[Fwd: School Diet Change Brings Remarkable Behavior Improvements, and a Hilarious Spoof on Star Wars]

[Guest guest]

Here is a collection of evidence of harm from GM food.

--- School Diet Change Brings Remarkable Behavior Improvements,

and a Hilarious Spoof on Star Wars

Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 17:02:10 -0700

Organization: Optimal Ways of Living

To: aajonus

Hi, all,

I sent this information to my list almost 2 years ago but many new

subscribers have not read it. Also, I added related material.

healthfully,

aajonus

First, download the spoof while you read below; it takes a few minutes:

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

The following article makes references to information at these websites:

http://www.weboflove.org/050520schooldietchange

http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/appleton090304.cfm

Why Schools Should Remove GE-Tainted Foods from Their Cafeterias

Institute for Responsible Technology

Newsletter on GM Foods, Spilling the Beans

By M. , author of Seeds of Deception

*Before the Appleton Wisconsin high school replaced their cafeteria's

processed foods with wholesome, nutritious food, the school was

described as out-of-control. There were weapons violations, student

disruptions, and a cop on duty full-time. After the change in school

meals, the students were calm, focused, and orderly. There were no more

weapons violations, and no suicides, expulsions, dropouts, or drug

violations. The new diet and improved behavior has lasted for seven

years, and now other schools are changing their meal programs with

similar results.*

Years ago, a science class at Appleton found support for their new diet

by conducting a cruel and unusual experiment with three mice. They fed

them the junk food that kids in other high schools eat everyday. The

mice freaked out. Their behavior was totally different than the three

mice in the neighboring cage. The neighboring mice had good karma; they

were fed nutritious whole foods and behaved like mice. They slept

during the day inside their cardboard tube, played with each other, and

acted very mouse-like.

*The junk food mice, on the other hand, destroyed their cardboard tube,

were no longer nocturnal, stopped playing with each other, fought

often, and two mice eventually killed the third and ate it.* After the

three month experiment, the students rehabilitated the two surviving

junk food mice with a diet of whole foods. After about three weeks, the

mice came around.

Sister Luigi Frigo repeats this experiment every year in her second

grade class in Cudahy, Wisconsin, but mercifully, for only four days.

*Even on the first day of junk food, the mice's behavior " changes

drastically. " They become lazy, antisocial, and nervous. *And it still

takes the mice about two to three weeks on unprocessed foods to return

to normal. One year, the second graders tried to do the experiment

again a few months later with the same mice, but this time the animals

refused to eat the junk food.

Across the ocean in Holland, a student fed one group of mice

genetically modified (GM) corn and soy, and another group the non-GM

variety. The GM mice stopped playing with each other and withdrew into

their own parts of the cage. When the student tried to pick them up,

unlike their well-behaved neighbors, the GM mice scampered around in

apparent fear and tried to climb the walls. One mouse in the GM group

was found dead at the end of the experiment.

*It's interesting to note that the junk food fed to the mice in the

Wisconsin experiments also contained genetically modified ingredients.

And although the Appleton school lunch program did not specifically

attempt to remove GM foods, it happened anyway. That's because GM foods

such as soy and corn and their derivatives are largely found in

processed foods. So when the school switched to unprocessed

alternatives, almost all ingredients derived from GM crops were taken

out automatically.*

Does this mean that GM foods negatively affect the behavior of humans

or animals? It would certainly be irresponsible to say so on the basis

of a single student mice experiment and the results at Appleton. On the

other hand, it is equally irresponsible to say that it doesn't.

We are just beginning to understand the influence of food on behavior.

A study in Science in December 2002 concluded that " food molecules act

like hormones, regulating body functioning and triggering cell

division. The molecules can cause mental imbalances ranging from

attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder to serious mental

illness. " The problem is we do not know which food molecules have what

effect.

The bigger problem is that the composition of GM foods can change

radically without our knowledge. Genetically modified foods have genes

inserted into their DNA. But genes are not Legos; they don't just snap

into place. *Gene insertion creates unpredicted, irreversible changes.

In one study, for example, a gene chip monitored the DNA before and

after a single foreign gene was inserted. As much as 5 percent of the

DNA's genes changed the amount of protein they were producing.* Not

only is that huge in itself, but these changes can multiply through

complex interactions down the line.

