To the editor:
In regard to the news item “Scientist gets World Food Prize for wheat advances” Newton Daily News June 20 page 7A, it should have read “Scientist gets World Food Prize for wheat destruction,” because this wheat that we are feeding the whole world with is far from being the same wheat that my grandpappy planted and we grew up on.
This wheat will not grow in the wild. It has to have human support such as nitrate fertilization and pest control. In one experiment, 14 new gluten proteins were identified in the offspring that were not present in either parent plant. For us who are gluten sensitive, one gluten protein is sufficient to cause dizziness, horrendous falls, MS symptoms and other ailments. “Gluten free” is no food fad — it is a necessity.
The so-called improvements were as mentioned, plus Borlaug’s contribution was making the 2 feet stalk (original was 4 feet) stronger to hold up the enlarged seed heads for harvesting by combines. No tests have been done for human or animal consumption. We are the lab rats or, as Dr. Davis — a cardiologist and author of the book “Wheat Belly” — says, we are the pretzel brains, muffin bellies, bagel butts, biscuit faces. Dr. Perlmutter, a neurologist and author of the book “Grain Brain,” is concerned over the rise of Alzheimer’s, increased cases of schizophrenia in our young, and other brain disorders and crippling ailments.
Certainly, anyone with a heart wants world hunger to be wiped out, but it is my opinion, from what I have read and experienced, that our food scientists are sowing a grain that we should not reap.
Norma Borchert
Newton