Bad news about the Impossible Burger: Ushering in a new wave of genetically engineered foods

Bad news about the Impossible Burger: Ushering in a new wave of genetically engineered foods
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(NaturalHealth365) The Impossible Burger, a new “plant-based burger” marketed by Impossible Foods, is now appearing on diners’ plates in selected California restaurants. And this genetically engineered food does its best to impersonate meat, reportedly sizzling, browning when cooked –even “bleeding.”

In other words: “Franken-Burgers” have arrived and they call this healthy?!

The appearance of these GMO burgers signals a new wave of genetically engineered foods created by gene editing – a technique that natural health experts say is insufficiently tested.  Now, many consumers – blissfully unaware of the “burger’s” GMO origins – are already chowing down on the Impossible Burger.

This, in spite of a recent survey showing that over two thirds of consumers say they would not knowingly eat GMO foods.

Food ALERT: GMO-based Impossible Burger breaks down into dozens of untested proteins

According to Impossible Foods’ own website, their burger is actually based on yeast that has been genetically engineered to resemble leghemoglobin – a substance found in the roots of soybean plants.

Soy leghemoglobin, or SLH, breaks down into the bright-red “heme” protein – which causes the burger to resemble meat, and (creepily) even allows it to “bleed.”  When ingested, SLH breaks down into 46 other proteins of undetermined safety – proteins that are not normally found in the human body, and have undergone no testing whatsoever.

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And here’s the kicker: although Impossible Foods didn’t need the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Adminsitration (FDA) to sell its GMO burger, the company requested that the agency confirm it as GRAS (generally recognized as safe).

The FDA – to its credit – expressed concern that SLH has never been consumed by humans (and may be an allergen, to boot).  According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the FDA stated that the current arguments in favor of the burger were “not enough to establish the safety of SLH for consumption.”

But, the FDA stopped short of deeming the burger ‘unsafe.’

Note: The Impossible Foods website, for its part, maintains that the FDA does in fact validate SLH as safe.  But, natural health experts are far from convinced of its safety.

Genetically altered foods are being heralded with the ability to “stop hunger” – but is the claim realistic?

The Impossible Burger has been billed as lacking the environmental and ethical downsides of meat production.

Genetically engineered foods such as the Impossible Burger have been touted as having the ability to help sustain the 9 billion-strong human population predicted on earth by 2050.  On the surface, it sounds like a noble mission.

But natural health experts – along with officials at the UN and the WHO – note that the world’s current hunger problem is largely due to improper distribution, inequality, poverty and food waste.

Rather than presenting a solution for world hunger, the Impossible Burger only represents the latest “twist” in high-tech GMO foods.

And, the repercussions from existing GMO foods are unfolding daily.

GMO crops (such as Roundup Ready corn) are engineered to survive being doused with synthetic chemical pesticides, such as glyphosate and dicamba. This means they are responsible for a tremendous increase in the use of these toxic substances, which have been linked in studies to cancer, dementia and immune problems.

US Right To Know, a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing truth and transparency in the US food system, points out that GMO pesticide-resistant crops have been associated with an array of disastrous effects.

These include birth defects in Hawaii, cancer clusters in Argentina, contaminated waterways in Iowa, damaged farmland across the Midwest – plus much more.

Remember “Golden Rice?” (or maybe you don’t). This vitamin A-enhanced GMO rice was touted almost two decades ago as “the rice that could save a million kids a year,” yet it failed to materialize on the market.

This is due to the fact that breeders have yet to develop varieties that grow as well as existing natural rice strains.

When one trait – in this case, the ability to produce beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A – is edited in a genome, other capabilities (such as speed of growth) may be altered, and not for the better.

Maybe fooling Mother Nature is a bit harder than GMO scientists think?

CRISPR technology signals a new horizon of synthetic biology

“Old-school” genetic engineering, which is objectionable enough, involves the transfer of genes from one plant or animal species to another.

But CRISPR technology operates from a different angle.

Also known as synthetic biology, gene editing and gene silencing, CRISPR (an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats) involves genes that are turned off, or “silenced.”

Outright gene deletion, and the creation of brand-new DNA sequences, are also possible with CRISPR.

And, remember: the resultant products can be patented – a very profitable distinction for the biotech industry!

Agrichemical giants Monsanto, DuPont and Dow Chemical have all achieved licensing deals that allow them to use gene-editing technology.

According to US Right to Know, companies are currently changing or creating DNA in order to artificially synthesize compounds, with yeasts and algae being genetically “tweaked” to produce flavors and fragrances such as vanillin, citrus and patchouli.

Of course, this development threatens the very survival of farmers in Mexico, Africa and Paraguay, who for centuries have cultivated natural, organic extracts.

And CRISPR technology is already altering fruits and vegetables that will appear in produce aisles.

One example is the non-browning Arctic Apple, which uses CRISPR technology to silence the gene that causes apples to brown when sliced.  The Arctic Apple has already been test-marketed, and is expected to hit grocery shelves across the nation within a matter of months.

Other gene-edited products now available in grocery store include CRISPR canola oil and non-browning CRISPR mushrooms.

Is ignorance really bliss?

According to the Impossible Foods website, the company says it hopes to supply 1,000 restaurants with Impossible Burgers by the year’s end – and that the product could hit US grocery stores within months.

Meanwhile, consumers looking for a humane, nutritious and safe meat alternative are consuming the Impossible Burger, with no concept of what it contains – or of the possible health effects down the road.

Infuriatingly, vendors and restaurateurs have reportedly been heard to tell customers that the Impossible Burger is “non-GMO.”

Note: we already have a “Franken-Fish.”  AquaAdvantage salmon, engineered with the genes of an eel to promote supernaturally fast growth, is currently on the market.

There is one sure way you can keep these imposters from ending up on your dinner plate – simply buy organic.

And say “no” to the Impossible Burger – and the invasion of nightmarish Franken-Foods.

The video – below – proudly outlines the “neuroscience” which created the “sensory experience” of an Impossible Burger.  Pretty scary stuff – if you ask us.

Sources for this article include:

USRightToKnow.org
ImpossibleFoods.com


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