Friday, February 09, 2007

حيوانات تجارب أم أغبياء؟

انقطعت منذ فترة ليست بقصيرة عن متابعة الأخبار والمشاركة في المدونات لانشغالي بالدراسة والعمل والبيت وغيرها من متع الحياة الدنيا .. ولكن هذا الموضوع اثارني على عدة اصعدة مما دفعني للكتابة لأستطلع آراءكم

الهندسة الوراثية من أكثر المواضيع اثارة للجدل حول العالم لما لها من أثار وتوابع انسانية وصحية واقتصادية وسياسية! ورغم التاريخ المديد نسبيا لهذا العلم الا انه لم يصل بعد لمرحلة الوضوح والاستقرار خصوصا في الجوانب المتعلقة بالبحث العلمي ، اخلاقيات البحث والاستخدام ، الآثار بعيدة الأمد وغيرها من القضايا التي مازالت تحت البحث والجدل على كل المستويات

ومن أهم تطبيقات الهندسة الوراثية هو استخدامها في مجالات الزراعة وتحسين المنتجات الزراعية. اذا يقوم العلماء بتغيير جينات البذور لتتمتع بقدرة أكبر على مقاومة الحشرات والآفات الزراعية والمناخ القاسي. وحيث ان المحاصيل المعدلة جينيا لا تحتاج الصيانة المعتادة من المزارعين فانها على الأغلب أرخص ونسبيا أكبر حجما وأجمل شكلا. من اهم المحاصيل المعدلة جينيا الارز ، القمح ، الذرة والصويا وأعلاف الماشية

المشكلة ان تغيير الجينات عملية عشوائية، اذ ينجح العلماء بالتجربة والخطأ ودون دراية كاملة بنتائج التغييرعلى المدى القصير أو البعيد. كما ان العملية تخرج عن نطاق سيطرتهم حين تتلقح النباتات المعدلة بالأخرى الطبيعية بالتلقيح الطبيعي (الهواء ، الحشرات ..الخ). النتيجة كيمياء غريبة للمنتجات الزراعية لا يتعرف عليها جهازنا الهضمي أو غيره من أجهزتنا الحيوية. التجارب على فئران المختبرات تثبت ان تلك المنتجات تسبب أشكال مختلفة من الحساسية والأمراض الجليدية وأمراض المناعة والسرطان. الأخر ان تلك التغييرات الجينية قد تنتقل للبكتيريا مسببة أنواع جديدة من الميكروبات التي لا تؤثر فيها المضادات الحيوية الحالية. مما يهدد البشرية بأمراض وأوبئة لا يحمد عقباها


المنتجات المعدلة جينيا محظورة ضمن دول الاتحاد الأوربي والولايات المتحدة. لذا انتقل تسويقها الى الأسواق الصينية والهندية وغيرها. ولكن وعي تلك الشعوب وضع حدا لانتشار تلك المنتجات في دولهم. النتيجة المؤسفة … انتقل التسويق لأسواق الشرق الأوسط!! ومسوقي تلك المنتجات من كبار شركات الأغذية مثل نستلة وكويكرز وأمريكان جاردن غيرهم





جماعة السلام الأخضر أجرت مسحا لأسواق الخليج مؤخرا واكتشفت العديد من المنتجات الملوثه بالذرة والقمح والأرز الملوث جينيا في أسواق الكويت والأمارات وقطر. فماذا كان رد فعل الساسة وأولي الأمر؟ الأهم ما هو رد فعل الشعوب؟ الصحافة؟ مجلس الأمة؟ حتى الآن .. لا شيء يذكر


هل وصلنا مرحلة من التخلف وعدم الاكتراث لتسبقنا الصين والهند ودول العالم التي تعيش مجاعة حقيقية في وعيها البيئي؟ هل نحن حيوانات التجارب الجدد للهندسة الوراثية؟ أم هو ببساطة جشع التجار وتواطئ الساسة؟

16 comments:

Temetwir said...

greetings mother dearest,

- first, a pre-note:
etyeebeen ilmad3o "elsharg elawsa6" 7ag ilhind wel sseen?
mojarad ena 7athretich reba6tay igleem kaamil eb a singular entity should tell you what they are.. no need for me to say any more :)

bas still, be that as it may i'm guessing if they really did ban products from the companies you mentioned, then it probably has to do with backing up their own national agricultural market .. i wouldn't know though, just guessing

- am not sure which studies you refer to that prove a correlation between these products and the spread of various diseases, bas ana athreblich methaal that will make our lives a lot more easier: cigarettes.
despite all the "research" that goes into (trying to) prove the bad effects of smoking, there isnt really a one-and-only correlation between, say, lung cancer, and smoking

what im trying to say is, let a free market be a free market (if you're even in favor of a free market is another issue), even if only by name
ya3ni at the end, the consumer should have to make up her mind .. or at least have the 'choice'

sure, it's a question of ethics .. which probably says everything about why no one of "wolaat ilammir" 3ala goltech is paying attention if you know what i mean heh

Anonymous said...

قد نغرق في الجدل العلمي وقد نجد الف دليل داعم والف دليل رافض لمثل هذه التقنية.
واما اذا كان مروجي فكرة الهندسة الوراثية لا يجدون عيبا في منتجاتهم فلماذا اذ يقومون بترويجها خلسة في الاسواق من دون علم الناس.

