In my distant past, I may have posted once or twice about GMO foods. I really try to avoid them. There is no research that says they are different under the microscope or to the naked eye.
It’s the concept to why they are modified. The excuse is a moving target sometimes. At first it was to ward off pests, by the plant producing it’s own defenses. The Monarch Butterfly would thank them but it can’t where Bt corn is grown.
Then it was to reduce the competition from weeds and the extra time it takes Mega farms to cultivate fields. Now we spray a protein binding general herbicide. The protein can be animal or vegetable and changes under the right conditions (digestion possibly).
But what… we use the same herbicide to dry grains to quicken the time between harvest and sale!
Let’s forget they interbreed with ‘normal’ varieties altering them to carry the modified genetic materials. Don’t worry the production is reduced in the real world. So why do we do this…..?
I digress. According to Center for Food Safety, 92% of US corn has genetically-engineered origin, 94% soybeans and cotton are as well. Cottonseed oil is a cheap oil used in mass produced food. Transgenic wheat is a mystery. It doesn’t exist but traces are found in our food. Rice is 60 to 70% modified in our foods. Most of these many represent the grains as mixed as an ingredient not always whole grain.
I actually look at boxes. Most people want to tell you what’s in there stuff. The largest food corporations in the US fought mandatory labelling. Imagine finding it your Coke is GMO! (High fructose corn syrup, yep)
But here’s where I started off. My Fancy Uncle Ben’s Rice …. GMO. Regular Uncle Ben’s rice is not! You can’t just assume everything is the same. Those tiny words at the bottom of the side, watching below nutritional data, ingredients, is partially produced with genetic engineering
Most famous post ever is here about GMO potato chips
Just to be clear. I’m using the “Soapbox” image for a reason.
The US Senate decided you don’t know to know if your food contains plants of Genetic Modified nature. I hope your sitting down for this…. Corporations are spending crazy money to make sure they keep their Senators and the public message is everything is fine. If it was fine, why spend millions to keep GMO off all labels?
So, if you eat anything with corn or soybeans as an ingredient…yyup are eating GMO’s. Don’t matter there are identical to natural plants right? Would you put Roundup on a salad as dressing? Dip your nachos in a salsa or cheese with a touch of Roundup? Well, you already are if it’s a name brand. Of course, they need to tell you if there a a few parts per million of yellow food dye. But that’s lower than what the USA claims is safe for pesticide exposure to humans.
The food sourcing is terrible. We can’t even trust organic to be GMO free. There are strict rules on Organic and how they are produced. Organic milk from a cow that eats GMO wheat is on your grocery shelf all ready.
Ok what to do? Well, I have take a new approach on the petition front. I’ll sign them and hope for something back. My little contributions may not be much but these fine people at Coke are spending money to suppress your right to know. Their products have high fructose corn syrup and if that sugar comes from sugarbeets (mostly does due to cost), they are feed you GMO’s with our friend Roundup. If you would like to come along for the ride. Below is link to tell Coca-Cola to stop fund the suppression of our right to know. Really guys they are safe, so what’s the harm of knowing they are there? 😉
It’s a sad thing but truth in labeling means you know your chips aren’t GMO free. GMO taters are legal for food sources here in the land of the free. In this case Frito-Lay doesn’t want you to know if their products contain GMO taters. You really don’t need to know anything other than they are safe. Why should you get to choose wether you want them or not?
Alex Beauchamp (@AlexAtFWW)
5/12/16, 10:11 AM
Frito-Lay fighting GMO labeling in NY, but here are they potato chips, purchased in Ossining, already labeled pic.twitter.com/TuJskQKvAD
I have akways loved stories about different saying. Where the words and phrase come from and if the meaning changed. So today the story of snake oil related through Atlas Obscura.
I raised a question of would you want to know if GMO’s were in your food? Of course, bypassing the obvious question of what are they? Or what foods are we talking about? The truth will set you free but is it from the right prison? Overly deep end thought…
In the beginning, there was crops and they were good. Then we bred two different similar species and got varieties. Now fast forward crossing these variations with more and we get high yield producing plants. Some inherit resistance to disease. Some grow faster better for cold or dry climates. Some are more heat tolerant. Resist to pests is harder to control. Similarities among varieties means one disease, blight, or pest kills large portions or affects large areas. One farmer has many options. Corn, wheat, soybeans, millet, sunflower, name your grain it’s been breed for specific traits.
