Facts about GMOs

GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms are a huge controversy. I believe they are unsafe and choose not to eat them or buy them. This issue is extremely important and I take it very seriously. Below are facts I have found to help educate myself and others. Here’s to being informed!

What are GMOs?
GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.

Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.

Are GMOs safe?
Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment.

http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/

• There are NO peer-reviewed scientific papers establishing the safety of GMO crops. There are, however, both clinical and peer-reviewed scientific papers showing the hazards of GMO crops, including harmful secondary effects
• Epidemiological patterns show there’s an identical rise in over 30 human diseases alongside our increased usage of glyphosate and the increased prevalence of genetically engineered proteins in our food
• Glyphosate is not “just” an herbicide. It was originally patented as a mineral chelator. It immobilizes nutrients, making them unavailable for your body. It’s also patented as a potent antibiotic that can devastate human gut bacteria
• The EPA recently doubled the amount of glyphosate allowed in food. Soybean oil is now allowed to contain a whopping 400 times the limit at which it can impact your health
• http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/06/dr-huber-gmo-foods.aspx?e_cid=20131006Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20131006Z1

• The health dangers of genetically engineered (GE) foods are masterfully presented in the  documentary by Jeffrey Smith, Genetic Roulette, one of the world’s leading authorities on GE foods
• Americans get sick more often than Europeans or people from any other industrialized nation, and scientific evidence suggests a significant factor may be the genetic engineering of our food supply
• Genetically engineered organisms are created by taking one or more genes from one species and forcing it into the DNA of another species. Such genetic cross-breeding between incompatible species can never occur in nature
• GE foods trigger immune attack because your body recognizes them as foreign invaders rather than food; this immune response can lead to chronic inflammation, raising your risk for multiple additional health problems
• The two main types of GE foods are herbicide-tolerant crops and pesticide-producing crops; both are imprecise processes that are riddled with unexpected consequences
• 1. Herbicide-tolerant crops, designed to withstand otherwise lethal doses of chemicals. Roundup Ready crops are in this category. In June, groundbreaking research was published detailing a new found mechanism of harm for Roundup. The finding suggests that glyphosate may actually be the most important factor in the development of a wide variety of chronic diseases.
  2. Pesticide-producing crops, designed to produce a toxic protein inside the plant itself, which kills bugs that eat the plant by causing their stomachs to rupture. These are the so-called Bt crops.

  A study published in February 2012 shows that this Bt toxin is capable of breaking open human cells, and that it might cause the same kind of disruption in the gut of humans as it causes in the insects it kills. Consuming Bt corn or soy could potentially cause gut permeability (“leaky gut”), which can predispose you to all sorts of health problems.

  Contrary to popular belief, the process of genetic engineering is anything but precise. As Dr. Robin Bernholt says, “it’s sub-microscopic shooting from the hip.”

  “The very process of genetic engineering creates unpredicted side effects. You take a gene and make millions of copies and they put them into a gun, literally and then shoot that gun into a plate of millions of cells – and then you clone those cells into a plant,” Jeffrey Smith explains.

• http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/12/genetic-roulette.aspx?e_cid=20131007Z1_DNL_artTest_A6&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=artTest_A6&utm_campaign=20131007Z1

… adding a few words to a label has no impact on the price of making or selling food.

That’s because food manufacturers are constantly changing their labels to highlight product innovations or to make health claims. Although it varies from product to product, the average “refresh” cycle for a food label is about a year. Adding the words “may contain genetically engineered ingredients” will add as much to the cost of making food as adding the words “can help reduce cholesterol” — nothing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-faber/changing-labels-wont-incr_b_4073189.html