Meat, what happens when humans eat excessive amounts of meat protein.

Yes, I am vegetarian.  Most of the time.  I do conform to societal conventions and eat a bit of meat at times, holidays, events that I attend, and dinner at a restaurant with family.  But for the most part, I don't consume meat.  I have this thing about modern meat (see the multitude of articles I have written on the subject by searching for "Modern Meat" in the search box on my site)  But for me, meat is not a necessity, nor is it for any human actually.  If you look at the statistics and nutritional requirements for human health, the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for protein for an adult human is .36 grams per pound of body weight.  That means that an adult human that weighs 200 pounds needs just 72 grams of protein.  That's about 2.5 ounces of meat daily.  That's a burger, a small one.  Or a chicken sandwich, or a third of a chicken breast.  Or a fraction of the "Big Burrito".  Anything more than that, is considered a high protein intake.  If you eat like that all the time, then it will cause problems.  It ain't just me saying these things, it's real scientists.  (High Meat Diet) is the link to the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine article on what a high protein diet does to the human body.  Here are some of the highlights

1. Osteoporosis - Large quantities of high protein foods, meat, encourages urinary calcium loss
2. Cancer - Most meat proteins when cooked at high temperatures produce compounds called heterocyclic amines.  These have been linked to most cancers, including breast and colon.  Long term high meat intake is associated with significantly increased risk of colorectal cancer.  
3. Impaired kidney function - High animal protein diets places strain on the kidneys and are associated with reduced kidney function.  Studies now show that as much as one fourth of the adult population in America has reduced kidney function.  And most don't even know it.  This loss of function is a direct result of a high meat based diet and that plant protein had no harmful effects.
4. Heart Disease - Even though the prevalent theory is that saturated fat causes heart disease, new research is happening that shows this is not the case; however, there is evidence that a high saturated fat diet adversely affects the compliance of arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks.  Especially when the diet is a low fiber low plant material diet.  As is the case with most Americans.There is a positive and specific correlation between eating a diet high in meat protein and having high blood pressure.  Another significant cause of heart disease.

 And yet I still have people tell me that a vegetable based diet does not contain enough protein for health.  That is still the number one reason I'm told that humans need to eat meat.  Number two reason comes from people that remember a little bit of their high school nutrition or science classes.  Plant based proteins are not complete proteins.  There are eight basic essential amino acids that are required to make complete proteins.  All of the plant material we have available has some, but not all of the eight.  If you eat a mixture of plants, you are able to complement what's missing from one source with what's available from another.  There are two books that I highly recommend, "Diet for a Small Planet" and "Recipes for a Small Planet"  Both do an excellent job of explaining protein complementarity and also give some exciting recipes to make that allows you to eat great food, without meat. Then lastly I get told that a meat free diet does not give me any vitamin B12 and I will die without it.  That's what supplements are for, and of course, I eat eggs, yogurt and wild caught fish.  All excellent sources of B12. Never farmed fish, see Modern Meat articles, it's just about the same, nasty nasty stuff.

Then there is, the Thermogenesis Effect.  This is what all the Paleo Diet proponents talk about.  How it takes more internal body energy to digest meat than it does to digest fat or plant proteins.  What this is about is that researchers have found that the human body uses about 25% to 30% of the calories ingested to actually digest meat protein but only uses 5% to 15% of available calories to digest plant proteins.  And similarly it uses about the same to digest fats.  The difference in the thermic effect of meat, carbohydrates and fats is that the human body has no way to store excess protein.  So to deal with it, it means higher urea production and excesses go into gluconeogenisis.  And of course, the bad one is it can also lead to ketoacidosis, which is where the body burns ketones instead of glucose and there is a high risk of brain impairment and in severe cases, permanent brain damage.  Not just me making this up, here is an exceptional study on high meat diets done by some cool researchers.  ( Meat and How You Get Rid of IT )  One of the coolest aspects of this report though is the information about how researchers found that eating a high protein, from meat, diet led to individuals having LESS perceived physical energy than when eating a low protein, high carbohydrate diet.  That's sort of the opposite of what those Paleo diet people tell me. 

