Just when you thought it was safe...

wulkowicz

wulkowicz

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June 23, 2012


GM grass linked to Texas cattle deaths - CBS News

(CBS News) ELGIN, Texas - A mysterious mass death of a herd of cattle has prompted a federal investigation in Central Texas.

Preliminary test results are blaming the deaths on the grass the cows were eating when they got sick, reports CBS Station KEYE.

The cows dropped dead several weeks ago on an 80-acre ranch owned by Jerry Abel in Elgin, just east of Austin.

Abel says he's been using the fields for cattle grazing and hay for 15 years. "A lot of leaf, it's good grass, tested high for protein - it should have been perfect," he told KEYE correspondent Lisa Leigh Kelly.

The grass is a genetically-modified form of Bermuda known as Tifton 85 which has been growing here for 15 years, feeding Abel's 18 head of Corriente cattle. Corriente are used for team roping because of their small size and horns.

"When we opened that gate to that fresh grass, they were all very anxious to get to that," said Abel.

Three weeks ago, the cattle had just been turned out to enjoy the fresh grass, when something went terribly wrong.

"When our trainer first heard the bellowing, he thought our pregnant heifer may be having a calf or something," said Abel. "But when he got down here, virtually all of the steers and heifers were on the ground. Some were already dead, and the others were already in convulsions."

Within hours, 15 of the 18 cattle were dead.

"That was very traumatic to see, because there was nothing you could do, obviously, they were dying," said Abel.

Preliminary tests revealed the Tifton 85 grass, which has been here for years, had suddenly started producing cyanide gas, poisoning the cattle.

"Coming off the drought that we had the last two years ... we're concerned it was a combination of events that led us to this," Dr. Gary Warner, an Elgin veterinarian and cattle specialist who conducted the 15 necropsies, told Kelly.

What is more worrisome: Other farmers have tested their Tifton 85 grass, and several in Bastrop County have found their fields are also toxic with cyanide. However, no other cattle have died.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are dissecting the grass to determine if there might have been some strange, unexpected mutation.

Until it can be determined why this grass suddenly began producing cyanide, Abel is keep his livestock far away.

"The grasshoppers are enjoying it now," he said.


sadly submitted by Tubbs
 
I've been tracking this down because the FDA decision to NOT include whether a product contains GMO comnponents on food labels REALLY bothers me.

It is a fact that the cattle died from exposure to hydrogen cyanide gas produced by Tifton-85 grass and that this is happening in more than one place in differing growing conditions.

Tifton-85 is NOT however, genetically modified (GMO) in the scientific sense, it's a commercial hybrid. They mixed some grasses together and got Tifton-85, it's a cross-breed. There was no direct tampering with it's DNA. The grass was actually planted about 18 years ago, well before GMO was ever tested on forage grasses.

The best theory I've read so far points to fertilizer... probably Chinese fertilizer labeled as Nitrogen but containing abnormally high amounts of cyanide. Several companies produce ferts containing cyanide compounds.

The next best theory is that drought caused unusually high concentrations of HCN (cyanide gas) through interaction of emulsin and dhurrin compounds which are both present in sorghum grasses. I don't get the whole mechanism but the business of crushing and chewing causes the compounds to interact and produce HCN. Apparently it's the regrowth following drought that's potentially deadly.

Last thing, this isn't the first time HCN has been found in forage grasses, it's not even unusual, it's just that concentrations tend to be very low. This is the first time it's been found produced by Tifton-85 though.

I want to know if my food contains GMO products, I was hoping this would bring the debate back to the foreground but alas, it's not the ammo we needed.

Anyone who hasn't watched Food, Inc. SHOULD! Food ain't what it used to be.
 
Thanks for clearing that one Blinky.
My first thought was fertilizer as well.

There are regulations here on how and especially when you still are allowed to use chemical fertilizers. I don't know the exacts in time on that one but you are not allowed to use fertilizer just before harvesting and cattle grazing.

We had similar news flashes because of unwanted 'extras' in spinach a couple of years ago. Also due to use of fertilizers in a too late stage before harvesting the crop.
 
And the ketchup thickens...

Flavor Is The Price Of Tomatoes’ Scarlet Hue, Geneticists Say


S. Zhong and J. Giovannoni

A gene mutation that makes a tomato uniformly red also stifles genes that contribute to its taste, researchers say.

