GMO FOODS: What’s all the fuss?
Excerpted with permission from Arbor Farms Market Newsletter, October 2011.
In March of this year Hungary introduced a new law that states seeds must be checked for GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) before they are introduced to the market. However, some GMO seeds made it to farmers without their being aware of it. As a result, almost 1,000 acres of corn found to have been mistakenly grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary.
In the mid- ’90s Monsanto introduced seeds genetically engineered to withstand its Roundup brand of herbicide. Today those "Roundup Ready" crops are planted all across the U.S. — 94 percent of soybeans and more than 70 percent of corn and cotton contain the Roundup-resistant gene. But when the land is dosed with a single herbicide for years on end the ecosystems adapt. Roundup-defying "superweeds" are getting out of control and the problem is only accelerating because the resistant weeds are driving out their non-resistant counterparts. According to Mother Jones: "These weeds adapt faster and more vigorously than their weed cousins, choking fields and clogging irrigation so badly water can’t pass through."
The actions in Hungary should be a major wake-up call to anyone in the United States and elsewhere who believes GM (genetically modified) crops are harmless. The discovery that farmland was planted with GM seeds came when the season was already underway, so the harvest was completely lost for this year. What would prompt the Hungarian government to take such a drastic step? Perhaps it is the fact that GM crops simply cannot be contained and inevitably will contaminate the environment with GM DNA. Or it could be that they do not want superweeds, triggered by the use of Roundup herbicide on GM Roundup Ready crops, overtaking their farmland the way they are now doing in the United States. Then again it could be the unknown threats to human health–and the fact that new research shows toxins from GM crops are now appearing in human blood–that made them think twice. GM corn, soybeans, canola and sugar beets have made their way into approximately 80 percent of current U.S. processed grocery store items, now that up to 90 percent of several U.S-grown crops are grown with genetically engineered seed.
Americans have most certainly already been exposed to GM foods–most likely an abundance of them. The fact that in Hungary the government just destroyed crops that were grown with GM seeds and plowed the corn under so the pollen could not spread underlines the fact that GM seeds are banned in Hungary, as they are in Germany and Ireland. These countries have chosen NOT to allow their people to be used as guinea pigs in a massive experiment on the food supply, which is essentially what the introduction of GM crops is. Although Monsanto, the world leader in GM seeds, insists that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, research indicates otherwise.
Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods: GM peas caused lung damage in mice: GM potatoes may cause cancer in rats: GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights and inability to reproduce: male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells: GM corn caused a wide variety of immune responses in mice commonly associated with diseases such as arthritis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, osteoporosis and inflammatory bowel disease: and GM foods lead to significant organ disruptions in rats and mice, specifically the kidney, liver, heart and spleen.
The time to take action is now; public disclosure and debase is urgently needed. If you’re eating CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) meats and processed foods that are not 100% USDA organic, you’re eating GMO’s. It’s that simple. The answer is to buy organic and/or look for foods that are "non-GMO certified" by the Non-GMO Project. Go to Non-GMO Shopping Guide.com for shopping resources.
References: Reproductive Toxicology Feb. 18, 2011, Reproductive Biology Marc 19, 2009, Environmental Sciences Europe March 1, 2011, Environmental Health Perspectives 109:851-57, American Journal of Epidemiology 146(12):1025-36, European Journal of Histochemistry 48(4);448-54.
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