Then there is the body odor thing.  Yes, it's true, high protein diets cause body odor.  Most people don't realize it.  Many wonder why dogs and cats just love me.  Weird, because I don't like most dogs and cats, but they don't have a problem with me, especially the ones that their owners say to be careful with.  Most of them just sidle up to me and wag their tails at me.  I don't smell like a competitor, I don't smell like a carnivore.  I'm not a threat to them, because I don't smell like I want to eat them, or their food.  Ever watch animal shows on TV, the hunters attack the herd from downwind because the hunters smell like carnivores.  If they were upwind, or the wind direction changes, their presence is revealed and hunting becomes more difficult. And of course for us humans, all that rotting meat in your gut makes your skin smell and attracts flies.  People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them flies don't land on me when they are flying around everyone else. 

Well, that's enough stuff about the science, and the whimsy of eating meat.  Let's just say that given all of this stuff, and the fact that Modern Meat is just unbelievably BAD for modern humans, that we should all, each and every one of us, just try to limit our meat intake.  We will feel better, and live longer, have less chance of contracting the serious problems that the medical profession just loves to see people get, and save a few bucks too.  Plants cost less than meat.  Not just at the market, but in the long run.  Health wise.

Does Exceptional Food Choices Help in the Romance Opportunities?

Man, but that is something that I think everyone knows is true.  Unless you look like George Clooney, taking a young maiden to McDonald's won't get a guy in the sack with her the way taking her to a sumptuous feast with a bit higher quality comestibles.  Of course the old adage for the ladies, "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." may not be exactly true anymore since the popularity of fast food is at such an all time high and leads me to believe that men, and for that matter most Americans, are well adapted to that cuisine and anything but food from the gilded breasts may not give one any sort of an edge on the romance front.  Sad but true.  Well, that is forgetting the application of alcohol.  Never underestimate the bottle of Jack to pour into her cola to get the inhibitions lowered and the amorous activities beginning.  But most of my initial dalliances with the fairer sex have been possible only because of my abilities in the kitchen.  And of course just like the nerd in the movie of their namesake, once there, keeping them around is dependent on your ability to remember the stuff learned in sex ed.  Contrary to popular mythology, watching porn doesn't really give a man any greater prowess and only exacerbates unbelievably high expectations.

There does seem to be quite the conundrum then.  Certainly when in my youth, at the height of the sexual revolution and those summers of love; I failed miserably.  Once I learned how to cook, then the tides turned and my amorous encounters increased.  Well, of course I also attribute much of that to just hormonal attraction.  But as I got older, and divested myself of the constraints of one wonderful marriage and one suffocating and miserable one; things got better for me.  Even considering an overall weight gain of a hundred pounds, loss of a lot of hair, and just general increase in age, my overall ability to please gained respectable numbers.  And to that, I attribute cuisine.

So discounting the activities of very youthful endeavors, my first real relationship with the fairer sex began with me providing proper foods for her.  She was interested to begin with, but feeding her wild rice and mushroom stuffed Cornish game hens with asparagus and chocolate lava cake only afforded me the opportunity to move in with her. Sadly, I was a drunk at the time and the roommate situation lasted a total of 2 days.  But on the bright side, I did not take a sip of alcohol for nearly twenty years after that day.  She must have had a profound effect on me.  However my enjoyment of food, and of the fairer sex only became greater as time moved forward.  My first wife helped by eating most everything I attempted to cook.  And of course, down the road she agreed I should go to culinary school to improve those abilities.  Whether is was for self preservation or genuine desire for my improvement I will never know.  But I went, I cooked, I got better, and I enjoyed it immensely.  After 7 years with my second wife, who dutifully informed me that the only things she would consume were to be pork carnitas, beans and tortillas and boxed rice; I once again was free to enjoy the favors of fair maidens, and to pursue my culinary dreams.

Being a vegetarian sort of limits what I can eat, however it never seemed to matter to any of the young maidens that came into my lair to enjoy the fine sustenance I provided.  Whether it was something like the above Mahi Mahi that was blackened with Southwestern spices and served with a fresh made pineapple and mango salsa and a citrus jalapeno sour cream garnish; or the remarkably simple pizzas of which I have in my lifetime made literally hundreds of thousands.  ( I managed a pizza parlor in the late seventies )  Those two examples sitting in front of my dear friend Key are whole wheat crusted (of course) with sherried mushrooms and onions with sun dried tomatoes, and the other is a simple one with goat cheese and Kalamata olives.  A little fine wine, some excellent and attentive conversation, and the desired results can be achieved.

