Genetically modified food 'unfit for consumption'
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Genetically modified foods or crops should not be classified as food at all, as they are liable to cause various health problems affecting the liver and kidney, and hence unfit for human consumption, said a noted agriculturist, reports UNB.
Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman of International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) made the sweeping assertion to the news agency at his office in the city.
The director of the Centre for Global Environmental Culture (CGEC), as well as the Programme on Education for Sustainability (PES), Dr Rahman said that the main problem with GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) was that it took hundreds and thousands years of adaptation in an environment for the development of a genetic character. The pneumatic bones that helped birds fly and the air bladders, fins and gills that allowed fish to live underwater were characters developed over many long years of adaptation to their specific environment.
"There are many examples of GMOs which are not suitable for natural adaptation," said Dr Rahman, adding that when something was modified (GMO) it could not be sustainable. Without proper adaptation or acclimatisation, something might succeed for the time being, but in the long run, it would perish.
"If we consider chickens, although the growth is rapid, it is abnormal, they cannot move, and are sexually disabled. Therefore, they become genetically and environmentally dependent."
Dr Rahman described the case of the Liger (Lion+Tiger), a giant animal developed by scientists that was a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. But although it was three times the size of a lion or tiger, it could not jump like either.
Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman of International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) made the sweeping assertion to the news agency at his office in the city.
The director of the Centre for Global Environmental Culture (CGEC), as well as the Programme on Education for Sustainability (PES), Dr Rahman said that the main problem with GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) was that it took hundreds and thousands years of adaptation in an environment for the development of a genetic character. The pneumatic bones that helped birds fly and the air bladders, fins and gills that allowed fish to live underwater were characters developed over many long years of adaptation to their specific environment.
"There are many examples of GMOs which are not suitable for natural adaptation," said Dr Rahman, adding that when something was modified (GMO) it could not be sustainable. Without proper adaptation or acclimatisation, something might succeed for the time being, but in the long run, it would perish.
"If we consider chickens, although the growth is rapid, it is abnormal, they cannot move, and are sexually disabled. Therefore, they become genetically and environmentally dependent."
Dr Rahman described the case of the Liger (Lion+Tiger), a giant animal developed by scientists that was a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. But although it was three times the size of a lion or tiger, it could not jump like either.