the truth about GMO.. what is it?
Charles POliquin
“If you’re living in the US, you don’t know you’re eating them.”
Food labeling laws in the US don’t require informing consumers if their foods contain genetically modified ingredients. And if you don’t think this is a big deal, consider that an estimated 70 percent of the foods on supermarket shelves contain GMOs.
The most common products are:
Soy, corn, oil made from canola and cottonseed, sugar made from sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and crookneck squash. Many other fruits, vegetables, grains and beans are considered candidates for GMOs.
To help you find out what foods are GMOs, you can download a free guidebook from www.ResponsibleTechnology.org. However, there are a few tricks you can use to get around the problem of hidden GMOs, such as buying organic foods, looking for products that say they are non-GMO, consulting a non-GMO shopping guide and avoiding foods that are likely to contain GMOs. Regarding this last suggestion, be aware that in the United States 91 percent of soy products and 85 percent of corn products contain GMOs.
Now let’s address the second question: “What is a genetically modified food?”
This may sound a bit like Star Trek or, perhaps more appropriately, the main character Frank Black screaming “Soylent Green is people! Soylent Green is people!” in the movie Soylent Green, a futuristic tale in which people are used as a food source. But the fact is GMOs are made by taking the genes of one species and forcing them into the DNA of a food or animal to introduce a new trait. Why do this?
One reason is to increase crop yields, as these foods are better able to tolerate toxic herbicides, are less likely to be affected by E. coli and salmonella, and are resistant to threats from pests. Here’s an example of the last point: Inserting Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium, into crops makes them insect repellant in the sense that when insects try to eat the crops, the insects die. The result is that more food can be grown and it will cost less. Noble goals to be sure, but genetically modified foods come with risks that simply may not be worth the benefits. But first, let’s hear what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to say about such biotechnology.
In a “Statement of Policy” presented on May 29, 1992, the FDA said the following: “The agency is not aware of any information showing that foods derived by these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way.” Smith contends that this policy was influenced by politics and that FDA scientists had expressed concerns about the safety of GMOs but that these concerns were ignored. Smith says the person in charge of the FDA policy had previously worked (first as an attorney and later as a vice president) for a company that produced GMOs.
Click here to read studies
Read the bottom on the article : Of Mice and Men
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/626/The_Truth_abou-
t_Genetically_Engineered_Foods.aspx
Charles POliquin
“If you’re living in the US, you don’t know you’re eating them.”
Food labeling laws in the US don’t require informing consumers if their foods contain genetically modified ingredients. And if you don’t think this is a big deal, consider that an estimated 70 percent of the foods on supermarket shelves contain GMOs.
The most common products are:
Soy, corn, oil made from canola and cottonseed, sugar made from sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and crookneck squash. Many other fruits, vegetables, grains and beans are considered candidates for GMOs.
To help you find out what foods are GMOs, you can download a free guidebook from www.ResponsibleTechnology.org. However, there are a few tricks you can use to get around the problem of hidden GMOs, such as buying organic foods, looking for products that say they are non-GMO, consulting a non-GMO shopping guide and avoiding foods that are likely to contain GMOs. Regarding this last suggestion, be aware that in the United States 91 percent of soy products and 85 percent of corn products contain GMOs.
Now let’s address the second question: “What is a genetically modified food?”
This may sound a bit like Star Trek or, perhaps more appropriately, the main character Frank Black screaming “Soylent Green is people! Soylent Green is people!” in the movie Soylent Green, a futuristic tale in which people are used as a food source. But the fact is GMOs are made by taking the genes of one species and forcing them into the DNA of a food or animal to introduce a new trait. Why do this?
One reason is to increase crop yields, as these foods are better able to tolerate toxic herbicides, are less likely to be affected by E. coli and salmonella, and are resistant to threats from pests. Here’s an example of the last point: Inserting Bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacterium, into crops makes them insect repellant in the sense that when insects try to eat the crops, the insects die. The result is that more food can be grown and it will cost less. Noble goals to be sure, but genetically modified foods come with risks that simply may not be worth the benefits. But first, let’s hear what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to say about such biotechnology.
In a “Statement of Policy” presented on May 29, 1992, the FDA said the following: “The agency is not aware of any information showing that foods derived by these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way.” Smith contends that this policy was influenced by politics and that FDA scientists had expressed concerns about the safety of GMOs but that these concerns were ignored. Smith says the person in charge of the FDA policy had previously worked (first as an attorney and later as a vice president) for a company that produced GMOs.
Click here to read studies
Read the bottom on the article : Of Mice and Men
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/626/The_Truth_abou-
t_Genetically_Engineered_Foods.aspx