One should never be afraid to experiment with combining differing cuisines.  It can be fun, and gives your intended partner the idea that you can be inventive, open to trying new things.  These were part of my occasional dalliance into the world of meat after a St. Patricks day feast of corned beef and cabbage.  The leftovers went into fire roasted Pablano chilies with whole grain beer mustard and horseradish cream on them.  One of the strangest things I did was at a class at my store in Austin.  Even I think it was strange, however it was delightfully delicious and in fact got me into a rather amorous encounter with one of the attendees of the class that eve.  Actually the first time I had sex in my store.  It was the most unique fusion of differing worlds ever, and to this day, I believe it should be a hit anywhere and with anyone trying it.  I cooked some short grain brown rice (of course brown) with red chili and garlic and then cooled it down and mixed in some rice vinegar.  I cooked a pork roast in the pressure cooker with coffee, cumin and red chili powder and beer.  Then shredded it when cool.  I took some nori and toasted them a bit and rolled Mexican sushi using the nori, Spanish rice, pork, avocado slices and goat cheese.  I then put out some small dishes with chipotle puree and some green taco sauce to dip the sushi into.  Wow, it was mighty tasty, and the end result was unexpected.

This somewhat blurry picture is of a large scallop shell filled with bay scallops seared and then tossed with a chipotle and ponzu sauce with sliced scallions and a couple dry cured olives.  Sounds weird, but mighty tasty and, well, you know.  This young maiden actually moved in with me for a while.  Unfortunately I was not in the best of health and our dalliance was short lived, as was my desire to continue to impress her with a unique and varied cuisine.  (She was needy needy needy needy)  And at that time, so was I.  ER visits, hospital stays, and crap sort of kept me from catering (literally) to her every need.  Plus, the old adage about how sometimes and with some women (and or things) having is not nearly as pleasurable as wanting.  So true in this case.  Hmmm, I think that Spock said that about his intended bride to the man she chose as a mate instead of Spock.  Strange, that makes two, no, actually three women of which I could say that. 

Anyway, back to the premise of this entirely selfishly written piece of fluff that I began writing in the middle of the night because I'm sick, coughing and can't sleep; does great food help entice women into the bedroom.  Or onto a desk in the backroom of your store.  I personally will testify that yes it will.  However, and this is a big one, you have to have some cooth and a bit of class along with a little conversational ability to get that person to the point where you can impress them with your abilities.  You do have to get them there first.  Well, unless you're rich.  Or George Clooney. 

Tapas Time

Tapas Recipes

 

Cumin and Lemon Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates in Puff Pastry

Take an 8 oz container of cream cheese at room temperature, add the zest of a lemon and the juice from the same lemon.  Add a half tablespoon cumin and mix well.  Take 24 dates and remove the pit.  Stuff with about a tablespoon of the cheese mixture.  Thaw your puff pastry and then cut each sheet into twelve pieces.  Take each piece and wrap around a stuffed date.  Place on baking sheet and brush with beaten egg.  Bake in hot, (450) oven until well browned, about 15 minutes.

Chorizo Stuffed Rolls

Brown a pound or so of good chorizo in a large skillet in a tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.  When it changes color and loses the redness, add a cup diced onion and pepper.  Cook another 4 to 5 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly.  Take some regular whole wheat bread dough and pinch off a golf ball sized piece.  Flatten into about a 3 inch circle, place in the palm of your hand.  Add a heaping spoonful of the chorizo mix into the middle, then fold the edges up and around the filling, seal by pinching the edges together.  Place on a baking sheet and cover, allow to double in size.  Brush with beaten egg and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Chorizo and Dates

This fabulous dish is unbelievable tasty.  And simple.  Make some small patties about 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.  Fry in olive oil until browned, set on paper towel to drain.  In a clean skillet, heat a tablespoon butter and throw in as many date halves as you have chorizo patties.  Cook for a minute or so, then toss in 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne.  Toss together well and allow to cook until starting to brown.  Drizzle with just a touch of honey and stir again.  Place one date atop each chorizo piece and garnish with sliced chives.

