GMO Blog: Food Wars

Share

Tweet

Email This Page

Sign up here for
our Newsletter: *

Organic foods under assault from GMO: Why you should care about GMO-free food

On February 1^st, 2011, the Obama administration approved two more GMO food crops; alfalfa and sugar beets. It seems that healthy foods have again lost to big corporate interests, and that even under a health-conscious liberal administration health foods and organic foods are losing the war. We expected better from Obama, and especially from his wife, who has made it her mission to make American foods healthier.

Perhaps you aren’t a regular consumer of organic food, or haven’t even heard of genetically modified foods (GMO foods), and think they don’t concern you.

Let us dissuade you of that notion right now.

A brief overview: The agri-giant Monsanto has genetically engineered seeds from numerous crops (corn, soy, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets and more) so that when the crops are sprayed with Monsanto’s brand of herbicide, called RoundUp, everything else in the field dies, but the GMO plant lives.

Sounds like a winner for farmers in that they don’t have to fight the weeds, right? On the surface and in the short run, yes … but it is a loser for the rest of us. Here’s some of the many reasons why:

• Crop contamination. GMO food crops are contaminating the rest of the world’s crops, cross pollinating even different species, including organic crops. University of California scientists found evidence of GM contamination in traditional Mexican maize crops, showing that genes from agricultural crops do transfer to food crops.¹ A follow-up government-sponsored study showed as much as 95 percent of maize fields in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Pueblo contain evidence of GMO contamination—the highest level yet recorded.²  So what, you ask?

• Allergies. One Monsanto study showed the levels of one known soy allergen were up to seven times higher in cooked GMO soy compared to non-GMO.³ Soy allergies increased by 50 percent in the United Kingdom only one year after GMO soy was introduced there.⁴ Other GMO foods haven’t even been tested.

• Unhealthy livestock. “There is solid evidence that Roundup Ready crops damage animal digestive systems to the point that some animals are uncontrollable and must be put down,” says Elaine R. Ingham, PhD, the chief scientist of the Rodale Institute, an organic research farm that has conducted serious science on these GMO food crops. Would you like more of that in your hamburger?

• Fewer nutrients. Veterinarians are finding livestock livers universally low in manganese, a nutrient used in many metabolic processes, according to Jeffrey Smith, the founder of The Institute for Responsible Technology. This, he says, is likely an affect of the Roundup pesticide and Roundup Ready gene.⁵

• RoundUp also is linked to the rise of new breeds of superweeds.⁶ It’s evolution at work, folks! We wage war on nature, nature adapts and we end up the loser. Organic farming, on the other hand, seeks to work with nature, not control it with chemicals.

• More toxic chemicals in the environment. Monsanto (and other GMO advocates) claim that these practices decrease the use of pesticides and herbicides. In fact, since the inception of RoundUp Ready crops, the use of glyphosate herbicide (the main ingredient in RoundUp) increased more than 383 million pounds from 1996 to 2008.⁷ Want some more chemicals with your dinner? In your water?

Organic farming is important to everyone

Eating organic is the only way to reduce the amount of GM organisms (GMOs) you are ingesting. Up to 80 percent of the conventional products on grocery store shelves now contain GMOs. In the face of this GM onslaught, farmers and organic advocates are desperately trying to create safe places to protect heirloom seeds from GM contamination, so that future generations may be able to grow and eat real food.

What you can do right now: Several groups are trying desperately to get President Obama’s attention to this problem. At the moment he seems to be the only one who can by executive order reverse the USDA decision to allow unregulated planting of GMO alfalfa. You may sign one of the petitions to President Obama here.

Educate yourself: Read more about Monsanto’s GM crops, RoundUp, and how they threaten organic food and crops here.

Read Rodale Institute’s report on the importance of organic farming for health and sustainability, “The Organic Green Revolution”, here.

Special thanks to Theresa Marquez of Organic Valley for research notes.

James Townsend is editor in chief of WellWise.org, a nonprofit organization for the dissemination of science-based information about supplements, nutrients and strategies for health.  You can read more of James Townsend's health blogs here.

Read other WellWise health bloggers here.

References:

1.        Quist, D., Chapela, I. “Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico.” Nature. 414: 541. 29 November 2001.

2.        Mantell, Katie. “Mexico confirms GM maize contamination.” Science and Development Network. 19 April 2002.

3.        Stephen R. Pdgette et al, “The composition of glyphosate-tolerant soybean seeds is equivalent to that of conventional soybeans.” The Journal of Nutrition. 126, no. 4. April 1996; including data in the journal archives from the same study; see also A. Pusztai and S. Bardocz. “GMO in animal nutrition: potential benefits and risks. “Biology of Nutrition in Growing Animals. Chapter 17. Elsevier, 2005.

4.        Smith, Jeffrey. “State of the science on the health risks of GM foods.” Institute for Responsible Technology, 2010. p.8

5.        http://www.responsibletechnology.org/posts/2011/01/monsanto%e2%80%99s-roundup-triggers-over-40-plant-diseases/

6.        Charles Benbrook, The Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States:  The First Thirteen Years. The Organic Center, November 2009.

7.        Simon, Stephanie. “Biotech soybeans plant seed of risky revolution.” LA Times. 1 July 2001.