What Do Soybeans, Trans-Fats and Olive Oil Have In Common?

(See NY Times article In a Bean, a Boon to Biotech)

Even beyond GMOs, I have so many issues with this that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s start with the following quote from the article:
“Monsanto’s beans have a second genetic modification that lowers the level of saturated fats, which are also bad for health.”
First of all, saturated fats are NOT bad for your health, trans-fats are. Saturated fats are natural fats, which your body knows how to assimilate and process. It is an outdated American myth that saturated fats are bad for your health.
Second of all, for Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer to be tampering with the genetic make-up of a whole food such as the soybean in this way is horrifying. Soybean are a major protein source for much of the world, and for vegetarians in particular.

Wow. Don’t throw out your olive oil yet, folks. While I personally don’t reach for soybean oil as my cooking or consumption oil of choice, soybean oil in and of itself doesn’t contain any trans-fats to begin with. It is only once it goes through the hydrogenation (or partial hydrogenation) process, which is done to increase shelf life in processed foods, that trans-fats are created. This is clearly a move on the part of biotech to capitalize on the FDA’s oncoming ban on trans-fats! It’s also savvy marketing to use olive oil – the king of healthy oils – as a comparative for health benefits.

The article also states that the new GMO soybean oil will be marketed to restaurants. If restaurants adopt this new GMO oil, then consumers will never even know that they’re eating it! I can see the proud advertising by-line now: “All our frying is done with trans-fat free oils!”
Clever or cunning? You be the judge.