In spite of the potential for dramatic changes in the composition of GM

foods, they are typically measured for only a small number of known

nutrient levels. But even if we could identify all the changed

compounds, at this point we wouldn¹t know which might be responsible

for the antisocial nature of mice or humans. Likewise, we are only

beginning to identify the medicinal compounds in food. We now know, for

example, that the pigment in blueberries may revive the brain¹s neural

communication system, and the antioxidant found in grape skins may

fight cancer and reduce heart disease. But what about other valuable

compounds we don¹t know about that might change or disappear in GM

varieties?

Consider GM soy. In July 1999, years after it was on the market,

independent researchers published a study showing that it contains

12-14 percent less cancer-fighting phytoestrogens.* What else has

changed that we don¹t know about? [Monsanto responded with its own

study, which concluded that soy¹s phytoestrogen levels vary too much to

even carry out a statistical analysis. They failed to disclose,

however, that the laboratory that conducted Monsanto¹s experiment had

been instructed to use an obsolete method to detect phytoestrogens

results.]

In 1996, Monsanto published a paper in the Journal of Nutrition that

concluded in the title, " The composition of glyphosate-tolerant soybean

seeds is equivalent to that of conventional soybeans. " The study only

compared a small number of nutrients and a close look at their charts

revealed significant differences in the fat, ash, and carbohydrate

content. In addition, GM soy meal contained 27 percent more trypsin

inhibitor, a well-known soy allergen. The study also used questionable

methods. Nutrient comparisons are routinely conducted on plants grown

in identical conditions so that variables such as weather and soil can

be ruled out. Otherwise, differences in plant composition could be

easily missed. In Monsanto's study, soybeans were planted in widely

varying climates and geography.

Although one of their trials was a side-by-side comparison between GM

and non-GM soy, for some reason the results were left out of the paper

altogether.* Years later, a medical writer found the missing data in

the archives of the Journal of Nutrition and made them public. No

wonder the scientists left them out. The GM soy showed significantly

lower levels of protein, a fatty acid, and phenylalanine, an essential

amino acid.* Also, toasted GM soy meal contained nearly twice the

amount of a lectin that may block the body¹s ability to assimilate

other nutrients. Furthermore, the toasted GM soy contained as much as

seven times the amount of trypsin inhibitor, indicating that the

allergen may survive cooking more in the GM variety. (*This might

explain the 50 percent jump in soy allergies in the UK, just after GM

soy was introduced.*)

We don't know all the changes that occur with genetic engineering, but

certainly GM crops are not the same. Ask the animals.* Eyewitness

reports from all over North America describe how several types of

animals, when given a choice, avoided eating GM food.* These included

cows, pigs, elk, deer, raccoons, squirrels, rats, and mice. In fact,

the Dutch student mentioned above first determined that his mice had a

two-to-one preference for non-GM before forcing half of them to eat

only the engineered variety.

*Differences in GM food will likely have a much larger impact on

children. They are three to four times more susceptible to allergies.*

Also, they convert more of the food into body-building material.

Altered nutrients or added toxins can result in developmental problems.

For this reason, animal nutrition studies are typically conducted on

young, developing animals. After the feeding trial, organs are weighed

and often studied under magnification. If scientists used mature

animals instead of young ones, even severe nutritional problems might

not be detected. The Monsanto study used mature animals instead of

young ones.

They also diluted their GM soy with non-GM protein 10- or 12­fold

before feeding the animals. And they never weighed the organs or

examined them under a microscope. The study, which is the only major

animal feeding study on GM soy ever published, is dismissed by critics

as rigged to avoid finding problems.

Unfortunately, there is a much bigger experiment going on one which we

are all a part of. We're being fed GM foods daily, without knowing the

impact of these foods on our health, our behavior, or our children.

Thousands of schools around the world, particularly in Europe, have

decided not to let their kids be used as guinea pigs. They have banned

GM foods.

The impact of changes in the composition of GM foods is only one of

several reasons why these foods may be dangerous. Other reasons may be

far worse (see <http://www.seedsofdeception.com>).

With the epidemic of obesity and diabetes and with the results in

Appleton, parents and schools are waking up to the critical role that

diet plays. When making changes in what kids eat, removing GM foods

should be a priority.

The above article may be used as a stand-alone opinion piece, or as

part of a monthly series about genetically modified foods by

. Publishers and webmasters may offer the series to your readers

at no charge, by emailing a request to .

Individuals may read the column each month, by subscribing to a free

newsletter at <http://www.seedsofdeception.com>. The website also

describes how to avoid eating GM foods. For a powerful, engaging,

ten-page summary of 's book on GM foods, " Seeds of Deception " ,

click here <http://www.WantToKnow.info/deception10pg>.