First the Germans blamed Spanish cucumbers. Then they blamed sprouts, from a northern German farm. Then the French blamed a German owned grocery store selling French grown sprouts. Then the French blamed a U.K. seed company which supplied the seeds to grow the sprouts. Then the Swedish blamed the Germans, then backed off when they began having e.coli cases in people who’d never been to Germany, or eaten sprouts. Now the Europeans are blaming Egyptian fenugreek seeds for the deadly e.coli. Fenugreek is used as an herb and a spice.
The Europeans have gone so far as to ban any more imports of Egyptian fenugreek. On top of that they’re banning other Egyptian agricultural products, until they can be proven safe.
Here’s the problem; no one has proven conclusively where the deadly e.coli strain is coming from!
Fact: German health officials traced some of the e.coli cases back to a typhoid Mary suspect, a woman who worked for a catering company. The woman seems to be a carrier. She thinks she might have eaten sprouts.
Fact: E.coli comes from humans, not plants. The only way plants could get infected is if they came into contact with humans waste.
So far at least 49 people have died, and more than 4,000 are sick. Knowing the facts about the case, how can European officials now blame Egyptian fenugreek? Of course they claim the seeds were used to grow the sprouts that made people sick. But up ’till now the claim has been that “bean” sprouts are the culprits. Now suddenly it’s fenugreek sprouts?
Seeds get contaminated when they come into contact with the bacteria. This could be at anytime in the planting, growing and harvesting process. It only takes a tiny bit of the bacteria, once the seeds are planted not only does the plant grow, but some does the e.coli, and it spreads. That’s the traditional way.
Here’s a new way: In an earlier posting I wrote how some scientists say it looks like the deadly e.coli strain was engineered in a lab. If you understand the way genetic engineering of plants works, then it actually makes sense. In order for scientist to make their genetic modifications ‘stick’, they must use a bacteria that is resistant to almost all forms of self preservation by the original plant genes. Yes, e.coli is one of those deadly bacterias that agricultural giants like Monsanto could be using to create GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).
They also want their newly modified plants to be super resistant to natural diseases, and man made chemicals. Again, that’s where the deadly bacterias come into play. GMOs contain bacteria that are intentionally made to be super resistant.
Are we looking at the first cases of deadly results from genetically modified plants?
