This article is frightening.
You really need to read it.
In a nutshell, a herd of cattle, here in Texas, died after grazing on grass.
While that in itself is scary enough, they were eating a hybrid of grass that was planted 15 YEARS AGO. Why did they die now if they've been eating it all this time? Well, apparently, after all these years, the grass suddenly mutated and began producing cyanide gas!
They aren't sure the cause of the mutation, but seem to think it might be related to the drought. They are doing an investigation. I'm not sure what's more scary though. The fact that this just suddenly happened out out of the blue?
Or the fact that a few generations of cattle over the last 15 years have been eating this type of grass? How many other ranchers have been using this?
How much of that meat/milk has gone into our food supply?
How much of that meat/milk has gone into our food supply?
This was originally thought to be GMO grass, which is bad just as a rule anyway, but they now say it wasn't GMO, but was a "hybrid" variety of bermuda grass. Still, a hybrid that just suddenly starts making cyanide gas? Who knows what will come of that a few years down the road? Yeah maybe it's "safe" now, but what about 15 years from now? Go Organic / Heirloom when you can!
I want to say that we shouldn't mess with Mother Nature but if that were true, we'd all be dead from small pox and polio. I don't like eating anything that's been irradiated or tampered with but I've also never seen any signs at the grocery store telling me if my food is a GMO or not. I buy local grass fed beef, so I hope our grass is ok!
ReplyDeleteI've had a "eye-opening" lesson this year with hybrid vs heirloom seeds and I'm more and more convinced that at some point, we crossed some invisible line and Ma Nature is PISSED (pardon!). It's back to the simple for me.....
ReplyDeleteThere is a movement and pressure being applied to our government and has been to force food companies and stores to include on the label and put up signs in the produce dept. saying whether or not foods or produce are or have GMO in them. There was a promise made by our current President that this was one of the first things he would do is make GMO labeling a law. mmmmm another promise out the window. I don't say this because I am republican because I am not,nor am I democrat. Just saying he has not kept his word to do this! Such a simple thing he could do with the wave of a pen. Let us decide then if we want to purchase those items!! sighhhhh
ReplyDeleteGrowing our own from heirloom seeds from trusted sources is without a doubt a great thing to do. People think if they have small yards they can't. I read not long ago about a family who has 1/10th of a acre. That is the size of their lot which their home sits on in town. They raise over 6000lbs of food on that lot per year! Included in this figure was eggs and goat milk. Apparently where they live a goat is allowed in town. :O). The rest is produce. So yes it so can be done. They sell their extra organic produce and use that $ to buy the items they cannot grow themselves, organic flour etc. Truly amazing on that small of a piece of land!
People can learn to take care of their harvest. Can, Freeze, dehydrate. The less we buy at the store the better is how I see it. My long term goal is to not buy food at the store. To provide as much as we possibly can ourselves and what we do buy I try if at all possible to buy organic.
You have to wonder if the grass was really hybrid and not GMO was it the grass or was it other chemicals being used on the grass that caused this issue? Either way chemicals or GMO the animals were eating it. Hybrid and GMO are not at all the same animal. ermmm seed :O) unless they are now allowing hybrid seeds that are GMO to not be said as such and well who the heck knows! sighhh...
Scary stuff. If I had to put $$ on it, I would say that the pesticides contributed to the mutation. Also wouldn't doubt GMO since no-one has to label as such.
ReplyDeleteWe've been educating ourselves on our food production. It is scary. You and Second Man might enjoy the documentaries "Fresh" and "Forks Over Knives". Both are great. Now we buy organic and have a whole freezer full of 100% organic, grass fed beef; we grow our own vegetables and support our local farmers market. We are beginners in this whole awakening process. I've read about livestock dying after eating new strands of grass (GMO's). Very scary stuff. If you do watch the documentaries, I'd love to hear what you think.
ReplyDeleteWhere do these things end? Messing with things too much has to have an affect one day and results like this can happen. Mother nature is unpredictable by her nature and we can't fully control it, however much we wish to try. The thing that pisses me off mostly is that these things are usually born from greed. They may wrap it up in a need to produce more food and have more successful crops etc, but at the end of it all is someone who wants to make more money.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing. i do my best to avoid genetically modified whenever i can.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: If this was a hybrid grass grown 15 years ago could it not now (if in fact it laid fallow for 5 years) be certified by the USDA as organic?
ReplyDeleteUgh...yes, organic and heirloom whenever and wherever you can.
ReplyDelete