Mushrooms and Bread 

Take a half pound of mushrooms and slice relatively thinly.  Cook in about 3 tablespoons olive oil with a half teaspoon good sea salt until they lose their moisture and begin to brown.  Add a little red wine, or sherry is better, and cook until the liquid is absorbed.  Remove from heat.  Take some good french or italian bread and slice into 1/2 inch slices.  Spread with garlic aioli and then top with mushrooms.  Place under broiler and broil until the aioli is bubbling, remove and serve hot.

Aioli

In a blender, blend 4 roasted garlic cloves, a pinch sea salt, a big pinch cayenne, a tablespoon good wine vinegar, a teaspoon lemon juice and 2 egg yolks until well blended.  Drizzle in slowly 1 cup olive oil.  When emulsified and all the oil is incorporated, turn off blender and scrape the stuff out into a jar. 

Ravioli recipes, great to make with a bit of wine to lubricate it all.

  Who doesn't like ravioli?  Well, the Chef in a can stuff is pretty disgusting, but real freshly made ravs cooked lightly and is heavenly sauces, wow, life doesn't get any better than that.  Making your own is not a day long experience, I used to do these three ravioli in a three hour class with up to 12 people at a time helping out and only using three ravioli presses.  And we cooked them all up and ate them as well.  It was fun, and we ate some hearty wonderful stuff as well.  Oh yeah, and there was wine. 

Lobster Ravioli

 

This one is fun only if you don’t mind the work involved getting the lobster prepared.  Other than that, it is unbelievably decadent.  Try my lobster ravioli in garlic cream sauce as one possible way to enjoy your efforts.   For the ravioli dough, take 4 cups durum wheat flour and put it into a food processor.  Take the zest from 3 lemons and then the juice from those same three lemons and put into the processor.  Add a teaspoon or so of fresh ground black pepper and 2 eggs (or omit as you wish, the egg just makes the dough more pliable) and process until you have a smooth ball; adding just enough water to accomplish this.   Let the dough rest about twenty minutes while you prepare the lobster.  Bring about 4 or 5 quarts water to a boil in a large stock pot.  Add a half a cup cider vinegar.  Add the lobsters and turn the heat off.  Let sit for about 5 to 6 minutes for 1 to 1 ½ pound lobsters.  Remove and set in colander to drain.  Let cool and remove the meat.  Place all the shells in a stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil then simmer for at least a half hour.  Strain and pour the stock back into the pot and bring to a boil and reduce by half.  Use this flavor component for your sauce.  Roll the dough out into long sheets, dusting with flour between the sheets to prevent sticking.  Finely mince 3 or 4 big shallots and saute in a half stick of butter.  Add a half cup capers that you rinsed well.  Add a cup of good white wine and reduce to a thick liquid.  Chop the lobster meat to a medium chop and add to the pan.  Remove from the pan and add some chopped parsley.  Fill the ravioli with this mixture and seal. 

 

Lobster Ravioli in Garlic Cream

 

To make two servings, try very hard to not think about the calorie count.  Prep all the stuff first.  Cut some baby carrots into matchsticks.  Boil some cipollini onions for a minute, remove and allow to cool.  Peel off the skins and cut the root off.  Finely dice a shallot.  Roast about 6 cloves garlic in a tablespoon olive oil.  Take about a half pound of cremini mushrooms and slice into thirds then half them.  Take two cups of the lobster stock and place in sauce pan and bring to a boil and reduce to one half cup.  In large skillet, melt a half stick of butter and cook the mushrooms until well browned.  Add the carrots, onions, shallots and garlic.  Add another tablespoon of butter if needed.  Add a generous helping of black pepper and fresh grated nutmeg.  Take two of the onions out and set aside.  Add a cup of white wine and reduce just until syrupy.  Add the reduced stock and a cup of half and half.  Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 2 or 3 minutes.  Cook the ravioli in the other stock just until tender, about 5 to 6 minutes.  Scoop out and place in the sauce, stirring gently to coat.  Add a 1/4 cup or so of chopped basil leaves.  Place the ravioli on plates and take the reserved claw meat and surround the reserved onion that you have set on some whole basil leaves.    

Chocolate Ravioli

 

Dough, to 4 cups durum wheat flour placed in a food processor, add a quarter cup cocoa powder, a half cup organic evaporated cane juice.  Whizz in processor and add just enough water to make soft dough.  Let rest for about 20 minutes and roll out into long sheets with more flour dusted between sheets.  Take a package of mini chocolate chips and place in bowl.  Add a half cup diced pecans and one half cup cream.  Stir well and use this to fill ravioli.   

