Is the Addictive APEEL of Convenient Solutions Accelerating Our Demise?
by Ann Tomoko Rosen
Bill Gates has sponsored a new sustainability “solution” for us so we are spared the inconvenience of fruit that ripens at the speed of nature. From Apeel’s website:
Learning from nature – mimicking the cuticle layer.
Every plant on Earth has a peel that protects it. The top layer of the peel is called the cuticle layer, which keeps moisture in while allowing the plant to breathe without drying out. Apeel protects fresh produce by forming a thin edible “peel” on the fruit’s surface, similar to the plant’s cuticle layer.
According to Apeel’s entry on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants page, its stated purpose is as follows:
To extend the shelf-life of crops without refrigeration and protect them from being eaten by pests by developing a molecular camouflage that uses cutin from plant extracts to create an edible, ultrathin barrier on the crop surfaces.
Exploiting the Power of Nature
Apeel’s video, entitled Apeel: Nature and How We See It, is telling:
Most people look at this and see an apple. At Apeel, we see a database…
we see ways to use the power of nature to make a difference in the world…
And therein lies a big part of the problem.
Harnessing the power of nature when you don’t have adequate respect for nature is the exploitation of nature. I worry that this is what science has become.
Apeel uses technology to try to selectively duplicate pieces of nature so it can override nature. History has shown us that this can backfire. (Remember how Oxitec’s genetically-engineered mosquitoes weren’t supposed to produce viable offspring… and how we were assured that mRNA vaccines were “safe and effective”…Oops!)
Wealthy and powerful people and corporations, who are very much removed from the the natural world and the human condition, have reduced our problems to a math equation. This equation ignores the impacts that giant corporations, industrial farming and genetically-modified crops have on local food production and distribution as well as our health. Their “solutions” assume that food is produced very far away and must be transported to a store before we ever see it. And nature is a “database” that can be discussed in board rooms and reproduced in laboratories.
Where are the local small farms in this equation?
Furthermore, these entities have demonstrated an inability to take responsibility for the environmental and health repercussions that result from their short-sightedness. Or maybe it’s not short-sightedness… since creating solutions to subsequent problems is a lucrative business that requires our increasing dependence on the next technological advance, which they readily create.
Beyond the Marketing
Apeel’s Edipeel is composed entirely of a mixture of food grade glycerolipids derived from edible plant oils, specifically the food additive mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, which conform to the specifications set forth by the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), and the European Union.
My first question would be Are glycerolipids, monoglycerides and diglycerides safe? Healthy?
Monoglycerides are a type of fatty acid, commonly used as an emulsifier in foods like margarine, mayonnaise, candy, frozen meals, meat substitutes and coffee creamers among other things.
According to Medical News Today, “they are so safe they can be found in products designed for the most sensitive populations, including infant formula and nutrition shakes for the elderly.”
I can’t help but wonder if the folks on Apeel’s marketing team are aware of the ongoing baby formula lawsuits that link baby formula to necrotizing enterocolitis… or the class action lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories, claiming that it misrepresents that its Ensure nutrition drinks are healthy, despite a sugar content that scientifically demonstrates otherwise.
Here’s a study on the role glycerolipids in biological processes that impact our health.
The evidence supporting the view that alterations in GL/FFA (glycerolipid/free fatty acid) cycling are involved in the pathogenesis of “fatal” conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer is discussed. We also review the different enzymatic and transport steps that encompass the GL/FFA cycle leading to the generation of several metabolic signals possibly implicated in the regulation of biological processes ranging from energy homeostasis, insulin secretion and appetite control to aging and longevity.
Seems important.
Do I know this particular product will cause direct harm? No.
Do I believe Apeel and all the regulatory agencies that have approved its product have thought everything through? Also No. The FDA, WHO and Health Canada have done little to earn any credibility to anyone who has been paying attention.
But First, Informed Consent
The grocery store where I just shopped is one of the providers of Apeel organic apples.
Begging the question… what did I just eat?
Hopefully, all of the products are labeled. I just checked my apples for Apeel stickers and there are none.