Jain Spirit 2001 12 No 09

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 46

YOUTH
Non-Veg Vegetables
Non-veg vegetables
Marcus Williamson examines whether genetically
modified food is vegetarian
few friends down the PETA path. In the last year, I have converted three of my friends to vegetarianism, encouraged two people to give up meat once a week, enlightened many to quit eating at McDonald's, and even inspired my mother's brother and his family to cut down on red meat. They still insist on eating fish though (hey, I tried!). At school, I am known as the enthusiastic vegetarian who always has a smile on her face, a mission in her mind, information about animal rights on her tongue, and a copy of PETA's Animal Times in her backpack. All of my vegetarian friends are proud of the way I quit eating meat, "cold turkey".
PETA has helped me realise that a vegetarian way of life is the right one. On my birthday this December I plan to announce to my family my life long commitment to vegetarianism. The last year and a half has been a long road filled with temptations and mockery, but with the support of friends, family and PETAI have made my vegetarian dream a reality. In short, thank you PETA for helping me make one of the most meaningful commitments of my life. Best wishes in the years ahead! 2
animal life is eliminated. Other plants, which would have provided habitats for animals normally living around the plant, are destroyed.
MIKE TURNER
Some GM tomatoes have fish genes
Reana Leena Praful Shah lives in Redford, California. The founder of PETA, Ms. Ingrid Newkirk writes regularly for Jain Spirit. www.peta.org
ENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS
first came onto the shelves in
J Europe in 1996. At the time there was no requirement to label the ingredients as Genetically Modified. In 1999, however, European regulations were introduced to require the labelling of GM soya (where present) so that such to foods would bear the label "Contains Genetically Modified Soya".
At the time these GM foods were introduced, questions were asked of the politicians, scientists and the supermarkets whether these foods had ever been independently safety-tested for their effect on the health of humans, animals and the environment. The answer was, and still is, "no".
So these products are untested for safety. However, are they suitable for vegetarians? Two examples of GM foods currently available are: Bt maize (corn) and Round Up Ready soya (soy).
Bt maize is produced by Syngenta, a company formed by the merger of Novartis and Zeneca. Bt maize contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which has the ability to produce a toxin to kill the corn borer, an insect grub which feeds on corn. Thus, a poison is built into the plant itself which kills the animals as the plant is growing.
Round Up is a herbicide poison, also known as glyphosate, produced by the company Monsanto. It kills all plant life where it is sprayed. "Round Up Ready" plants have been spliced with a gene, which allows them to survive spraying with Round Up. The effect is what has been called "Green Concrete", an area in which only the herbicide-resistant plant is able to live and all other plant and
Veg
These two examples are of currently available plants, which have the ability either to withstand deadly poison whilst other surrounding plant and animal life is killed, or to kill animal life by producing poison. These properties have been artificially built into the plants by scientists.
Products such as these, whose purpose is to kill animal life or to survive the elimination of animal habitats, are clearly not in keeping with a vegetarian dietary regime.
Other developments, which are of even greater concern to vegetarians, are plants with animal genes inserted into them to provide some property, which would not be possible through conventional crossbreeding. The resulting vegetable is no longer a pure vegetable. Instead it has properties taken from the original plant plus some additional characteristics from an animal.
Two examples of work already announced on versions of plants which have been modified by the insertion of animal genes include: Broccolini/Rar and Potato/Scorpion Poison. Broccolini/Rat - A rat gene has been introduced into broccolini to increase the levels of vitamin C in the plant. Broccolini is a cross between broccoli and a Chinese kale.
Friendly
42
Jain Spirit . December 2001 - February 2002
www jaineling