Plant geneticists say they have discovered an answer to a near-universal question: Why are tomatoes usually so tasteless?

Yes, they are often picked green and shipped long distances. Often they are refrigerated, which destroys their flavor and texture. But now researchers have discovered a genetic reason that diminishes a tomato’s flavor even if the fruit is picked ripe and coddled.

The unexpected culprit is a gene mutation that occurred by chance and that was discovered by tomato breeders. It was deliberately bred into almost all tomatoes because it conferred an advantage: It made them a uniform luscious scarlet when ripe.

Now, in a paper published in the journal Science, researchers report that the very gene that was inactivated by that mutation plays an important role in producing the sugar and aromas that are the essence of a fragrant, flavorful tomato. And these findings provide a road map for plant breeders to make better-tasting, evenly red tomatoes.

The discovery “is one piece of the puzzle about why the modern tomato stinks,” said Harry Klee, a tomato researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was not involved in the research. “That mutation has been introduced into almost all modern tomatoes. Now we can say that in trying to make the fruit prettier, they reduced some of the important compounds that are linked to flavor.”

The mutation’s effect was a real surprise, said James J. Giovannoni of the United States Department of Agriculture Research Service, an author of the paper. He called the wide adoption of tomatoes that ripen uniformly “a story of unintended consequences.”

Breeders stumbled upon the variety about 70 years ago and saw commercial potential. Consumers like tomatoes that are red all over, but ripe tomatoes normally had a ring of green, yellow or white at the stem end. Producers of tomatoes used in tomato sauce or ketchup also benefited. Growers harvest this crop all at once, Dr. Giovannoni said, and “with the uniform ripening gene, it is easier to determine when the tomatoes are ripe.”

Then, about 10 years ago, Ann Powell, a plant biochemist at the University of California, Davis, happened on a puzzle that led to the new discovery.

Dr. Powell, a lead author of the Science paper, was studying weed genes. Her colleagues had put those genes into tomato plants, which are, she said, the lab rats of the plant world. To Dr. Powell’s surprise, tomatoes with the genes turned the dark green of a sweet pepper before they ripened, rather than the insipid pale green of most tomatoes today.

“That got me thinking,” Dr. Powell said. “Why do fruits bother being green in the first place?” The green is from chloroplasts, self-contained energy factories in plant cells, where photosynthesis takes place. The end result is sugar, which plants use for food. And, Dr. Powell said, the prevailing wisdom said sugar travels from a plant’s leaves to its fruit. So chloroplasts in tomato fruit seemed inconsequential.

Still, she said, the thought of dark green tomatoes “kind of bugged me.” Why weren’t the leaves dark green, too?

About a year ago, she and her colleagues, including Dr. Giovannoni, decided to investigate. The weed genes, they found, replaced a disabled gene in a tomato’s fruit but not in its leaves. With the weed genes, the tomatoes turned dark green.

The reason the tomatoes had been light green was that they had the uniform ripening mutation, which set up a sort of chain reaction. The mutation not only made tomatoes turn uniformly green and then red, but also disabled genes involved in ripening. Among them are genes that allow the fruit to make some of its own sugar instead of getting it only from leaves. Others increase the amount of carotenoids, which give tomatoes a full red color and, it is thought, are involved in flavor.

To test their discovery, the researchers used genetic engineering to turn on the disabled genes while leaving the uniform ripening trait alone. The fruit was evenly dark green and then red and had 20 percent more sugar and 20 to 30 percent more carotenoids when ripe.

But were the genetically engineered tomatoes more flavorful? Because Department of Agriculture regulations forbid the consumption of experimental produce, no one tasted them.

And, Dr. Giovannoni says, do not look for those genetically engineered tomatoes at the grocery store. Producers would not dare to make such a tomato for fear that consumers would reject it.

But, Dr. Powell said, there is a way around the issue. Heirloom tomatoes and many wild species do not have the uniform ripening mutation. “The idea is to get the vegetable seed industry interested,” Dr. Powell said.

----------------------

Theys seem to prefer that wees stay not too bright.

wulk
 
Very interesting. This could go off in so many directions. Note that within most of our lifetimes we've been eating these "genetically engineered" tomatoes. Not that it was created by some mad evil genius in a lab but stumbled upon. Recognizing how consumers choose their products, and most of us are guilty of this, the visual appearance of the product usually trumps the real desired element of the product.

