http://www.care2.com/greenliving/are-you-eating-genetically-modified-foods.html
Are You Eating Genetically Modified Foods?
By Burton Goldberg, Natural Solutions magazine
Most of us don’t know it, but many of the foods we eat today have been genetically altered. Seventy percent of processed food in grocery stores contains some amount of genetically engineered components, according to the Council for Responsible Genetics, a nonprofit in Cambridge, Massachusetts that fosters debate on biotechnology.
The list includes some all-American favorites such as Kellogg’s and General Mills cereals, Heinz ketchup, Carnation chocolate milk, Coca-Cola, and Beech-Nut baby food. And it’s not just packaged foods: Thirty-four percent of the corn we eat, 75 percent of soy products, and 15 percent of canola oil has been genetically altered in some way.
Many American organizations have already raised concerns about genetically modified (GM) foods, defined as those in which “foreign” genes–ones not naturally found in the plant–are introduced. The Council for Responsible Genetics, Greenpeace, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Food Safety, and Consumers Union have all demanded more research and caution. But the debate intensified when Britain’s Institute of Science in Society launched its own rebellion and convened an independent panel of scientists to rule on the subject. In May, the group issued a report called The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World.
The conclusion? Genetically modified crops may pose unacceptable risks to health and the environment. “We are told there is no scientific evidence that GM is harmful,” the panel noted. “But is it safe? That is the question we should ask.”
One of the panel’s key findings is that very few animal or human studies are available in the scientific literature, and the few that are demonstrate ample cause for concern. A 1994 study submitted to the FDA, for example, showed that rats fed GM tomatoes developed erosions on the lining of the stomach similar to those seen in humans taking aspirin or similar medication. In another study, reported in Science magazine in 1999, researchers found that rats fed GM potatoes showed stunted growth and suppressed immune systems.
Another oft-cited danger is that GM foods can expose humans to known and unknown allergens. Soybeans engineered with the Brazil nut gene, for instance, caused allergic reactions during testing in humans sensitive to nuts. Fortunately, the problem was detected before the soybeans made it to the market. But it’s very possible that genetic engineering will also create new allergens that we won’t know about until it’s too late.
The fact is, you’re on your own if you want to protect yourself from the possible risks of GM foods. Currently, the FDA requires only “voluntary” testing of such products. But even more astounding is that GM foods aren’t labeled as such.
That’ right–this country is one of the few Western nations that do not require manufacturers to designate on the label that food has been genetically modified, in spite of the public’s strong desire to know what they’re buying. In a recent Consumers Union poll, 82 to 93 percent of Americans indicated they’d like genetically engineered food to be identified, even if doing so increases food costs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has filed a World Trade Organization case against the European Union for its five-year moratorium on new GM products, is certainly no help. It argues that “more than 300 million North Americans have been eating biotech corn and soybeans for years,” and that “no adverse health consequence has ever been reported.” It also says that the United States government is not trying to “force” foods on consumers and that “consumer choice is a fundamental tenet of U.S. policy.” But how can consumers choose when genetically modified foods aren’t labeled?
The European Parliament voted in July to give their citizens that very right. Beginning early next year, all manufacturers will be required to label modified foods and feed.
Until then the rules change, try to eat local or organic produce whenever possible and stay away from processed foods. This is the only way to avoid the unknown dangers of GM foods as well as the well-documented problems associated with pesticides, hormones, and other additives.
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11 comments
add your comment »Heinz is working to only use non-GM ingredients, due to customer requests.
If your local library does not have Seeds Of Deception, they can do what my library did. They can have the book sent to your library from a library that does have it. You pay the postage. It cost me $2.63. Worth the money. I think the author is Jeffrey Smith.
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thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner
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Humans have been doing natural selection (choosing naturally occuring plants varieties) for generations. They have also been producing hybrids within a genus.
THEY HAVE NOT BEEN HYBRIDISING PLANTS WITH ANIMALS UNTIL NOW!
