Our Foods are in TROUBLE!

From "Thy Kingdom Come" - July 2012
A publication of the Association of the Covenant People, Burnaby,
B.C. Canada.

OUR FOOD IS IN TROUBLE!

BY HOLLY MILLS

"Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the
fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy
vineyard, be defiled." (Dent.22:9)

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains
seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must
beaware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become
unwitting victims of the darkness." (Justice William 0. Douglas
from Common Ground, Issue 172 November 2005).

 At the time of the mailing of this magazine we are in the middle of
summer and fresh produce is on the shelves of our grocery stores and local
markets. It all looks so good doesn't it; all fresh and
colourful, but how good is it really? Here in British Columbia,
Canada we look forward every year to buying fresh produce from
local vendors and from our Okanagan Valley that has the most
wonderful fruits and vegetables you can get, but is this now
under threat? I recently saw a news item on TV about a move to
grow GMO apples in our lovely Okanagan Valley. This new apple is
engineered so that it will stop going brown after being cut. "A
small BC company called Okanagan Specialty Fruits has just
submitted a request to Health Canada and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency for approval of a genetically modified (GM,
also called genetically engineered) "non-browning" apple ... BC
apple growers stopped the GM apple from being field tested in
Canada in 2001. The federal agricultural research station in
Summerland in the Okanagan valley, an important fruit growing
area, was preparing to start field trials, but BC growers who
were concerned about contamination stopped them from happening.
"Many apple grower associations in Canada and the US oppose the
GM apple, including the BC Fruit Tree Association." (Taken from
website: http:///bit.ly/L5ZTwy)

Our food is definitely under threat. I can't help but think that
so many of our health problems and diseases are due to the
quality of our food. In the last 2 years I personally have had
one friend die of a brain tumour, and another childhood friend
who is terminal as well with a brain tumour, also a good friend I
used to work with died of cancer of the esophagus. The ages of
these 3 people are all around 62! There are a few more people I
have heard of by association who have died who are also in their
60's. This is too young. My sister-in-law's brother has a health
problem that the doctors cannot even diagnose. Our bodies are not
getting the nutrients they need and when you add on stress and
poor life styles it is hard for our bodies to be healthy. God
gave us truly amazing bodies and under the right conditions they
can function amazingly and heal themselves. This is what is so
scary about GMO foods, as they are truly foreign substances to
our bodies and add great stress when our bodies try to deal with
them.

In the January 2006 TKC magazine I wrote the following regarding
GMO foods: "I recently lecture by Dr. Pat Howard,  Professor of
Science & Public Policy, School of Communication at Simon Fraser
University, dealing with the Hazards of Genetically Modified
Foods. These foods have quietly been filling our grocery stores
for the past ten years. We have been consuming them with-out even
knowing it, as they are not labeled. Genetic engineering (GE) is
a relatively new technology. It is the alteration of the genetic
make-up of a plant or animal, usually by inserting genes from
another species. For example, GE canola, an ingredient found in
many foods, has been crossed with a soil bacterium gene to make
the canola resistant to certain herbicides. Other popular GE
ingredients include GE corn and GE soybean. Many more varieties
are currently under development in laboratories around the
world." (From: Do you know what you ate today? by The Council of
Canadians).

These foods are different from traditional plant breeding as they
are crossing the plant/ animal barrier. Dr. Howard said that
"this is a new science and the methods are not very precise and
therefore unpredictable." This is why when I heard about the
possible new GMO apple I was astounded. Who does this even
benefit? Most of us when we eat an apple eat the whole thing
before it gets brown and if it does we just cut off the brown bit
and eat the rest. Could it be that it is for the benefit of the
biotech companies who make these foods or for the restaurant and
food industries who want their food to look good! I'm sure it is
not for our (the consumer's) health!

Dr. Howard further stated that these GE foods are compromising
our immune systems and leaving us vulnerable to many diseases,
especially cancer. Genetically modified foods have not been
adequately tested and many scientists are highly critical of
them. Our food is in trouble. Many people are awakening to this
fact but it is a hard battle. GE foods are found in 7 out of 10
processed foods so they are good ones to avoid if possible. We
must do our best to follow God's food laws. He knows that we
cannot control all these things around our food but He gave us
the basis for the food that is good for us and He will guide us
if we follow Him. The light at the end of the tunnel is that our
lands will be healed when Jesus Christ returns. "And he shewed me
a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out
of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
the nations." (Revelation 22:1-2).
..........