I bought a can of "Bio Sweet Corn " (Bio Sussmais, Mais doux bio, Mais dolce bio) from the Coop and would like to know it the corn is genetically modified (GM). I have searched the Coop website (with the help of Babelfish), but could not find the answer to this specific question.

Does anyone know if the Coop-Naturaplan sweet corn is a non-GMO (genetically modified organism)?

Ta.

http://teosinte.wisc.edu/Images_to_d...e&teosinte.jpg
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/GENEJO%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-10.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/GENEJO%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-11.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/GENEJO%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-12.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/GENEJO%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-13.jpg[/IMG]
On the left is what maize/corn looked like around 3000 years ago. Ingenious creatures that we are decided to randomly mix genetic material from related species and hey presto, after a couple centuries out pops the form we are used to seeing (on the right). So you see, in a logical argument the corn we eat is most certainly genetically modified

something happened to that post... try again,

http://teosinte.wisc.edu/Images_to_d...e&teosinte.jpg

On the left is what maize/corn looked like around 3000 years ago. Ingenious creatures that we are decided to randomly mix genetic material from related species and hey presto, after a couple centuries out pops the form we are used to seeing (on the right). So you see, in a logical argument the corn we eat is most certainly genetically modified

GMO have to be labeled in Switzerland, so if it isn't explicitly labeled as such it should be non-GMO

Link

All the vegetable/crops that we eat have been genetically modified one way or another. Whether it be by interbreeding or done in the lab.

...and thats just the farmers

dave

Thanks for that infomation DNAMan. However, I would have to say that the corn your image shows was brought about by crop domestication and classical plant breeding.

What I am really interested to know is, if the corn we are eating has been modified to include the Bt gene (a gene from a bacteria that makes a toxic that prevents bugs from eating the corn), or other genes.

If you can read German IP-Suisse (which is the Swiss Bio Agricultural thingymajig) may have some answers

Thanks mate . Unfortunately, I don't speak German (apart from a few swear words), but Babelfish is quite handy for translations.

Thanks Suermel. Will check it out. It just seems too good to be true if this really is the case. But if it is, then I am happy.

Ok then... I'll be more serious (was just wanting to drive home the point that classical breeding is also a form a genetic manipulation though not very specific).

The official position in Switzerland is that GMOs are, preferably, not sold in retail outlets. Also no GMO research in plants is allowed to be conducted in Switzerland i.e. no planting of engineered crops for field trials or commercial purposes.

So if you are concerned, don't be. I am certain that your item from co-op is not GM. I would, however, be cautious of eating soy products. Despite the fact that in certain countries (e.g. Britain) where GM labelling is mandatory and soy products are labelled GM free, the largest exporter of soy (US) grows 90% GM soy crops. Seeds are often mixed at agricultural co-ops and one should expect that batch testing does not mean that a large percentage of soy products would contain transgenes despite the controls.

Check the label on any swiss soy products to determine the country of origin of the beans.

I am with you in regards to soybean. Stopped eating soybean products for donkey years now. Unfortunately, almost every thing that is proccessed today contains some amount of soy ...and most likely derived from GM soy. And if only the truth about Roundup Ready Soybean was known to the farmers, then maybe they will stop growing it.

Not that I really have a particular opinion on it either way but would you care to enlighten me as to the dangers of genetically modified soy.

on a scale of 1-10

danger to human health 0, fear of the danger to human health 100

In the grand scheme of things I am far more concerned about the over-antibioticking (that's totally a word) of our farms animals than I am concerned about GM foods.

I would like to hear the reasoning behind why GM foods are inherently bad. We've already changed the course of vegetables/crops so dramatically over the last 5000ish years how is what is being done now much different?

Where's JamesK when you need him.

This may be of interest to some of you. It is in layman's term.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/ar...-foods/251051/

And the original scientific paper published is here:

http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v22...cr2011158a.pdf

most corn now is GM of some sort. It may not have been developed for pesticide resistance or have mutated fly DNA introduced into it... but it's some form of GM or another.

Intellectual property is one reason. It means that it may be illegal for a farmer to grow his own seed, even if his field wasn't GM but there was an accidental cross-pollination from another farmer's field. This makes the most evil things the music industry has done so far seem like harmless child's play in comparison.

Side effects may be another reason. Fine if the soy plant creates a posion to kill off the insects that are eating it, but how do I know that posion isn't harming me? Actually, no plant wants to be eaten and hence they are nearly all poisonous to some degree. It has taken 5000 years of plant husbandry to breed the poisons out of our foods. And then the GM folks put them back in for profit.