Genetically modified ingredients in beer kits

[gaggymoon]

I have just looked up the iPhone app (Greenpeace) regarding genetically engineered (GE) ingredients used by various companies and it shows Coopers as a company that may use ingredients from GE crops. This comes as a shock to me as I always regarded Coopers as a company that was least likely to use this as even Fosters, Boags and Cascade are all GE free. As I use the Coopers beer making kits almost exclusively, I will have to search for another brand of equal quality and GE free. Has anyone any thoughts on this matter?

Don

[wrighty]

I suppose it all comes down to who you want to believe on these matters.I pesonally think if it worries you then dont use it but
if you choose not to use GM or any other way modified product i think one might starve to death in the not to distant future.
Crops have been modified genetically or otherwise for a very long time and to say that its going to be good bad or otherwise is a very
hot topic. How do you really know ,labelling,testing.Gee would a food company put misleading stuff on a label.

[drsmurto]

Have you asked Coopers whether this is the case or have you simply assumed that since Greenpeace 'suspects' Coopers 'may' be using GM crops in their process?

A few too many ifs, buts and maybes in your statement.

As for GM crops, there is nowhere near enough research to be able to show it is safe in the long term. Like DDT, asbestos, CFCs, new technology needs to be thoroughly tested and the 2 main concerns i have at present are nanotechnology and GM crops.

[gaggymoon]

I have since contacted Coopers and below is their reassuring reply - I don't understand the comment by drsmurto "A few too many ifs, buts and maybes in your statement." How else should I express a subject of this nature and how would you have posed the discussion so I could "learn" from my "mistakes"?



G'day Don,

There are no GMO's in our supply chain. Thanks for taking the time to
check with us, the people who actually make the beer and home brew
products.

Cheers,


Frank Akers
Home Brew Advisor
Coopers Brewery
Adelaide, SA

[drsmurto]

You posted your dismay at a company like Coopers using GM ingredients without ever bothering to ask Coopers. You then stated you were going to switch brands.

My bad, no ifs buts or maybes in your statement at all. You had taken Greenpeace's 'theory' as gospel.

How should you have done this in the first place? By wording your comment as a question rather than a statement.

Just because a company decides not to pay the $$ to be legally able to market their product as organic/heart foundation approved/dolphin friendly/GM free doesn't mean they are not.

Greenpeace jumps on that and points the finger.

I'm a greenie at heart and live my life accordingly but will never give the militant organisation (greenpeace) a brass razoo as they set back the environment movement decades each time they open their collective, ill-informed mouths.

Rant over, coffee needed.

Cheers
DrSmurto

p.s. apologies gaggymoon, i don't mean to be personally aggressive, it just irks me when people post things like this without checking the facts. If you had rather than waiting till i asked whether you had, this thread wouldn't exist. Not easy getting this across the interweb without sounding like a grumpy bugger, much easier to in a face to face conversation.

[warra48]

Agree with you about Greenpeace.
I do my bit to live as environmentally friendly as I sensibly and practically can and, for me, that's all I can do.

When I still worked, it wasn't unusual to be accosted by Greenpeace fund raisers at lunchtime in the Sydney CBD.
My response was to tell them I was an executive with a woodchip exporter (I was no such thing, in reality).
Worked every time!

[ilovechocolate2002]

for a balanced, scientific viewpoint on GM , have a look at this: http://www.wimp.com/sciencedenial/
the message is : no tangerines in Garden of Eden!

[Trough Lolly]

I'm no GM guru or anything but surely the grains that we use to brew our beer with have naturally evolved since the early days of human history when races in and around the Euphrates used to make beer with barley? The barley grains that we use today surely must have changed since those days to some degree or am I completely wrong?

That said, I simply can't consume food with MSG in it - my heart goes into hyperdrive when I encounter MSG laden takeaway...

Cheers,
TL

[gaggymoon]

Before you (DrSmurto) start lecturing me on how protocols on private emails to Coopers should or should not be phrased you jump to a lot of conclusions that are quite wrong. In parallel with my original post, I asked Coopers whether they used GM ingredients and if so, I would have to consider a different supplier. What is wrong with that and why have you got your knickers in a knot over such a simple and polite request to Coopers who I dearly want to support against the big multinationals? Also I object to you stating that I had taken Greenpeace's information as gospel truth when I simply asked Coopers if this was true - so don't shoot the messenger! Coopers replied in an informative manner and I accepted their word so end of story.

Don

[earle]

This comes as a shock to me as I always regarded Coopers as a company that was least likely to use this

As I use the Coopers beer making kits almost exclusively, I will have to search for another brand of equal quality and GE free.

Even if it was not intended I think the fact that you were shocked, and indicated that you will have to look for another supplier, could lead a reader to beleive that you had accepted the greenpeace listing as true.

Anyway, lets all calm down, relax and have a homebrew.

[SuperBroo]

Docs right, your first post didnt state that you had contacted Coopers, or anything remotely like that, so dont get stuck into him too much for questioning your reasons.

Also, please dont get too aggressive at probably the most informative person on this forum, its nice and friendly here, and good rubust discussion is great, but you shouldnt take Docs reply as aggressive, he actually mentions that in his PS at the bottom of his post.

Keep brewing

Cheers to All,
Chris

[Finnagann]

I'm no GM guru or anything but surely the grains that we use to brew our beer with have naturally evolved since the early days of human history when races in and around the Euphrates used to make beer with barley? The barley grains that we use today surely must have changed since those days to some degree or am I completely wrong?

That said, I simply can't consume food with MSG in it - my heart goes into hyperdrive when I encounter MSG laden takeaway...

Cheers,
TL

Ya I hear you... though they are combining some pretty funky genes sometimes and can do things that would never have evolved naturally.

I think the jury's still out on the effects of consuming GM foods. However, there is a big problem when the multinationals (Monsanto being perhaps the worst... Cargill is also very bad, and there are others I believe) who patent their new GMO crop and do not allow farmers to grow from their own harvested seed. In the past they have also engineered crops to no bare seed that is not viable.

Its a big complex issue and I don't know as much as I should, but I try to avoid GMO when I can.

[drsmurto]

Before you (DrSmurto) start lecturing me on how protocols on private emails to Coopers should or should not be phrased you jump to a lot of conclusions that are quite wrong. In parallel with my original post, I asked Coopers whether they used GM ingredients and if so, I would have to consider a different supplier. What is wrong with that and why have you got your knickers in a knot over such a simple and polite request to Coopers who I dearly want to support against the big multinationals? Also I object to you stating that I had taken Greenpeace's information as gospel truth when I simply asked Coopers if this was true - so don't shoot the messenger! Coopers replied in an informative manner and I accepted their word so end of story.

Don

Apologies Don, i didnt think my post(s) were that bad but if you took offence to them then i am sorry.

You might want to go back and re-read your 1st post though as it can be interpreted differently to the way you intended.

[gaggymoon]

drsmurto,

Maybe there were a few communication problems so lets just get back to doing what we do best that is producing and drinking our home brew

cheers

Don