I would think that the next step here is some clinical trials to determine if the consumer would in fact select the sweeter uniformly red tomato over the bland version.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Very interesting. This could go off in so many directions. Note that within most of our lifetimes we've been eating these "genetically engineered" tomatoes. Not that it was created by some mad evil genius in a lab but stumbled upon. Recognizing how consumers choose their products, and most of us are guilty of this, the visual appearance of the product usually trumps the real desired element of the product.

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="blue">I'm not sure that matters if we have a band of monks doing selective breeding or some pinhead with a chromosome prybar, we deal with the consequences. And in today's world, I'm not sure that the verb choose is more appropriate than the word train.

What caught my eye was the statement that the Department of Agriculture did not allow humans to consume experimental foods. Somehow I find that comforting. Then again, understanding end runs, workarounds, and other slippery corporate practices, comfort disappears quickly like dew on the grass.

The moment of purchase is defined by the appearance. We aren't out there in the vegetable bins slobbering our ways through veggies and sampling the tastes. Hell, most of us are offended by somebody energetically squeezing a small fruit beastie. So they (You know who they are) maximize the picture, and we follow the lure of a Pavlovian image.

My point is that the pursuit of one thing often is an unintended or unknowable consequence. Gee, who would think that that really happens? The cyanide poisoned cattle, the thalidomide babies, the rope through the chipper, the woman arborist exposed to endocrine mimics before she knows she's pregnant?

We live in an unavoidably complicated world, and we're well conditioned to stay simplistic and complacent. I'm not suggesting we crouch in continuous fear and stay paralyzed about any decisions. Maybe that's why some God invented luck and serendipity. It'd be a hell of a life if we didn't have those as lubricants.


Slipsliding away wulkowits</font>
 
There's the leaders and then the rest of us following along. some with skepticism others with relieve that someone else figured it out for them...
 
send some of that grass to washington and let them make salads !!!!!!
grin.gif
 
If you watch the film 'Food, Inc.' you will never see packaged food the same way again. Genetic modification isn't half the story. Food supply manipulation is really messed up.
I can't recommend that flick enough, everybody should watch it. It's on Netflix streamimg.

I warn you though, you're next trip to the supermarket will be pretty uncomfortable.
 
I found this article after I posted about the endophytes.

sa

Drought puts cows in Midwest at risk of nitrate poisoning

Link: http://kbia.org/post/drought-puts-cows-midwest-risk-nitrate-poisoning#.UBKkqfNdslM.facebook

Article:

Junior Roberts’ cows near Billmore, Missouri, are lucky. The grass they’re grazing on just tested negative for high levels of nitrate. But Roberts says he’s not through testing his 1,400 acres, and he knows that many farmers are selling off their herds rather than pay for alternative foods for their cattle.

“You’d be better off to sell them then to turn them in on a field where they’re gonna lay down and die,” he says. “It’s a problem if that’s all they’ve got left to eat and it’s poison. It ain’t gonna do them no good. You’re gonna lose them plum completely.”

His fields that are close to the Eleven Point River here in south central Missouri are doing okay…but the ones up on higher ground produced less than half the normal yield of hay this year.

He removes the chain from the gate leading into a parched, brown field.

“This up here usually makes four and a half to five round bales an acre, round bales. This time, it made like a bale and a half. It was real thin up in here. It’s just baked,” he said.

So, a science refresher: all plants bring up nitrate from the soil. But they need moisture—rain—to convert that into protein. The drought means many plants, especially tall grasses and weeds, are toxic right now. Cows suffering from nitrate poisoning appear to be suffocating, because their bodies can’t transport oxygen. It often causes female cows to abort.

Roberts took samples of his forage to the University of Missouri extension office in Oregon County.

“We’ve probably had at least one a day, sometimes more.”

Sarah Kenyon is an agronomist with the extension service. She’s the one who tests the forage for nitrate poisoning when farmers bring in their samples.

She pulls a bottle of solution out of a box.

“We take the forage and we split the stem,” she says, “and we put the drops on the stem. If the solution turns blue, it contains nitrates. If it does not turn blue, then it is safe,” she says.

She says many samples are showing nitrates, putting cattle farmers in a tight spot: they can do further testing to see how high their nitrate levels are. If they can afford it, they can buy alternative feed…or they can head to the sale barn early, which many here have opted to do.
 
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