1.Kingdom
2.Phylum
3.Class
4.Order
5.Family
6.Genus
7.Species
This are the levels of differentiation between one organism to another. In the past, "humans" have done modifications at level 6 and 7. Not above that. Because although they tried above that, it would not work. The male and female gametes would not naturally fuse to make a new organism or the new organism would be infertile! So it was never really the humans that decided, it was nature all along!
With GM the animals don't want to eat it! Sugar is being added to GM animal feed to trick them into eating it! Do you need more evidence? There is loads more where that came from. Please read "seeds of deception" by Jeffrey Smith.
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Wow, I had no idea a fish could naturally mate with a tomato and that it is called "evolution". Thanks for enlightening us Ravi. It may seem pornographic, but could you link me to a website of fish and tomatoes, well, "doing it?" I have a penchant for cross-Kingdom pornography. *giggle*
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If you believe in evolution and/or natural selection then you'll see that genetic modification isn't a bad thing. It's what's gotten the world to the point that it is now.
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Christie, I know there's a WORLD of difference between 'naturaly' modified food through breeding/fertilization programs that (in theory) I could do in my back yard; and the programs that Scientists do in labs requireing equipment that costs more than I will make in the next 10 years. I was just pointing out that anytime a new apple is formed (Thank you University of Minnesota for Honey Crisps!) and a new breed of dog is approved by the AKC (most recently the Glen of Imaal Terrier in 2004) it's a form of genetic modification.
Thank you, Christie, for the references, I will certainly look into them.
Unfortunatly I don't have the money to buy organic foods at this point in time, two small children in daycare and a husband in college leaves little at the end of the month for organic foods. I use home-grown veggies from my garden when I can and frequent our local Farmers Market every Saturday in the summer and fall to avoid not-so-fresh grocery produce.
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Emma, there is indeed a HUGE difference between selective breeding/hybridization and the injection of foreign DNA segments into a cell. Mating two dogs in the hopes of getting the right color spots or splicing two rose bushes together are procedures worlds apart from injecting a fish gene into a tomato or bacteria and viruses into animals.
Your best bet to avoid Genetically Engineered foods is to buy organic. USDA certified organic foods cannot legally contain GM ingredients. There are tons of sources of information on how to avoid GM foods, but here are a few links to get you started:
The Organic Consumers Association has a ton of information about GM products to avoid at http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm
A guide for buying non-GMO foods is at http://www.responsibletechnology.org/DocumentFiles/141.pdf
At the bottom of this article is a guide on what to look for before buying general foods
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/27/FDGFMQJFG21.DTL
The Non-GMO Project does some great work and has a list of participating retailers at
http://www.nongmoproject.org/participating-products/
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Not to be the preverbal rained out parade; but ALL food is genetically modified. Gergor Mandel was genetically modifying his pea plants back in the 1800s. The corn, tomatoes, and potatoes I grow in my garden don’t remotely resemble the plants that they were 1000 or even 100 years ago. My Dog (a dachshund) has been genetically modified from the animals that his antecessors were. Dairy cows have been breed to produce more milk than their counter parts that end up in-between hamburger buns; this is also a form of genetic modification.
If you believe in evolution and/or natural selection then you'll see that genetic modification isn't a bad thing. It's what's gotten the world to the point that it is now.
I DO understand the difference between a soybean being introduced to a Brazil nut gene in a lab and a soybean plant breed to another soybean plant to get a healthier offspring. Just keep in mind that both scenarios are examples of genetic modification; the latter of which has been happening since man left the hunting grounds to become farmers about 13,000 years ago.
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I wish the article had included what to look for on packaging to determine if the food has been genetically modified.
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Well, I have been buying organics for years and I find myself shopping more and more at my local Organics/Holistic market than at the local grocery stores. The fact that we are not given a choice to buy what is GM foods and what isn't is shady! Not telling us is because they know people won't buy them!
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