Thursday, July 31, 2014

GMO labeling in Oregon: 3 reasons supporters think you should vote 'Yes' | OregonLive.com

GMO labeling in Oregon: 3 reasons supporters think you should vote 'Yes' | OregonLive.com:





Here are three reasons supporters think you should vote yes: 
  • It's not about politics.  
  • Just because we don't know if genetically modified foods are bad doesn't mean they're not.
  • It's not a business ploy. 

273 Comments:

amjuverde
I think most people would be pro-GMO labeling if they realized that “GMO” usually means “more herbicides on your food.” The reason Monsanto has developed many of their GMO seeds is so the resulting vegetables or grain will be “Roundup Ready” – i.e., resistant to Roundup (active ingredient is glyphosate), the most popular herbicide worldwide…made by Monsanto. This means growers can spray massive amounts of Roundup on the fields without killing the crops. Many weeds have developed mutations making them resistant to Roundup - necessitating bigger amounts of the herbicide. Eventually no amount of Roundup will work on these “super-weeds,” but that doesn’t stop growers from using it now.
Who cares about herbicides in our food? Could these chemicals really hurt us? Research has answered with a resounding “yes.” (See below to links to research studies.) The authors of one study referenced below wrote, “[Glyphosate’s] Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body.” Chronic inflammation in the body has been linked to atherosclerosis (causing heart disease), kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, some cancers, periodontitis, asthma, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and many other conditions.
And, we know for sure that glyphosate has found its way into our bodies.  In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey Office’s agricultural chemicals team released the findings of a two-year study of the air and water in Iowa and Mississippi, heavy farming states. 75% of samples were found to have “significant levels” of glyphosate. When humans and animals drink the water and breathe the air, glyphosate is taken into the body. There have been multiple studies done over the past decade or so that have shown glyphosate levels in human blood, urine, and breast milk, as well as in the tissues of animals humans eat.
In March, 2014, the Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology published a study which found glyphosate in the urine of dairy cows. The authors also reported, “…chronically ill humans showed significantly higher glyphosate residues in urine than healthy population.” It’s also been found that people who eat organic foods have lower levels of glyphosate in their bodies.
So. We know Monsanto creates GMO-seeds to be resistant to RoundUp (glyphosate). We know this creates “super weeds,” which leads to more use of RoundUp or spraying with different herbicides. We know glyphosate     has found it into our air, water, food, and bodies. We know glyphosate causes chronic inflammation in the body due to its disruption of critical enzyme paths. We know chronic inflammation has been linked to myriad chronic illnesses. And that's not even counting research that's been done on the damage some of the so-called "inert" ingredients in RoundUp does to our bodies.
Why would we want to eat GMO foods?
Here are links to a few articles. If you don’t like them, or have further questions, google “glyphosate and [your question]” and do research of your own. Or if you don’t trust the internet, go to a university library and look up the science.
Scientific Research
Easily understandable “translations” of scientific research:

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