Friday, February 8, 2013

GMOs Explained

  • Genetically engineered or modified organisms are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and sometimes to produce their own insecticide.
  • Monsanto says GMOs are safe, based on studies done in other countries. GM seeds increase yields, withstand drought and are so widely used – in the likes of corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed and sugar beets -- that it would be costly and impractical to do labeling.   Opponents dispute many of those claims and say what may have begun with good intentions is now companies just protecting their investment.
  • Food and Drug Administration have “shown they will not apply their own science to this subject, and more than 20 years ago, they just casually gave it a GRAS rating, or generally recognized as safe.
  • There’s a huge, growing body of anecdotal evidence that links GMOs, in about 70 percent of our food supply, to respiratory, gastrointestinal, behavior issues. And physicians find that when people either reduce or eliminate (GM) foods from their diets, their symptomology disappears or diminishes greatly.
  • For a lot of people, the very idea that big agri-business, who we’ve trusted all our lives – you know, the cereal we ate as kids – that they would do anything that would not be in our best interest, to some people is just a foreign idea and engenders a response that is almost angry.
  • The vast amount of GMO crops are designed as sales tools for specific herbicides. The majority of those sales tools are for Roundup (which) kills most green plants that haven’t been engineered to resist it.
  • A WSU Study has shown that herbicide use has increased by a half-billion pounds and traces are getting into people’s bodies. 
  • GMO products have not been adequately studied and tested for human consumption
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Pro-GMO Statements

  • I’m equally convinced that the USDA and the FDA are doing their jobs to assure us that our food supply is of the highest quality.
  • I’m convinced that many organizations use controversy to attract attention and often portray problems where none exist.

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