Enter companies that produce wholesale seeds. I choose Monsanto because they are large player in the field. I even took a couple of their posted answers to their seeds and the GMO question on labeling. Because it is the question of knowing. They are a major source of Genetically Modified Organisms, as represented by the seed.
Monsanto uses plant breeding and biotechnology to create seeds that grow into stronger, more resilient crops that require fewer resources.
On GMO labeling
“..ongoing studies by independent experts such as the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have shown that foods containing GMOs aren’t dangerous or inferior to foods that don’t. We don’t support mandatory labeling of GMOs, as we believe it will leave consumers confused about the safety and nutrition of the foods they enjoy every day.
Here is a full statement on GMO safety from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s leading sources of experts on this subject. We do support a voluntary labeling approach – it allows companies who make GMO-free food to reach customers who choose to avoid GMOs.”
In fairness, their seeds are used throughout the world. Bioengineered seeds are not grown is some countries due to legistalive actions within that country toward this question. Companies like Monsanto have engineered seeds for commercial production. These seeds have been researched by the same company that produces them. No evidence of damage to human cells have been presented from their findings. There is no direct agency tasked with forcing this research. They offer more information at http://discover.monsanto.com
The other shoe is of course not on the same pair of feet. This is the other side. Between the European Union, Australia, Japan, and forty countries concerns remain. The pollen of GMO seeds leave residue in other fields. Insects that have been exposed to these crops have been killed by toxins held in plant proteins. These can be beneficial or pests. It does not discriminate. The resistance to disease and pests does not leave the plant. The same plant that produces the grains that feed us. And what feeds what becomes feed for us (cattle, chickens, commercial fish, pork, goat, lamb, turkey, cavas, etc.).
I choose an impact estimate from the Non-GMO Project. They are their questions.
How common are GMOs?
In the U.S., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food. For a current list of GMO risk crops go to http://nongmoproject.org
What are the impacts of GMOs on the environment?
Over 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance. As a result, use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has increased 15 times since GMOs were introduced. GMO crops are also responsible for the emergence of “super weeds” and “super bugs:’ which can only be killed with ever more toxic poisons like 2,4-D (a major ingredient in Agent Orange). GMOs are a direct extension of chemical agriculture, and are developed and sold by the world’s biggest chemical companies. The long-term impacts of GMOs are unknown, and once released into the environment these novel organisms cannot be recalled.
This is a narrow view. You don’t have the time or patience to read everything on my little blog. Ok, I’m only giving a taste of the issue. I have a distant
past with chemistry (organic with some research involved-NOT expert). If it can kill a bug in sufficient quantity it will kill you! The problem is we don’t know ten year, twenty year, thirty year impact on us. Small quantities of chemicals that are difficult for our bodies to process add up. How much to cause an increase in cancer, altering the stomach acid production, interfere with insulin, or destroy DNA? No one knows? We don’t know if it can happen. We don’t know how many chemicals are retained in the chicken that eats GMO grain.
The balance of feeding an overpopulated world with less disease and lower child mortality rates, and our healthy food supply will be a give and take proposition. If you go by surveys 80-90% of us want to know what are food contains. 50-60% would not purchase a product they knew contained GMO’s. The U.S. Government has passed legislation in the House of Representatives to deny the labeling of GMO containing foods. Main reasons are cost to the manufacturers and lack of public outcry.
I want to know what I’m eating! Do you? Leave a comment. Take a stand. You have an opinion feel free to share.
There are several companies who don’t want you to know what’s in your food and drink. How many food labels does $51,000,000 buy? It’s buys a lot of polictical messages telling you they can’t afford to tell you what you are consuming. Are you for genetically modified ingredients in your food? Do you think you should know? The story about the money is below.
Personally, I should know where my food comes from. My steak, fish, and pork are labelled. The box of dried potatoes are labeled to say preservatives. Adding a line saying it came from somewhere or genetically modified doesn’t seem to cost much. Unless the negative effects of finding out how long we have been eating altered food scares the food industry.
Coloring Outside the Lines 