Chocolate Ravioli in Raspberry Sauce

 

Cook the ravioli in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile heat a small skillet over medium heat and add a half cup of raspberry jelly.  Melt it with a tablespoon butter and a half cup good red wine.  Drain the ravioli and toss with the sauce.  Place on plates and top with whipped cream. 

 

Scallops in Red Pepper Ravioli

 

Place 4 cups durum wheat into food processor and add one 10 oz jar red pepper.  Process until smooth, adding more flour if needed.  Let rest for about 20 minutes and roll out into long sheets with more flour dusted between sheets.  Take 8 strips of bacon and cook until crisp.  Remove from pan and remove all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.  Season a pound of scallops well with fresh ground pepper.  Sear the scallops in the bacon fat and remove from pan.  Take a half cup sweet onion and very finely dice it and saute in the same pan until translucent.  Add a cup of white wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan.  Reduce the wine to a syrup and pour over the scallops in a clean bowl of a food processor.  Rough chop the scallops and bacon.  Add some minced chives and set aside to cool.  Use this mixture to fill the ravioli. 

 

Scallop Ravioli in Spicy Sauce

 

Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water for 5 to 6 minutes.  Meanwhile take about 6 ripe red jalapenos and cut the sides off, then cut into long strips.  Cut the strips in half.  Take a sweet onion and cut in half, peel it and slice it into thin strips.  In a large skillet, cook 2 strips of thick sliced bacon until crisp.  Remove and chop.  In the same pan cook the onion until well browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Add a half teaspoon crushed red pepper and the jalapeno peppers and cook another 3 minutes.  Add a half cup of red wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce by half.  Add a cup of half and half and bring to a simmer.  Reduce a bit and add the bacon back to the pan and drain the ravioli and toss into the sauce as well.  Add some fresh ground black pepper and a bit of nutmeg and not much else is needed with this one

Okay, if Early humans didn't eat tons of meat in order to evolve, what did they eat?

Whenever someone tells me that they are eating the Paleo diet, I always ask them where they get their Mastodon meat for their new diet.  It rarely goes well, I guess my sense of humor is hard for some to understand.  Just for fun, this is the ABC presentation about early diet ( FoxNews )  Tiger nuts, doesn't seem like enough tigers around for early man to castrate.  Yikes, bad joke.  But, I do like this piece, because it is mainstream news and it took a lot of guts to produce it since big agribusinesses advertise their products on Fox all the time.  No one advertises a healthy way of eating sans processed food.  No one. 

Most Paleo proponents like to tell me that the reason to eat lots of meat is because that's how man evolved and as proof, they point out human tooth physiology.  Canine teeth, for eating meat.  Molars for crunching through nuts and berries.  With some occasional greens found alongside the paths.  Of course that doesn't exactly fit with the reality of the archaeological evidence found so far.  (Way too much about teeth )  And of course most Paleo people relate the often quoted info about how wheat is a poison.  Pseudo-scientific quacks like Dr. Davis, The Wheat Belly, and others all seem to have the same flawed conclusions about humans not ever eating wheat until about 8,000 years ago and how today's wheat differs dramatically from that early wheat.  There is archaeological evidence of Paleo man eating grains 115,000 years ago.  Grains, including the precursors of wheat.  Wheat is a lot different than it back then, even 100 years ago.  However, even with diploid and haploid gene sequences gained through cross breeding to have a higher gluten content; it isn't inherently toxic.  I will say it again, Asian people on average eat up to three times more wheat than Americans and have one tenth the obesity problem.  It ain't the wheat. 

