by Catherine Haug, Jan 14, 2010
Researchers in England have successfully produced a live GMO chicken with that will not pass on avian flu (bird flu). It is hoped this modification will stop outbreaks of bird flu from spreading within poultry flocks such as those that caused the slaughter of over 7000 birds a year ago. And it also has the potential to stop new strains of the virus from passing on to humans. (See PhysOrg.com (2) or Time.com (5) for more detail on the research).
At this stage in the research, the bird, once exposed to bird flu virus, will get sick and die; it just won’t spread the disease. But if the bird is butchered for consumption before exposure, it still contains the GMO genetic material. The same is true of the eggs, and chicks raised from those eggs. Do we want this in our food supply?
It’s probably a few years from being introduced in our food supply, but now is the time to start planning ahead if you want to avoid this GMO chicken in your diet.
Avoiding Future GMO Chickens & Eggs
Rules of thumb when shopping:
- Buy local as first choice, from a grower you trust;
- Buy Organic meat and eggs as second choice;
- Avoid those labeled “natural” because there are no rules on how this term is used; and
- Avoid all other grocery-store chicken and eggs, as they most likely come from a CAFO (Confinement Animal Feeding Operation) and could be GMO or fed a GMO ration.
Go Local
Of course, the best option is to raise your own. But if you don’t or cannot, consider:
- Meat chickens: Scout out local sources of chicken if you don’t raise your own. Get to know the grower to be sure his chickens are raised in pasture, without GMO feed and not a GMO breed.
- Eggs: Find a local source of egg supply, applying the same criteria as described above for the meat. Or buy a trusted Organic brand.
See Farm Hands for a map of Flathead food producers including chickens and eggs. And for more on eggs, see my posts on our ESP website:
- Eggs – A Buyers Guide that describes the different categories of eggs (local, conventional, cage free, free range, and organic); or
- Report on Organic Eggs (2010) for a rating of different brands. In that report, Mission Mountain Eggs from Ronan got an excellent score, and are available in many local stores.
If you raise your own chickens:
- Ensure you have a trusted source of chicks, or keep your own broody hen and rooster.
- Mix your breeds; part of the problem with the emergence of new virulent strains of bird flu virus is that the chicken industry is a monoculture.
- Allow them to forage in pasture, and provide Organic or non-GMO feed. Contact your local extension service for assistance in finding the feed. Or make your own from bulk grains and seeds. See Greener Pastures Farm’s Chicken Feed Recipe (6) or Organic Chickens: Mixing your own Organic feed (7).
- See our Gathering Summary: Raising Chickens & Rabbits; a Panel Discussion
For more:
- Daily Mail: Scientists create GM ‘superchicken’ that doesn’t spread bird flu
- PhysOrg: GM chickens that don’t transmit bird flu developed
- Science Blogs: Bird flu resistant GM chickens?
- PopSci: New Genetically Modified Chickens Can’t Transmit Bird Flu, Scientists Say [NOTE: Link removed due to malware on the site. If you wish to see the site anyway, the url is as follows (don’t copy the # at the beginning, which is added to keep the url from being active): #www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/new-genetically-modified-chickens-cant-transmit-bird-flu-scientists-say]
- TIme: A Re-Engineered Chicken and the War On Bird Flu
- Greener pastures Farm’s feed recipe: www.greenerpasturesfarm.com/ChickenFeedRecipe.html
- Organic Chickens feed recipes: organicchickens.homestead.com/ChickenFeedRecipes.html