Say No To GMOs

 

Beginning in 1996, the U.S. Government began approving ingredients that are genetically altered by scientists to be added to the food supply. Today, over eighty-eight percent of all corn, ninety-three percent of the soy, ninety percent of the canola and sugar beet crops, and a large percentage of the cottonseed, alfalfa, and papayas being grown in the United States are genetically modified. It is estimated that close to eighty percent of all processed foods on supermarket shelves contain genetically modified ingredients, as do the majority of school lunch items being served to our children in cafeterias. Although research links GMOs to allergies, organ toxicity, and other health issues, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require safety testing for GMOs.

 

So, what are GMOs? Genetically modified organisms are created when biotech companies insert foreign genes into the DNA of seeds so the crops can withstand a number of conditions as they grow. After they alter the seeds, they obtain a patent for them. Then they get farmers under contracts. Their plan is likely to monopolize the global food supply. Most GMO crops contain the Bt toxin, bacillus thuringiensis. As the crop grows, it emits this toxin, which acts as an insecticide. The problem associated with this toxin is that once we eat the crop, or when the livestock eat these GMO foods, the Bt toxin is still active and can damage our intestinal flora. This alters our gut microbiota, leading to depressive symptoms – among several other health ailments. GMO seeds also have a foreign gene inserted into them from a strand of bacteria that can tolerate the chemical glyphosate, which is added to Roundup herbicide weed killer. Once this gene is inserted, the crops become resistant to the chemical. The result is that millions of pounds of this health-depleting chemical are applied to these GMO crops annually. Glyphosate has been linked to multiple health conditions in several studies.

 

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) now encourages physicians to prescribe diets that do not contain genetically modified foods to their patients. They called for a moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), long-term independent studies, and labeling, stating, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food, including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation.”

 

Going back to the dangers of glyphosate, an April 2013 study published in the journal, Entropy, by Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, titled Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases, explains how this chemical harms human health. The study links GMOs to Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, autism, cancer, depression, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, infertility, and obesity. The results show us that, “Glyphosate inhibits cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, and CYP enzymes play crucial roles in biology – one of which is to detoxify xenobiotics – so the chemical enhances the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and environmental toxins.” Citing recent studies, the review coauthor, Stephanie Seneff, PhD, senior research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, explains how, “Glyphosate acts as a potent bacteria-killer in the gut, wiping out delicate beneficial microflora that help protect us from disease.” Seneff describes how, “Glyphosate can disrupt the gut's ability to create tryptophan, the building block of serotonin, and important neurotransmitter linked to happiness and well-being. Low serotonin levels have been linked to suicide, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other ailments. Not only is glyphosate hampering tryptophan production in your gut, but it is also lowering levels in plants, causing even more deficiency.” The study concludes, “The toxin Glyphosate found on GMO food prevents the breakdown of other toxins; kills beneficial bacteria in your gut, reducing vitamin and mineral absorption; destroys the wall between your gut and your bloodstream, allowing toxins to enter your bloodstream, where they are attacked by your immune system, creating inflammation, which releases cytokines that enter your brain, causing inflammation in your brain and brain cell damage, resulting in depression anxiety.” This information is alarming. Knowing how damaging GMO foods can be to our health, and seeing how abundant they are in the food supply, can we question why so many of us are sick, depressed, and living below our happiness threshold?

 

Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than sixty countries around the world – including Australia, Japan, Russia, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies that were conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sales. The companies claim there is no difference between a GMO crop variety and a natural crop variety. If there truly was no difference, then why do they own patents for the seeds that rule them as being unique? Fortunately, many Americans are catching on and refusing to buy products that contain these unnatural ingredients. We simply do not want to be part of an experiment any longer. We do not want our children to be experimented on either.

 

“Any scientist who tells you they know that GMOs are safe and not to worry about it, is either ignorant of the history of science or is deliberately lying. Nobody knows what the long-term effect will be.” – David Suzuki, Geneticist

 

What I find scary about eating genetically modified food is that we introduce foreign microorganisms to our gut microbiota. These organisms could seriously impact our health. Since GMOs were introduced to the food supply, there has been a steady rise in chronic conditions, diseases, mental health disorders, and profits for the medical industry. Mark Lyte, a researcher from Texas Tech University who studies how microbes affect the endocrine system, explains that new microorganisms could alter the mind. He is quoted as saying, “I am seeing new neurochemicals that have not been identified before being produced by certain bacteria. These bacteria are – in effect – mind-altering microorganisms.” When we eat food that is unrecognizable by nature we cannot predict the effect it will have on our body. The wise choice is to eat truly organic foods that are heirloom and free of GMOs. The non-GMO project (nongmoproject.org) is adding their stamp of approval to packaged food items that are GMO free. Look for it. To be sure you are avoiding GMOs, do not purchase food items that contain sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, aspartame, canola oil, soybean oil, soy, soy lecithin, or any corn or soy derivatives – unless they are labeled as organic.

 

Please access organicconsumers.org/monsanto/ to learn more about the dangers attached to the GMO epidemic.