So what does the dental record of development really tell us about what Neolithic, Paleolithic and Holocene hominid diets?  Quite a bit actually, and all of it is pretty interesting. What we see is that the dentition of Holocene humans growing smaller at an accelerated rate from about 50,000 years ago up to about the pottery age, about 8,000 years ago.  Since then, a 1% size decrease per 1,000 years has been seen.  ( Dentition reduction )  This can be explained by the scientific theory that has been shown that the process of evolution allows unnecessary biological structures to shrink and/or disappear with time. Not saying that teeth are unnecessary, but that the dentition of omnivores is not needed since the advent of cooking.  Smaller teeth are all that is needed to chew cooked foods.  What we also see going all the way back to the Neolithic man through the Paleolithic era, the dentition of man changing from large sets of molar like choppers similar to those seen in low land gorillas to a few canine like teeth of common omnivores with the predominance of large molars that over time have reduced in size.  Along with the front canines.  What we see is that as the predecessors of modern man began to eat a more varied diet, the dentition did in fact change (along with other physiological changes) to adapt to the more varied diet of an omnivore.  Of course that means that man did in fact eat meat.  In the beginning, man ate the rotting remains of kills left by other, larger, more vicious predators.  I'm VERY certain that early man did not just one day go from picking away at the scraps left rotting on the savanna to hunting mastodons in a couple generations.  It took a million years for that to happen.   In the meantime, man ate tiger nuts.  And whatever other roots, tubers, berries and seeds (AKA grains) that they could find. 

Sigh, again, I don't dispute that man evolved eating meat.  I also don't dispute the fact that along the way they dined on insects and grubs and a few rotting carcasses along the way.  But hominids were never ever designed to eat the stuff in the supermarkets and fast food hovels that is for whatever reason, called meat.  Modern meat is a frightening mess.  Humans actually don't need meat, they can get along quite well without it.  And in fact, are better off without it.  My contention is that most humans would be better off consuming a diet that is fresh, raw, fermented and for the most part, meatless.  That in reality is what Paleo hominids eat for the most part, with occasional meals of higher protein.  And in today's world, that would be pastured eggs, organic chicken, wild caught seafood, and it pains me but yes, real grass fed beef is okay once in a while.  Wild meat is probably okay as well, but stay away from the factory farmed venison and elk.  Oh yeah, and nuts and berries as well.  Organic of course.   

Promises made, promises broken

Everyone makes little promises in their lives, little promises, and big ones too.  You know, three times I stood before a judge and promised to love and care for someone forever.  They did as well, and yet I am here, single, writing a sad story about promises.  Enhhhh, not really about my problems and the choices I make in women; but this is more about the promises that a number of large corporations have made to not just me and you, but to the entire world. 

Biggest Promise to me is the one that President Obama told Americans in 2007 while campaigning for votes to get elected and he promised, HE PROMISED, to label all GM products when elected.  You can see a recording of his big lie here ( Obama Campaign LIE )  Yeah, I know, it's Mother Jones, but just look at the video.
Farmaceuticals was the big money making vision back in the early eighties.  That vision certainly has proven itself to come true for some things, a whole lot of actual pharmaceuticals come from genetically engineered bacteria research.  In fact most insulin comes to us from this research.  And a few others as well, however the big ones that we were all promised are just empty lies.  Real fun stuff was promised. potatoes that would provide us with vaccines for all the world's ills, green beans that would provide your meds for blood pressure and a host of other problems.  The FDA has already taken the giant step of giving tentative approval to all drugs as food to Big Pharma and the Gene Tech Agrigiants to make money hand over fist.  Oops, sorry, the approval was for them to make plants to help the human condition, and it was sort of like the blanket approval given to them for all Genetically Modified crops.  No testing required, just tell the FDA it's good, and make money.  Thankfully this big promise isn't working, who knows what would happen to our food supply if the genetic material for dangerous and harmful drugs were to infect the genetic material of the existing food supplies.  I don't need blood pressure meds, but if the only potatoes available were contaminated with the genes to make those and no one knew, or wanted to confess to the problem, it just might kill me.  And genetic contamination is a forgone conclusion, it happens, they can't stop it, and they don't want to try.  the US Supreme Court just ruled against organic seed producers suing Monsanto for contamination of the products used for their livelihood.  The Court said, contamination of non-GM crops by neighboring farms growing similar species that are Genetically Modified is inevitable.  And that as long as the contamination is less than 1% then Monsanto DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHTS TO BRING THE ORGANIC FARMERS TO COURT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT. Yes, you read that correctly.  The Organic farmers that sued Monsanto because of unwanted genetic pollution were told that if the pollution got worse, then Monsanto could sue them for patent infringement.  And yes, Former Monsanto directors sit on the Court.

