Thursday, February 1, 2007

GMO Woes...REAL Effects of GMOs on Humans


In our last class, we watched the beginning of The Future of Food. I have seen this before, so I have a question that is not answered by the video in detail. The video discussed a woman's allergic reaction to the GMO food, but there is still debate as to whether the genetic modification of the food is what causes the reaction. So my question for this week's blog is: What KNOWN effects do GMOs have on humans through documented and scientific study?

Most of the websites I visited for information tended to say things like "possible" effects. However, I did find a good site that showed documented possible problems that can be found on this GMO site.

HEALTH RISKS
We are still not so sure about consumption of GMOs and their effects on humans. There are a lot of strange things in GMO foods that are not normally found in any foods, such as a whole bunch of new proteins.

Relief! Well, okay, just a bit of relief to know that the FDA requires scientific evidence to prove that there is not an allergenic substance in the GMO food you eat, and they do require labels on GMO foods that could cause allergic reactions. However, there's so much new crazy things being injected into the DNA of our foods, who knows what kinds of new allergic reactions could show up (okay, not much relief).

Here's a few things we've found out about GMOs that are supposed to keep the population from starving to death:

  • Soybeans genetically modified with a gene from the brazil nut. Peanut allergies ring a bell??





  • The Bovine Growth Hormone (BHG)...want mammary cancer and a whole bunch of other problems? Drink BHG Milk! Here's the facts.






  • Tobacco genetically engineered to produce gamma-linolenic acid also produce a highly toxic substance...another reason to quit smoking...it may kill you even quicker these days.






  • GM Maize field in the Phillipines...now this is a good one: A whole village suddenly fell ill with respiratory problems, fever, intestinal and skin ailments. Turns out there was a field of GM maize 100 meters away from all the people who got sick. The residents were tested later and it turned out that they had the antibodies expressed in the GM maize in their blood samples. However, they could all have been experiencing "Influenza," but who knows....they weren't able to follow up on it because of course the government wouldn't fund it. Hmmm...

HOW DO I GET AWAY FROM EATING GMO FOODS???


Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association has this to say:


"Most GMOs are used in processed foods and for animal feed," says Cummins, "If you stick to a whole foods diet, you should be able to avoid GMOs."

The Center for Food Safety can give you a better idea of what is going on with our food these days.

NOT SO WONDERFUL AFTER ALL

And for a little "haha KARMA" for the Monsanto team , a new press release explains that the Roundup Ready Soybeans are more succeptible to drought than conventional soybeans, and they lost more soybeans than regular farmers did during drought! So much for ending the starvation problem, Monsanto. And all hear this...studies are showing that GM crop yields are lower than, or at best equivalent to yields from non-GMO crops. So really, messing with nature isn't exactly feeding the planet...it's feeding the problems.

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