الاساس في الامر هو الحق بالمعرفة والحق بالاختيار كمستهلك.لذا الجميع مدعو الى استطلاع رأي حول
الهندسة الوراثية
.
جزاكم الله خيرا

Anonymous said...

Na3am 7ena 7ywanat...!

UmmEl3yal said...

A. Temi dear :) I apologize ;)

Correlation or not, we should have the right to decide whether we want to take the risk or not.

The minimum requirement is to label genetically engineered foods as such and leave the options open for us.


Dear Hussien,

I couldn't agree more. This is the minimum of our rights.

I filled the survey. Thanks !


Anon. Dear, hope not all of us :(

Temetwir said...

omy il7anoon,
i thought they already did label the products as being genetically engineered (or manipulated, assuming it is a more fitting term for the intention of this post) .. if they do not, then that would not realize what i have said about giving the consumer the choice

from the top of my head, i can't help but think that it's a bit like adding the nutritional information for a product on its wrap, things such as how many calories and what not.. wouldnt you say

Anonymous said...

Dear Temetwir,
GE food should be banned. the american embassy statement shows it all.
It all starts with the idea that it is a good new techonology for a brighter future(preventing hunger and feeding the world) and ends up(as it started to happen now) with a bunch of multinational companies having exclusive rights to genetically modify our food, so that if we don't eat it, we will die of hunger.

UmmEl3yal said...

Dear A. Temi :)

I agree that labeling is the minimum requirement. But this is not done. After the ban and the awareness in other parts of the world, they bagan mixing the genetically engineered products with other natural ones to fool the consumers. Only lab testing can show this contaminations :(

I agree with the right to choose. Though the dagers of genetic engineering exceed the limits of the superparket shelves.

It can lead to enviromental imbalance that might never be fixed.

It's like dumbing toxins in the oceans or atmosphere. There is no way to reverse the damage.

Dear Hussein,

I totally agree! They package it as a solution to world hunger, but it's just a cover up for a typical greed and short-term planning.

UmmEl3yal said...

Dear All,

I strongly recommend that you visit Hussein's blog at Green Peace: http://weblog.greenpeace.org/diwan/

I think it is extrenely informative and well written.

Hussien,

Keep up the good work! I have added your blog to me blogs list :)

Hope that helps bring attention to this important issue and other inviromental concerns.

God Bless !

Anonymous said...

Hello there :)

very interesting post...a problem of our time for sure

I studied genetically modified plants and therefore foods in high school...and later on in college in one of my child psychology courses..

my professor was suggesting that genetically modified foods are behind the changing habits of human relations...such as the child's ability to relate to the parents....therefore, we have children who are not so much attached to their parents...tend to yell and talk back...have temper problems and tantrums more than children who grow up on organic food??

Now its not proven yet that genetically modified foods change such habits....

But genetically modified foods are behind the increased number of allergic ppl...now we have ppl allregic to certain fruits and vegetables!!

and I was watching a show on discovery a months ago and it talked about the problem of thinning hair...and said one of the reasons was genetically modified plants and their deprives

and here and there you hear many of the side-effects of such modifications...thats if modification is the right term.

But honestly its everywhere now...even in our markets here in Canada nd the States as well...the companies that you mentioned are well in business here

there are some awareness programs...that offer "organic" food as an alternative...but the promoters for such foods are the companies who "manufactor" them

bekhtesar serna le3bah fi edeen elsharekat

UmmEl3yal said...

Dear 7akeema,

There are many contradicting studies on the short and long term affects of GE foods. But in general, non is good. Kids with allergy to natural foods like milk and wheat behave strangly and become irretated. Many ADD cases are connected to some form of food allergy. Things I'm sure get worse when the food is NOT natural.
GE food, when digested create strange protiens that the body does not naturally identify. This has to create some form of reaction just as digesting industrial chemicals.

Anonymous said...

Dear ummel3yal,
as you said scientifically It has been debated for a quite long time now. some says it is good while others say it is not good.And what should determine which side of the dilemma wins is the precautionry principle i beleive. simply if the GE industry are not really sure about the long term effects of their products on human health and on the very complicated genes structure in the living organisims, then they are not allowed to release it into the market.

ps:Thanks for adding the greenpeace run blog to your lists.it is not my personal blog though. I would really appreciate it if you change the name to "ديوان البيئة" for example.

UmmEl3yal said...

Hssien dear, sorry about that. The name is changed to "Green Blogs". Hope this is fine :)

Do you know if any action has been taken in Kuwait or any where in the Gulf after Green Peace press conference? Any suggestions on how we can get things moving?

Anonymous said...

Dear UmmEl3yal,
first sorry for not responding earlier, I have been out of internet reach.
As for your question about Kuwait or Other GCC area, we have been recently in Qatar and we have communicated our findings there as we did in Kuwait. Our main objective is to open the debate and let people know. And we will keep an eye as an organisation on the situation. This leads us to the question on how to move things....we have to continue this debate on different levels from the bloggers in the virtual space to the people on main streets to the authorities.and i beleive we can do it :)

UmmEl3yal said...

Hussien dear, 7amdila 3 salama :)

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that awareness is a great first step but I was hoping for a more agressive campaign!

Anonymous said...

hmmm, where is your e-mail?

UmmEl3yal said...

AyyA hon, sorry about that!

It used to be part of my profile. It was deleted with the new version :(

I added it back but just in case it disapears again, here it is:

ummel3yal@gmail.com