Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) waited twenty years before publishing The Origin of Species because he expected the chaos created by his theory (the accepted though in that time: the earth is about 10000 years old and living creatures are not related). Almost two hundreds years after his birth date, the humanity is still much devised on what to think, I’m sure Mr. Darwin would be very sad to know this.
The spec of Darwin is everywhere around you, every altered food you eat (GMO) comes from his work. We use his theory in all the different sciences of life: biology, ecology, psychology, human science, history, economy….His theory is a way to understand the world we are living in. Without it we can understand how an evolutionary phenomenon happens but not why it’s happening. This is the best idea in the past 500 hundreds years and it has been confirmed through years of observation and studies from thousands of Scientists. It’s said the Copernicus put the human race on a pedestal when he proved the earth rotated around the sun and that Darwin tumbled it off making us an animal like any others.

The problem is that we are taking a lot of time to understand and learn from his great idea. A mistake that could be fatal. A good example is the way our medicine is using antibiotics in fighting diseases. Tuberculosis, “the white pest” made ravages through centuries. In 1940, a miracle remedy Penicillin (let’s call it P) appeared and it was thought we could get rid of it. Canada has around 2000 cases of the disease every year and P doesn’t work like it used to!! What happened… The virus of tuberculosis first lost the battle against P. In 2008, with thousands of genetical modifications achieved, the virus has become very resistant to P. It’s the same story with many known viruses and insects we are trying to get rid of. Darwin Help!!!!

His theory changed the way we understand our origins, yet it’s not widely known, I propose some highlights:

• Everything living on the planet shares the same ancestor: The first cells that appeared on earth about 3.8 billion years. From them life evolved using natural selection, a mechanism by which the individuals having the best tools to face their environment will survive thus more chances to reproduce and give their characteristics.
• Humans don’t have monkeys for ancestors, we are monkeys and the chimp is a far cousin that shares the same ancestor living about six millions years ago.
• Humans are not more evolved than any other species living on the planet. He simply took a different trajectory.
• 54% of Americans believe in creationism or intelligent design (Harris survey)

The Origin of species is not a theory anymore. It has been proven with multiple examples and experiences. He could not explain everything but we are finding answers with all our hard digging. One thing is certain, every species is directly related to its environment. We will soon face some great dangers if we don’t learn to live in harmony with our ecosystem.

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We are what we eat …why question the food we are given (vegetables, meat, soya, popcorn, candy bar) since we don’t even have time to sit and enjoy a nice healthy meal in this world. The pink flamingo draws his color from crustacean he eats. What would he look like if he ate genetically modified shrimps?

As silly as the answer probably is, we have no clues on the long term effects. How can our governments allow the release of GMOs into the public without proper labeling laws? The biotech industry’s claim that genetically modified (GM) foods are safe, it will benefit the environment by reducing toxic chemical use, increase food production to feed the world and lead to an agricultural boom. They claimed the same when pesticides were first introduced, they viewed them as a miracle for farmers. Yet, decades later the technology revealed its lethal implications. They said hydrogenated fats were harmless before Second World War; now so many people are dying of heart diseases because of these fats. Their hope is that over time, the market will be so flooded with their poison there is nothing to do other than to accept them…They have no scientific proof it is safe and they really don’t care as long as it brings them money. All the sub studies point in the opposite direction. Why are companies spending billions on this crazy idea? Because they want to patent a genes (own copyright of the gene) - so that they can make billions of dollars selling them to poor farmers and countries.

Humanity has evolved for thousands of years by adapting gradually to it’s environment and the food he eats. All the modifications that occured were balanced and favored by nature itsel, we cannot re-create a jungle and all it’s interacting elements. Within three years (97-99) a fundamental transformation of the human diet has occurred. The Biotech industry targeted corn and soy: commonly eaten worldwide. Two third of all processed foods in the US already contains GM ingredients.

Did you ever digg the question…What are (GM) foods?

A genetically modified organism (GMO, also called “genetically engineered”) is a plant, animal or microorganism (example: bacteria) that is created by means that overcome natural boundaries. Biolistics is the technology that makes it possible: a gunshot-like violence that pierces the nuclear membrane of a cell. Genetic engineering involves crossing species which could not cross in nature.A peanut gene in your steak. Sounds nasty? I know that every time we mess up nature, we do bad thing we can’t undo.

It’s called a thano-technology, the death technology. We now have the ability to fine tune and calibrate life in a way we have never had before. Humans can’t predict the consequences of such alterations. There are numerous scenarios and the odds are not favoring our side. The human body is not a machine like “something” that can be fed like assembly lines. You still remember we eat for our nourishment and vitality? What’s alive interacts or changes with its environment, the unnatural of genetic foods are “dead” qualities. Cells in our body recognize this lack of vitality, intuitively our body cells and immune system seems to reject excess homogeneity.

GM companies (Monsanto’s Roundup, Cyanamid’s Pursuit, Aventis’ Liberty) have gone on multi-billion dollar buying sprees, purchasing seed companies and destroying their non-patented (the competition) seed stock. They managed to spread at an alarming rate in the US. In the three years mentionned above, 1/4th of american agricultural lands were converted to raise GM crops. Carrying GM pollen by wind, rain, birds, insects, bacteria…the entire chain of life becomes infected. Once relased, unlike chemical pollution, there is no cleanup or recall possible. You start seeing the problem….There is no way to stop genetic pollution, it will alter life forever.

We know that gene transfers are possible, at low frequency sometimes depending on the organisms, it’s environment…It is proven that some DNA segments are still present after boiling or cooking food. These DNA segments can cause an auto-immune response from our system, we have seen a dramatic increase in new allergies.
- It is proven that genes inserted using Biolistics are not as stable as genes found in natural plants. A gene inserted by humans show a bigger tendency to inter-relate with other genes. We may be try to calibrate life, but we don’t have a mere idea of what kind of dangerous chain re-action can result. It’s called the Pleiotropic effect: the insertion of one gene could re-activate a protein, herself changing the synthesis of another natural protein.

Species disapearing every day, our total biomass diversity is decreasing. We decided to make matters worse, incorporating new unstable “DNA” in the diet and conception of every living things. Here is another danger you can add in up to the list of things endangering our species. Once again, most of our problems come from overpopulation. Manipulating DNA is one of the greatest threfts againts life on earth. Who are we to redesign the products of three billion years of evolution. Science brought marvelous things to our world, i don’t think restructuring nature was part of the bargain. I will repeat myself but we cannot “clean” up genetic pollution!!! Talk about it, read about it, make it public until it’s understood because this direction may not be only unwise, but dangerous.

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