The more I read about genetically modified (GMO) foods the more I want to avoid them. This unfortunately is a HUGE problem since just about everything we eat has GMO foods in it.
Those of us with chronic illnesses need to be especially careful of what we eat. Read on . . .
At Mercola.com, they go into 10 reasons you should do your best to avoid these harmful GMO foods.
10 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods at Mercola.com
1. Eating genetically modified (GM) foods may cause disease
GMOs may be the greatest health disaster in the American diet. Within 9 years of their introduction in 1996, multiple chronic illnesses jumped from 7 percent to 13 percent of the population,[1] food allergies doubled in less time, and many other ailments have been on the rise.
Millions may already be suffering health problems caused by genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their diet. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has urged doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients, and cites animal studies that show how GMOs cause disorders such as vital organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system problems, accelerated aging, infertility, and dysfunctional regulation of insulin and cholesterol.
Baby rats from moms that ate GM soy were smaller than those fed natural soy. More than half the GM soy group died within three weeks. Irina Ermakova, 2005-2007.
2. GMOs might cause infertility or hurt newborns
When GM soy flour was added to the diets of female rats, most of their babies died within three weeks—compared to only a 10 percent death rate among mothers fed natural soy.[2] The GM-fed offspring were smaller, and later had problems getting pregnant.[3]
When male rats were fed GM soy, their testicles changed from the normal pink color to dark blue.[4] Mice testicles also showed changes, including damaged young sperm cells.[5]
The DNA in mice embryos functioned differently when their parents ate GM soy.[6] And an Austrian government study reported that mice fed GM corn had fewer and smaller babies.[7]
About two dozen US farmers say that thousands of their pigs became sterile after consuming certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies, others gave birth to bags of water.
Cows and bulls also became infertile when fed the same corn.[8] Investigators in the state of Haryana, India, report that most buffalo that ate GM cottonseed had reproductive complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, infertility, and prolapsed uteruses. Many calves died.[9]
3. GM corn contains a toxic pesticide in every bite
Some GM varieties produce poison—their DNA creates an insect killing “Bt-toxin” in every cell. Monsanto and others claim that the toxin is safe for humans and mammals because the gene that produces it comes from the soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis.
Farmers have long used these natural bacteria as a pesticidal spray. But when the spray was widely dispersed to fight gypsy moths in Washington and Vancouver, about 500 people reported allergic and flu-like symptoms.[10]
Genetic engineers insert the bacteria’s toxin-creating gene into corn and cotton plants, which produce a more toxic poison. It’s thousands of times more concentrated than the spray and cannot be washed off.
Now, thousands of Indian farm laborers who are exposed to Monsanto’s Bt cotton plants are suffering from the same symptoms as those in the Pacific Northwest.[11]
In addition, thousands of sheep, goats, and buffalo have died after grazing on Bt cotton plants.[12] Countless other livestock have suffered reproductive disorders, skin disruptions, and upper respiratory ailments.
In one small feeding study, all the sheep that consumed Bt plants died within a month. Those that ate natural plants remained healthy.[13]
Bt corn is also linked to animal deaths in Germany[14] and The Philippines,[15] and according to an Italian government study, evokes serious immune responses in mice.[16] Even Monsanto’s 90-day rat feeding studies with Bt corn showed vital organ damage and signs of toxicity.[17]
4. GMOs might cause allergies
Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50 percent.[18] There are many reasons why people may be more reactive to GMOs.
• GM soy, corn, and papaya fail the allergy screening protocol recommended by the World Health Organization; their GM proteins have properties of known allergens.[19]
• The widespread collateral damage resulting from the process of creating GMOs can introduce new allergens or elevate existing ones. GM corn contains a new unintended allergen[20] and GM soy has up to seven times more of the soy allergen trypsin inhibitor.[21]
• Preliminary allergy tests confirm that some people have skin prick reactions to GM soy, but not to a wild natural variety.[22]
• Consuming GMOs may also provoke allergies to other foods.
• Mice not only reacted to Bt-toxin[23] and an experimental GM pea,[24] they then started reacting to other foods that previously had no impact.
• GM soy drastically reduces digestive enzymes in mice.[25] If your digestive ability is also impaired, you could become allergic to many types of food.
