longer the food God made for the human body.
Evolutionary scientists have irreversibly changed the DNA of plant, animal, and human cells. They are uncreating God’s creation, rendering staple foods unfit for human or animal consumption.
I recently read two books, and the following article contains quotes from those books (indicated by quotation marks), with some of my own observations. You need to buy and read both of them: Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith. The converging lines of evidence in these books indicate conclusively that genetically modified (GM) crops are inherently dangerous and may be responsible for the unfolding health disaster in the U.S.A.
All living organisms, whether plant or animal or human, are constructed of cells. Each cell contains the entire DNA chain of information that constitutes an organism―what it is―and differentiates it from all others. Each cell is made of billions of atoms, intelligently designed and arranged to contain and dispense complex information that assures the function, adaptation, survival, and procreation of the species.
Genetic engineering is the process of artificially tampering with these God-given, natural genetic blueprints. Genetic engineering (or bio-engineering) is a technique to splice, delete, add, isolate, and recombine or transfer genes from one organism to another that may be totally unrelated. Alteration of genes and chromosomes causes disruption and disturbance in the biochemical structure of species (plant or animal) and can result in species mutation.
“The discovery in the mid-1970s that scientists could transfer genes from the DNA of one species into that of another was heralded as a major scientific breakthrough. Plants, animals, and other organisms could now become equipped with genes that could never occur naturally and exhibit traits not previously found in their species or even their kingdom.
“Scientists have since worked on some interesting combinations. Spider genes were inserted into goat DNA, in hopes that the goat milk could contain spider web protein for use in bulletproof vests. Cow genes turned pigskin into cowhides. Jellyfish genes lit up pigs’ noses in the dark. Arctic fish genes gave tomatoes and strawberries tolerance to frost. Potatoes glowed in the dark when thirsty. Human genes were inserted into corn to produce spermatocides.
“The single dominant GM trait is herbicide tolerance. Crops are engineered to survive an otherwise toxic dose of weed killer.
“The second popular GM trait is a built-in pesticide. The plant produces pesticidal toxins in every cell. Monarch butterflies are killed when feeding on the corn. If a plant kills bugs, do you want to breathe its pollen, eat honey made from its nectar, or ingest the plant?
“Virtually an entire Filipino village of about 100 people living adjacent to a large field of Bt corn [genetically altered to produce a toxin that kills bugs] were stricken by a disease. The symptoms, which appeared at the time the corn was producing airborne pollen, included headaches, dizziness, extreme stomach pain, vomiting, chest pains, fever, and allergies, as well as respirator, intestinal, and skin reactions. Many, if not all of the villagers exposed to the GM-maize pollen in 2003, have remained ill to this day. Furthermore, there have been five unexplained deaths in the village. In total, 96 people got sick. In addition, nine horses, four water buffalo, and 37 chickens died soon after feeding on the GM maize.”
The increase in the number of people afflicted with chronic diseases in the United States roughly corresponds to the period when Americans began eating GM foods.
Proponents of creating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) try to sell us the lie that what they are doing is just hybridization by a different method. Not so. Genetic engineering is not in any way similar to hybrid plants or selective breeding. “Plant breeders have worked with this system (selective breeding of plants) for thousands of years, selecting parents with desired characteristics, such as yield and disease resistance, in the hope that the offspring expresses both. With genetic engineering, however, a single gene is removed from the DNA of one organism and forcibly inserted into another. This doesn’t happen naturally.
“A pig can mate with a pig and a tomato can mate with a tomato. But there is no way a pig can mate with a tomato. Using genetic engineering, however, pig genes can be inserted into a tomato and vice versa.” This transfer of genes across the natural barriers established by God at creation is an arrogant and reckless confusion of nature. It is introducing chaos into perfect order.
“Another problem is that inserted genes may transfer from food into gut bacteria or internal organs. Animal studies demonstrate that ingested DNA can travel through the body, even into the fetus via the placenta. Trans-genes from GM crops fed to animals have been found in their blood, liver, spleen, and kidneys. The only published human feeding trial on GM food verified that genetic material inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of our intestinal bacteria.”
