[greenfingers]

We bought another bag of chicken pellets today and I happened to notice that one of the ingredients was genetically modified,  Will this harm my chickens and my eggs. I know this may sound daft, but I do not buy GM foods or have anything to do with them, but we had opened the bag and poured it in the container before we noticed it.
Any advice would be helpful or where I can buy non GM chicken food/pellets.

Elaine

[johnmac]

I think you'll struggle to find a food that doesn't have GM in it! It's okay, the government say it's safe...and we can trust them!   

I don't see it being a problem unless you want organic status for your chooks?

And chances are that if you eat chocolate, i'm afraid you will have eaten GM food, in the form of Soya! 

Oh well...i just drink more wine to counter act!!

Good luck! 

[Rosemary]

Depends what chocolate you eat.

We don't eat GM food if we can avoid it and we don't feed it to our animals either. GM free food is easy to get - Allen and Page Smallholder range, The Organic Company or Marriages all do organic and GM free feed for poultry, pigs, sheep.

Organic and GM free are not the same.

The problem with GM seems to be that we don't know if it is safe but the big agrochemical companies like Monsanto have invested heavily in it and THEY say its safe. There is an argument for following the precautionary principle but Government is under pressure to allow GM. I hope Scotland remains GM free. There are lots of arguments for and against GM, which I can't rehearse here. Personally, I'm against.

[johnmac]

Im with Rosemary...non GM all the way!

The only problem is that during 90's testing, Gm and non GM crops were grown side by side, causing cross pollination, so some non GM crops were fertilised by GM crops?!?!

I believe that Cadbury admitted last year that some of their chocolate products "may" have been contaminated by GM soya....... I think that contamination is that widespread, probably everyone has eaten it unaware at some point!

[Wellieboots]

I'm sure Spillers Layers Pellets are also non GM. I've binned me bag after tipping them into my feed tub but am farily +ve that it does say GM Free on the bags?

I totally agree on the non GM thang, I mean who in their wildest dreams would think that adding a fish gene to tomatoes to stop them going off so quickly on the supermarket shelves is a good idea?!

All the more reason to grow yer own I say!

[doganjo]

Is that the same as other things stated on the bag - like ingredients in order of volume.  If it says non GM does that mean it hasn't been made from any crops that have been grown alongside GM crops.  It really is dreadfully complicated, and like terrorism, I don't think we can ever get rid of it.  I know that is a very depressive attitude but if you accept it as a fact you can actually get on and enjoy your life.

[johnmac]

Aye... it's a sorry state! Why on earth the government ever swallowed the whole "with GM we can feed the world" statement i'll never know..... these multinational companies have their own agenda..... i think they call it ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ or in America it goes by the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$... In any case it's a disgrace.....

I think the only benefit is that the vast majority of people are against GM crops in the UK, and the plus side of that is hopefully, more people will try and grow their own veg? If they do, they'll realise there aint nothing better!! 

[greenfingers]

We changed our whole way of buying and eating foods about 6 years ago when there was the scare of ground up brick dust used in prepared food stuffs and they used it instead of tumeric.  We went through our cupboards and threw away every packet and jar of prepared foodstuffs. From then on we made our own dolmio sauces etc.
When we decided to move to Scotland and have a small piece of land and grow vegetables we had only envisaged a small vege garden, and not on the scale I have today and not the scale that I aim to grow this year.
Even the dog food is checked now for ingredients ets and so is the cat, and I was horrified at seeing the GM ingredient on the bag, I cannot afford to throw it away and I have been googling for other chicken feed and have come up with the same ones as Rosemary said. With the new chickens coming tomorrow we shall soon get through it and I will not be buying it again.
I agree with everyone else GM should not be allowed and I applaud those demostrators who damaged the GM grown on trial in England, these should not be grown, any layman should know that the wind can cross pollinate crops over several miles. And I certainly do not want to eat tomatoes with fish genes in them, who was the brains who thought this was a good idea to try and feed the world like this
I even told my daughters who all live away from home not to buy those affected foods, my middle daughter is now like me a crusader for a better way of life, though she does live in Camden north London, but she does her best and grows vegetables on her balcony and goes to the local market to buy other bits.
Sorry to go but once you get me started on an arguement like this it really winds me up and most of it probably comes from Brussels, not the sprouts by the way, why do we have to listen to morons like that on how we should live our lives and dictate to us what food stuff we should eat and how they should be grown.
Here endeth the first lesson.
Sorry
Elaine

[Rosemary]

I don't think we can lay this one at the EUs door. In fact, I think the EU has kept the growing of GM crops out of Europe so far (although GM products can be imported). It's the big multinational companies that are behind all this. If they get away with it, they will corner the market and control it - and that's bad news for everyone. Except the fat cats in the multinationals of course.

[Hilarysmum]

If enough people say NO directly to their MP and to the government in general then there will be no gms.  Because governments cant rule if they dont get voted in.  People power does work if enough like minded people unite against a common cause.

[Wortle]

I've binned me bag after tipping them into my feed tub but am farily +ve that it does say GM Free on the bags?

Hi I am new in here so should perhaps have introduced myself elsewhere first but I joined to say why did you bin the food wellie boots?

[doganjo]

It was the bag that was binned - then they couldn't read what was on it.  Not the food.

[northfifeduckling]

After Russ opened this discussion on a different topic, I got in touch with the manufacturers of our feed and they are adamant they are not using any GM crops in any of their feeds (Horse, Poultry, Pellets etc.). It's Dodson & Horrell. If you want to make 100% sure, go organic.