GM plants can be engineered to solve the problems with contaminated Super Fund Sites.  Wow, if this could be true, then it would in fact be the answer to the over 100 Super Fund Sites that plague our country.  Then again, let's not forget that Monsanto is responsible for 48 of those sites and has done nothing about them.  It was a nice idea, phytoremediation, however it has not been exactly successful.  Basically there has been limited success with, are you ready for it, some regular species of non-GM plants doing long term remediation.  Nothing from the genetech guys to help out yet though.  Just another promise.   But then again this is one that scares me, if they did make some super ragweed plant that was able to grow and breakdown PCB or accumulate heavy metals, what would happen if they were to crossbreed with plants everywhere else and then set to work concentrating whatever elements they could acquire in their neighborhood of plants and thus remove all the trace elements from the soils.  Most scientists agree that the trace element content of virtually all of America's farmland is already highly depleted, this will just make it worse.

Genetically Modified Organisms will increase crop yields, require less usage of pesticides, produce crops that are substantially equivalent to conventional crops,  reduce our country's dependence on oil and substantially raise the standard of living for farmers growing our crops.  Yikes, those promises are all broken.  ( The GM Truth ) and ( GM Myths ) and a dozen others, I write about it here a lot.  The truth is that researchers have compared crop yields in the US, Canada and several countries in the EU and GM is losing.  Roundup sales have tripled in 15 years, and now weeds are resistant and have infected 40% of the arable land in the US requiring farmers to use the even more dangerous weed killer, Agent Orange.  Which coincidentally the genetech guys have begun creating new GM crops resistant to that.  Yikes, only a matter of time until they will need stronger ones.  Researchers have done tests on GM corn and soy and the nutrient content is not what was promised, it is lacking.  Oil usage has gone up and the standard of living for farmers hasn't, they pay the genetech companies more and more each year. 

Genetically Modified Crops are needed in order for us to produce enough food for a growing world population.      I just wrote about this a couple weeks ago.  ( Feed the World )  It's all about selling us things we don't need.  That is the definition of marketing.  Big businesses marketed Obama to us, and we bought him.  They marketed GM foods to us, and  because they are not labeled as such, we buy them.  They market their lies, and hold onto promises, and we buy them, promises, lies, and all.

If in fact GM foods are what is needed to feed the world, why is it that the only ones eating GMcrops are humans in developed countries and animals, whose meat is then eaten by humans in developed countries?

Perhaps the rulers of the agrigiants really do think of us as just sheeple. 

The GMO Experience or the Reality of "Who Let the Demon Loose"

I take a lot of flack from friends because I don't believe that those running the US government and most, if not all of its myriad of agencies, have the highest moral standards.  Nor do they do what they are mandated to do.  And of course their mandate is to govern, and responsibly protect the citizens of this nation. It sure seems like a noble mandate, one that should be easy to work toward achieving.  It just doesn't happen.  Just one of the myriad of examples, the FDA and Aspartame.  (Money buys the FDA)   But the world turns around and around, and those that lie steal cheat and destroy continue doing so.  Those with money take the the advice of Yoda wisely, and they distribute money wisely.  Well, maybe that's a stretch, the quote might have been from Raiders.  Again, many people are blind to the corruption of our government, please, if you think it doesn't happen, look up Keating Five on wikipedia.  I don't have any way to know or find out, but I'm sure that a lot of those that lost their entire life savings in the savings and loan failures went ahead and voted for McCain and John Glenn even after the Keating Bribery fiasco.  It just seems that the mass news media glanced over all that, there was no mention of it on TV.  And so those that cheat, were reelected.

But this article is actually about something far more sinister.  It's about who let the demon loose.  Specifically the GM demon.  At this time, there is a lot of controversy as to whether that demon actually exists, and whether or not there should be any actions taken to confine and eradicate what might possibly be a demon in the future.  This isn't an easy thing to prove, it isn't like the rabbits in Australia.  One person thinking some rabbits would be nice to have around for some target practice and now hundreds of millions of them cause a billion dollars in agricultural losses yearly since there are no natural predators nor diseases there.  Not exactly what the intent was for bringing rabbits there, but it happened.  And then in Hawaii they had rats take over after they little vermin got off ships that carried them around in the old days.  And of course, they took over.  And yet human logic, flawed as it is, gave the Islands another great pest, the mongoose, as a way to stop the rats.  That didn't work either, and now Hawaii and Australia join the ranks of places ravaged by species of plants, animals and insects that are not native to each individual locale.  Things like snakeheads, pythons, kudzu, cane toads, and the lowly whitefly.  All are horrific pests, and all are species that were introduced into local environments for one reason or another.  And all are showing themselves to be costly.  Here is a list of the top 100 non-native species causing some problems in their now new habitats.  (100 species)  But the greatest pest that will soon become a worldwide problem isn't the giant pythons eating the neighborhood dogs in Florida, nor the tiny whiteflies destroying crops all over the world; it goes down to the level and size of bacteria.  Well, it is bacteria.  All kinds of bacteria, little one celled bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. 