Manufacturers of genetically-modified organisms assure us that the genetically-modified cells are destroyed in the stomach when eaten and cannot be transferred to the host. However, Sidney Pierce spent 20 years studying the green sea slug that eats algae and somehow transfers the plant genes into its body. The slug then possesses the algae’s ability to produce chlorophyll from sunlight—a universal trait of plants but not of animals. The young slugs must eat algae until they accumulate enough of its genes to begin manifesting the plants’ ability to convert sunlight into energy. The slug can then be sustained on sunlight alone, like a plant, without further eating. Pierce says, “It certainly is possible that DNA from one species can get into another species, as these slugs have clearly shown, but the mechanisms are still unknown.”
Scientists have discovered genetically-modified cells present in the organs of animals fed GM food. Corrupted DNA never becomes uncorrupted. It is passed on to future generations.
“Lab animals tested with GM foods had stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomachs, abnormal and potentially precancerous cell growth in the intestines, impaired blood cell development, misshapen cell structures in the liver, pancreas, and testicles…alerted gene expression and cell metabolism, liver and kidney lesions, partially atrophied livers, inflamed kidneys, less developed brains and testicles, enlarged livers, pancreases, and intestines, reduced digestive enzymes, high blood sugar, inflamed lung tissue, increased death rates, and higher offspring mortality. About two dozen farmers report that GM corn varieties caused their pigs or cows to become sterile. 71 shepherds say that 25% of their sheep died from grazing on Bt cotton plants (altered to be toxic to bugs), and others say that cows, water buffaloes, chickens, and horses also died from eating GM crops. Filipinos in at least five villages fell sick when nearby Bt corn was pollinating, and hundreds of laborers in India report allergic reaction from handling Bt cotton. Soy allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the United Kingdom soon after genetically-engineered soy was introduced; and one human subject out of the few tested showed a skin prick, allergic-type reaction to GM soy, but not to natural soy. In the 1980s, a GM food supplement killed about one hundred Americans and caused sickness and disability in another five to ten thousand people.”
Genetically-altered soy, corn, cotton, and canola and their derivatives are found in 70% of all processed foods. If you have ever eaten a corn chip, corn flakes, or a tortilla, you have eaten GM organisms.
Tomatoes were genetically-engineered to have a shelf life of months instead of just days. Great for farmers, right? Except that when they fed laboratory rats a diet of GM tomatoes, many of them quickly developed lesions in their stomachs, and about a fourth of the rats died within two weeks. The control group of rats fed natural tomatoes did not manifest any of the negative reactions experienced by the GM-fed rats.
By now you might be thinking, “Well, I will just avoid corn, soy, and canola oil, and eat squash and papaya instead.” They are re-engineered, as well! Do you avoid sugar, relying on artificial sweetener? Aspartame is the product of genetic engineering. Do you ever drink milk or serve it to your children? What about cheese or yogurt? Cows are injected with genetically- engineered growth hormones. It so speeds up their milk production that the cows are used up and discarded in about two years. Many farmers testify that twenty-five percent of their herds don’t live that long. They suffer from infections in their udders, making it necessary to constantly inject them with antibiotics. What do those same growth hormones do when ingested by humans? Just examine the statistical rise in breast cancer in the last 20 years.
Eat more chicken? It, too, is injected with GM organisms. As the breasts on chickens get bigger, so do the breasts on young boys eating the chicken, and breast cancer continues to rise.
Wild animals will repeatedly reject the GM crops in preference for natural corn and soy. Deer and elk will walk through a large GM field to get to a small plot of natural corn. If geese, squirrels, rabbits, deer, elk and rats have an aversion for GM crops, should humans eat them? What do the animals know that we don’t?
What does God say about modifying his creation?
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31).
Can you believe it? God designs his human creation after his own image, tailors the plant and herbs to the exact food specifications humans and animals require, and then pronounces that it is all very good. And what do scientists do? They say, “It is good, but not good enough; we can do better,” and then proceed to re-create what God created. It produces havoc, and they forge ahead undaunted in their “mission.” They are like four-year-old children dismantling a computer to improve upon it.
