Genetically modified foods come from GMO, which is Genetically Modified Organisms. When a scientist tinkers with the genetic code or DNA of a plant, in order to give it better qualities such as a longer storage life, resistance to fungus, a thicker skin to enhance shipping, or some other commercially beneficial trait, it is know as GMO. Currently, laws do not require labeling in regard to genetic modification, and that has some people up in arms. It seems they want to know the source of the food on which their bodies are built. Me too.
Before the FDA approved GMOs into food, scientists repeatedly warned that genetically modified foods create unpredictable, hard-to-detect, negative side effects: allergens, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. One research study shows that GMO corn or soybeans leads to kidney and liver problems in rats and mice. Professor Giles-Eric Seralini reviewed data from 19 animal studies and concluded that this is risky business! Health problems included infertility or sterility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, changes in major organs, and problems in the gastrointestinal system.
Drugs undergo intensive testing in our country before they are allowed to be sold, and then they are labeled carefully with side effects noted. Conversely, there have been no human clinical trials with genetically modified foods. And there is evidence of big trouble in the studies that have been done:
* Thousands of sheep, buffalo, and goats in India died after grazing on Bt cotton plants
* Mice eating GM corn for the long term had fewer, and smaller, babies
* More than half the babies of mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks, and were smaller
* Testicle cells of mice and rats on a GM soy change significantly
* By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies
* Rodents fed GM corn and soy showed immune system responses and signs of toxicity
* Cooked GM soy contains as much as 7-times the amount of a known soy allergen
* Soy allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the UK, soon after GM soy was introduced
* The stomach lining of rats fed GM potatoes showed excessive cell growth, a condition that may lead to cancer.
* Studies showed organ lesions, altered liver and pancreas cells, changed enzyme levels, etc.*
Another great concern is that genetic materials inserted into genetically modified soy eaten by humans ends up transferring into bacteria within the human intestines, which just keeps functioning long after the food has passed from the body. Genetically modified proteins continue to be produced, via the bacteria. This can get really scary if the antibiotic gene used to strengthen crops created a super-disease within the human body that would not respond to an antibiotic. Some genes, such as Bt-toxin in corn could possibly turn our intestinal bacteria into a poison generating factory right in our own bodies.
Safety has not been considered seriously enough, in my opinion. The FDA has too rapidly approved something that benefits the farmer, but potentially harms humans. I think that the way the Creator made foods is probably the very best. For me and mine, I am avoiding GMO foods . . . until they are proven safe, if ever.