5. GMOs have higher residues of poisonous herbicide
The primary reason crops are engineered is to allow them to drink poison. They’re called herbicide tolerant, and are inserted with bacterial genes that allow them to survive otherwise deadly doses of toxic herbicide.
Biotech companies sell the seed and herbicide as a package. Monsanto sells Roundup Ready crops and Roundup herbicide. Bayer CropScience sells Liberty Link crops and Liberty herbicide.
Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on these poison drinking GMOs.[26]
Because weeds are becoming resistant to the overused herbicide, farmers are spraying considerably more each year. The last 2 years of the 13-year study alone accounted for 46 percent of the increased herbicide use.
6. GM genes can convert your intestinal bacteria into living factories that continuously produce pesticides or other harmful products
The ONLY published GMO human feeding study (that’s right, there’s only one) confirmed that genes transfer from GM soybeans into the DNA of bacteria living inside our small intestines and continue to function.[27]
Human subjects that ate Roundup Ready soybeans ended up with “Roundup Ready gut bacteria”—unkillable with Roundup. If the pesticide-producing Bt gene in corn chips were also to transfer, it could turn your intestinal flora into living pesticide factories—possibly for the long term.
7. GMOs are approved without adequate safety studies
In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration claimed they had no information showing that GM foods were substantially different from conventionally grown foods. Therefore absolutely no safety studies were required.
But secret internal memos made public by a lawsuit show that the actual consensus among FDA scientists was that GMOs can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies.
Sadly, the FDA official in charge of policy ignored the warnings. He was Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former attorney and later their vice president.
Because of him, the same biotech companies who have been found guilty of hiding toxic effects of their chemical products are now in charge of determining whether their GM foods are safe. A close look at their so-called GMO safety studies shows how they rig research to avoid problems. They’ve got bad science down to a science.
Tragically, Michael Taylor, who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death in human history, is now back at the FDA as the US Food Safety Czar.
8. GMOs cause irreversible genetic pollution
GMOs cross pollinate and spread into the environment. A total recall is impossible.
The self-propagating genetic pollution already released will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste.
9. GMOs work against feeding a hungry world
The most authoritative evaluation of agriculture, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development,[28] determined that the current GMOs have nothing to offer the goals of reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, health and rural livelihoods, and facilitating social and environmental sustainability.
The report was a three-year collaborative effort with 900 participants and 110 countries, and was co-sponsored by all the majors, e.g. the World Bank, FAO, UNESCO, WHO. In reality, GMOs reduce yield,[29] increase farmers’ dependence on multinationals, reduce biodiversity, increase herbicide use, and take money away from more successful and appropriate methods.
In developing nations, GMOs can be catastrophic.
In India, for example, Monsanto convinced hundreds of thousands of farmers to take out high interest loans to pay for expensive GM cotton seeds and associated chemicals. Inconsistent yields left desperate farmers unable to even pay back their loans. The UK Daily Mail estimates that an astounding 125,000 indebted GM cotton farmers committed suicide.[30]
10. By avoiding GMOs, you help create a tipping point to drive them out of our food supply.
Because GMOs give no consumer benefits, if even a small percentage of us start rejecting brands that contain them, GM ingredients will become a marketing liability. Food companies will kick them out.
The tipping point can come quickly.
In Europe, for example, within 10 weeks of a high profile GMO safety scandal that hit the papers in 1999, virtually every major food company committed to stop using GM foods. In the US, a consumer rebellion against genetically modified bovine growth hormone used on dairy cows has also reached a tipping point. Drugged milk and/or yogurt has been rejected by Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dannon, Yoplait, and about 60 of the top 100 dairies so far.
The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a tipping point against GMOs in the US. The number of non-GMO shoppers needed is probably just 5 percent of the population.
They key is to educate consumers about the documented health dangers and provide a Non-GMO Shopping Guide, to make avoiding GMOs much easier. Thus, by choosing healthier non-GMO brands, and telling others about GMOs so they can do the same, we can quickly reclaim a non-GMO food supply.
Visit the Campaign’s website for GMO educational materials to read, watch, listen to, and pass onto others.
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Until next time,
Karen Cioffi
Author, Ghostwriter-for-Hire, Freelance Writer, Reviewer
http://dkvwriting4u.com
http://karencioffi.com