The problem is only partly the huge amounts of antibiotics that are fed to animals raised in crowded unsanitary feedlots.  A big part of the new problem is in the development of Genetically Modified Foods from the outset.  Gen Food is created using the technology of Horizontal Gene Transfer, or HGT.  In the beginning, Gen food was created by mechanically splitting an embryonic seed germplast and actually shooting desired genetic material into the split seed and attempting to get it to grow.  The technology has advanced dramatically as has mankind's understanding and mapping of the genes in living things.  With the understanding that for the first billion or so years that life sprang into existence here on earth, it is generally agreed among geneticists that the living bacteria like things in the oceans here actually shared parts of their genetic material.  All the time.  It is a fact that scientists have seen, caused, measured and now COUNT on happening at a microscopic level with in the nucleus of cells in target plants.  Once scientists are relatively confident that they have isolated genes that possess the characteristics that they are trying to merge into the genetic makeup of an entirely different species, they have discovered that they can get little tiny viruses to acquire the selected genes into its own nucleus.  And then they force that virus to transfer the genes into the target plant.  And here is where it gets a little crazy.  Those scientists can't just look into the nucleus of a cell in the seed to see if their procedure worked, they have to figure out a way to confirm that it happened.  The process is pretty simple, they affix a specific gene that they can test for into the gene sequence that they are attempting to insert into the target seed embryo.  That "MARKER" gene is simple, it is for resistance to the methicillin family of antibiotics.  They put it in there on purpose, as a marker.

Back in 2005 some scientists at Princeton did a rather interesting study using students as volunteer Guinea pigs.  They gave them GM soy products to eat.  Everyday for a week.  Then they took stool samples and cultured the bacteria from the students digestive systems.  Kind of a shitty job for some students. Then they tested the bacteria for any genetic markers from the GM soy.  A very valid and viable test for HGT.  They were astounded to find not only the genes for Roundup resistance from the soy, they also found BT toxin genes from corn products.  Seems everyone of the students ate corn chips.  Horizontal Gene Transfer, this is where bacteria share the genetic material in the environment, just as they have done for billions of years.  Monsanto of course denounced the study as bad science.  They denounced Seralini, one of the most prestigious researchers in France for his study as well.  In fact I believe that Monsanto denounces any science that points out the flaws in their line of thinking.  The Monsanto web site annual report states that two thirds of corporate income is from chemical sales, only a third is seeds.  Everywhere on their site they describe their company as an agricultural farming company.  And nowhere on the site is any mention whatsoever of HGT.  Even though they use it to develop their gene altered seeds, they don't talk about it. 
(Monsanto on why they don't do long term testing on GM crops) This is actually a very abbreviated treatise on how GM crops are made along with why they THINK they aren't required to test them
 (The Feds info on HGT)
(NCBI info on HGT) The NCBI has over 6000 scientific papers on the subject
(Treatise on HGT in agriculture) Fantastic study on genetic pollution

The deal is that Monsanto is placing the genetic mutation that allows bacteria to have resistance to antibiotics into their crops, and they are then spreading that resistance all across the globe.  Some people might think of Prince Charles as kind of a goofy looking rich guy who has slightly odd tastes in women; but the reality is the man is highly educated and quite the philanthropist.  This is what he said about GM foods "We simply don't know the long term consequences for human health and the wider environment [from GM food] ... If something goes badly wrong we will be faced with the problem with clearing up a kind of pollution that is self perpetuating.  I am not convinced that anyone has the first idea how this could be done."

Who let the demon out of the bag?  And just how bad will it get some time in the very very near future?