GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)

A friend recently asked me what the O stands for in GMOs (Geneticlly Modified Organisms).  Most people are aware of the issue of GMOs contaminating other crops, in fact hundreds of thousands of members of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association are suing Monsanto in order to prevent their farms from being contaminated by GMO seeds.  About 75% of the items from a regular grocery store have GMO ingredients.  Becasue GMO ingredients do not have to be labeled, the only way to know food does not contain them is to buy organic.

Crops that have GMO plants are corn, alfalfa, sugar beets, tobacco, soy and cotton, some varities of zucchini, crookneck squash and Hawaiian papaya.  Oils that are GMO include soybean, corn, canola, and cottonseed.  There are GMO meats that are not yet out on the market.  Studies suggest that GMOs are allergenic, toxic, carcinogenic, anit-nutritional, raise infant mortality, cause stunted growth and accelerated again as well as infertility.  

The idea is that GMO sweet potato and rice could be resistant to pests and therefore help malnutrition in Africa and Asia.  However, GMOs are linked to a decrease in crop yields, and cost farmers more, because the seeds die every year.  This is very problematic in third world counties, where poor farmers remain in debt every year because of that.  (Heirloom seeds are available on line in the U.S., and at a few farm stores around the county, but not readily available in poor countries.) There has been no reduction in pesticide use in the U.S., Roundup is used on 80% of GM crops, and wastes from GM corn are killing aquatic insects.

Today I received an email from Food Democracy Now! with a petition to ban the sale of Monsanto's GMO sweet corn to national grocery stores like Wal Mart, Kroger and Safeway.  I sifted through their information and came up with the following stats:

As of 2010 more than 365 million acres were planted around the world with GMO seeds.  The United States has more than 165 million acres of GMO crops, which are mostly "RoundupReady" crops, which means the plants are resistant to Roundup.  GMOs also produce their own insecticide.  About 90% of all GMO seeds are produced by Monsanto, and these plants are usually fed to animals.

Now Monsanto wants to bring this GMO sweet corn to food chains for human consumption. 

Studies from the International Journal of Biological Sciences directly link GMOs to organ damage in rats.  Monsanto conducted it's own crude 90 day study finding the corn safe.  Gilles-Eric Seralini, who conducted the IJBS research, said, "Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions...This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health.  This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanlysis of Monsanto crude statistical data."

Dr. Don Huber, a scientist who has studied plant disease for 50 years, spent 35 years at Purdue University as Professor Emeritus of plant pathology, and coordinates the "Emergent Diseases and Pathogens Committee" as part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System under Homeland Security has also has found disturbing effects caused by GMOs.  They are associated with a sharp rise in animal infertility and micronutrient soil deficiency.

A Canadian study (The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre, Quebec) shows that 93% of pregnant women tested were found to have a GMO toxin designed to kill insects in their blood.  The toxins came from processed foods and eating livestock that eat GMO crops.  Monsanto falsely claims that these toxins would be dissolved in the animal's gut.  But they are passed along to humans that eat them, and these toxins are found in most people's blood.

GMOs contain Bt (bacillus thuringiensis), a bacteria used in pesticides since the 1920s (now under trade names such as Dipel and Thuricide.)  These pesticides are implanted using GM techniques into corn and other crops.  The spores produced by the bacteria act as a pesticide.  The toxin found in the study was CryAb1, which is extracted from the bacteria. Some studies show that this toxin can trigger an immune response and weaken the immune system.

Bts have been linked to the decline of Monarch butterflies and deaths of bees.  This bacteria is said to be safe, occurring naturally in the guts of caterpillars, but this bacteria is closely related to anthrax.  Many insects that are supposed to be targeted by the pesticide have already developed a resistance to this pesticide.


Not every country's government agrees with the "safety" of GMOs.  The following information is taken directly  from purezing.com, a good resource for health.

"The following countries have banned [Hungary also just banned them] or restricted the import, distribution, sale, utilization, field trials and commercial planting of GMO’s:

• Africa: Algeria, Egypt
• Asia: Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Japan, Philippines
• Europe: The European Union, Norway, Austria, Germany United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Portugal
• Latin America: Brazil, Paraguay
• Middle East: Saudi Arabia
• North America: Maryland has banned GE (genetically engineered) fish and North Dakota and Montana have filed bans on GE wheat. The Municipalities of Burlington, Vermont (declared a moratorium on GE food), Boulder, Colorado (bans on GE crops) and the City and County of San Francisco (urged the federal government to ban GE food) are the only towns or states to take some sort of stand against plants, animals, foods, crops and body products that are, or contain Genetically Modified Organisms.
  NOTE: The U.S. government, and the FDA do not require anything Genetically Modified to be identified on ingredient lists. Genetically Modified foods and products are in widespread use and distribution throughout the U.S.
• Pacific: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Australia, New Zealand

Percentage of crops that are Genetically Modified in the U.S.:

• Soy (85%)
• Cotton (Cottonseed) (76%)
• Canola (75%)
• Corn (40%)
• Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%)
• Zucchini and Yellow Squash (small amount)
• Quest brand tobacco (100%) "

There will be more posts on GMOs that include the shutdown of "whistle blowers" and other political reasons why the U.S. is so slow to reject these crops.

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), Alix