GMO's - The Whole Truth!

There is a lot of talk lately about GMO’s.

Many people are wondering if Genetically Modified Organisms are the health threat that they are hearing that they are. Some of the information out about GMO’s confuses them with hybrids. Hybrids are plants that have been modified or adapted by cross pollinating plants. When two types of peas are cross pollinated the ‘children’ pick up traits from both of them. The problem is that the next generation does not always grow true to the hybrid parents. It is like having several children in the family. They don’t all turn out with the same eye and hair color. If that is super important then you would need to get into genetic engineering to ensure the desired results.

Genetically Modified organisms are different than hybrids. They combine genetic material that would never be combined in nature. We are talking about plant and animal DNA being combined. This goes counter to the laws of nature. Many experts say that this is where the danger lies. Many of the animals are ones that we wouldn’t normally eat, so our bodies are not used to dealing with these DNA properties. Sometimes these changes decrease the nutritional value of the food.

Let’s take Monsanto’s corn for example. It is reported to have 13 times the amount of glyphosate than traditional corn. The EPA says anything above half of that amount is unsafe for human consumption. Glyphosate has been shown to increase birth defects, miscarriage, sterility and cancer. At the same time this type of corn has much less of calcium, magnesium and manganese.

How would this be considered a better food?

Wheat is another food that is being modified. There is a type made in Australia that when eaten changes the expression of human genes. These changes in genetics can pass from one generation to the next. One of these genes is the one that produced glycogen in the body. Glycogen is an enzyme that turns food into energy. Without it humans die.

One reason companies are manufacturing GMO’s are so they can spray the whole field with herbicides and kill the weeds but not the food crops. This is affecting nature the same way antibiotics have affected the bacteria world. The weeds are becoming resistant to the herbicides. So, we are getting inferior foods that will either kill us or our children and we are not getting the benefit intended.

Another modification that has been made to plants is to make them poisonous to insects, so farmers won’t have to use insecticides. The drawback is that there are beneficial insects in our world. These are being affected as much or more than the harmful insects. One such example is the pollinating insects, such as the honey bee. Without the pollinators crops will not produce food. The flowers will never be fertilized so that they will produce their fruits.

There are claims that scientists have ‘proven’ GMO’s are safe. When you look at that research you see that some of the data has been ignored or misinterpreted. Other data has been just plain fabricated. One of the ‘safety’ issues is that these plants are not supposed to be able to reproduce in the wild. This has been proven false by the lawsuits by companies like Monsanto against independent farmers for having GMO plants in their fields. The farmers can prove they did not plant GMO crops, but their crops were cross pollinated by GMO plants that are sometimes miles away. At this point all commercially grown wheat in the US is considered potentially contaminated by cross pollination. Other countries are refusing to purchase our wheat because it is considered unsafe.

Many people are trying to take a middle ground on the GMO issue. All they want is to know whether a known GMO crop has been included in the food they purchase. This would work great if the food industry would honor the request, and if the pollen from a GMO crop would stay within the borders of that field. The only other way of ensuring our food has not been tainted is with intensive testing.

The best way to get food that is clean is to grow it yourself. This includes your own meat, dairy and eggs. This isn’t very practical for the city apartment dweller. Even then you can’t guarantee that the wind won’t bring in contaminants, but it is better than buying processed foods blindly. Without labeling laws there is no assurance that any processed foods are free from GMO’s. In fact, many people say that when you purchase processed foods that you have an almost 90% assurance that it does contain GMO substances. This goes for restaurant and fast food establishments as well.