I say with the Psalmist, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought [like needlework] in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:14–15).
If the above verse says anything, it says that before we were born, God designed the very substance of our beings—recording the design in a book—and then fashioned us after that secret design. We are awesome and wonderful in design, a marvelous work of God. Who could dare to improve upon the master design of the God of creation?
Clear prohibition against modifying God’s creation.
“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled” (Deut. 22:9).
Note, God did not want his original seeds mixed so as to cause them to lose their inherent uniqueness. The result of mixing seeds produces a seed that was “defiled.”
“Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed” (Leviticus 19:19). Again, God is concerned to maintain the seed’s and the cattle’s original character.
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11–12). God designed everything to bring forth after its singular kind, and neither a mixed kind, nor a new kind.
We live in strange times, when man has begun to move into God’s laboratory and is attempting to sabotage his design and change the very structure of creation. They dream of cloning humans, mix human and animal genes, throw in a few plant genes and come up with a Frankenstein monster. Science fiction has become a vision for tomorrow.
There was an earlier time, about 1800 years after creation, when men pooled their knowledge and built a city and a tower to reach unto heaven. “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis 11:6). This is a fascinating verse. God concedes that when many people combine their knowledge, they will not be restrained from accomplishing their wildest imaginations. So he divided them into diverse language groups to prevent them from conferring and sharing their knowledge and skills. That language barrier God put into place is now obsolete. Scientists of the world cooperate and share their knowledge. We are again at the place where “nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
But God will have the last say in the Great Tribulation “which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10). “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:18). I have never been sure what this passage referred to—“God destroys them which destroy the earth.” Surely it is not killing the snail darter or wiping out the buffalo that has angered God to the point of exercising “great wrath” upon all flesh. Nothing man has ever done is one percent as destructive as permanently changing the DNA of God’s creation. Look out Monsanto, Dupont: here comes the Judge!
What can you do?
First, you must be informed. The military-industrial complex is little more than a local gun store compared to the agricultural-industrial complex. When media outlets have attempted to publish the facts concerning GMOs in our food chain, they have been intimidated into silence by their largest advertisers—the producers of genetically-modified foods. When politicians get wise to the conspiracy to control the food chain, they are silenced by the fear of losing large gifts to their campaigns. You must get informed. Purchase the book, Seeds of Deception, and become acquainted with the issue. Go online, and read about GMOs. Stop buying foods that have been altered. Write to the manufacturers, and inform them that you will not eat their GMOs.
All we ask is that the government mandate labeling of GM foods. Just put a label on the product that says Genetically Modified. There have been many failed attempts to force labeling. The industry knows that once products are labeled, the public will ask, “So, what’s the difference?” and it will all be over for the agricultural-industrial complex. Labeling. Demand labeling.
In the meantime, grow your own food. If the grocery store labels food as organic, it is not genetically modified. Learn which plants have been altered and which ones maintain the integrity God gave them. GM tomatoes and potatoes have been removed from the market due to obvious health tragedies. Rice and beans are not modified, and, to my understanding, neither are any of the salad vegetables. Wheat, rye and barley are still good. Avoid all cooking oils and salad oils, and all prepared foods containing canola, corn, or soy. Avoid bread, crackers, chips, cakes, pies, and cookies containing corn, soy, or oils or derivatives of the same. Avoid milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream or any food prepared with milk products. Avoid meats from animals that have been fed GMO grains or injected with GMOs.
You do realize that you won’t be able to eat at your standard restaurant, don’t you? If in the process of throwing out all processed foods you cease eating all corn syrup and sugar, within three days to a week you will see a remarkable improvement in your family’s health and in the temperament of your children.
You can go online and purchase Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey Smith, or you can order it at a discount from BulkHerbStore.com (call toll-free 1-877-278-4257). Check out their heirloom seeds, too.
Article from the No Greater Joy magazine. Subscribe at www.nogreaterjoy.org or write No Greater Joy, 1000 Pearl Road, Pleasantville, TN 37033.
