This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.Nearly all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide (these are called Roundup Ready crops) or to produce their own systemic insecticide (Bt corn and Bt cotton).
The majority of items in the grocery store are made with GMOs: corn chips, corn cereal, corn starch, soy milk, tofu, high fructose corn syrup, sodas, non-dairy creamers, salad dressings, baby formulas, candy bars, waffles, seasoning packets, frozen meals, soups, sauces, snack foods... Then there are the individual product ingredients: amino acids, aspartame, ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, vitamin C, citric acid, sodium citrate, ethanol, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, maltodextrin, molasses, monosodium glutamate, sucrose, textured vegetable protein, xanthan gum... In other words, GMOs are in most processed foods.
The following crops are being genetically engineered for human consumption [1]:
- Sugar beets
- Soybeans
- Canola
- Cottonseed (cottonseed oil is a common ingredient in vegetable oils and margarine)
- Corn
- Hawaiian papaya
- Squash
Recently, genetically modified alfalfa won U.S. government approval and is being grown for animal feed. GMO corn and GMO soy are also fed to livestock. If you are not consuming GMOs directly, say by eating corn chips, then you are very likely consuming them in the meat and dairy found in many grocery store products.
What Are the Health Risks Associated with GMOs?
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine called for a ban on GMOs and urges physicians to advise all patients to avoid GMOs [2]. They state that several animal studies of the effects of GMOs indicate serious health risks, including:
- Infertility
- Immune problems including allergies
- Accelerated aging
- Faulty insulin regulation
- Gastrointestinal disease
- DNA damage
- Cancer
The British Medical Society, in 1999, called for a ban on the introduction of GE crops.
As long ago was 1997, scientists warned that genetically engineered food may result in new pathogenic bacteria because GMOs have crossed species lines [3].
Additionally, the use of GMO crops has increased the use of pesticides (which are carcinogenic). Exposure to pesticides is linked to all manner of chronic illnesses including increased risk of reproductive abnormalities, birth defects, neurological problems, allergies, and cancer.
Industry points to the lack of a “smoking gun.” Deniability of health problems is easy when they come on slowly as opposed to a pandemic. Remember, it took 20-plus years for the U.S. government to admit that smoking causes cancer. Meanwhile, we saw a lot of industry-sponsored studies that smoking was not harmful. There were a lot of industry lobbyists behind the scenes working to keep cigarettes on the market. Today, we see the soda industry in a similar battle as more and more experts, including CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, place considerable blame for the obesity epidemic on the soda manufacturers’ products.
Bottom line: human problems may be hidden for years, and may be masked by well-financed public relations campaigns, industry-sponsored studies and lobbying. Don’t trust those guys just because they say it’s alright. When has putting unnatural substances into the body ever turned out well in history?
- https://gmo.geneticliteracyproject.org/FAQ/which-genetically-engineered-crops-are-approved-in-the-us/
- https://www.aaemonline.org/gmo.php
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3791249/