GMO's: PART TWO

In my last post I talked a little bit about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) and who is responsible for placing them into our food supply. What we put into and on our bodies is so crucial to our health, and it is unfathomable that the same company that is responsible for Agent Orange and the pesticide DDT has had so much power over our food supply and way of thinking.  Part Two talks a little about what they actually are and where they are found. Part Three- still to be posted, will talk about why I believe they are a poison to our health and what limited studies that have been conducted have shown.

 
                            My baby boy with swollen eye, after having an allergic reaction.
                                                            

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE:

List of Foods that Currently Are Genetically Modified:

·         80% of CORN (straight up corn, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, livestock feed)

·         92% of SOY 

·         SUGAR BEETS

·         CANOLA

·         ALFALFA

·         ZUCCHINI

·         YELLOW CROOKNECK SQUASH

·         PAPAYA grown in Hawaii or China

At first glance it is easy to look at this list, and think, "Well, I hardly eat any of those." So if that was your first thought, please, please do me a favor and go through your pantry, fridge, and freezer. You might be surprised at how many of your foods have some kind of corn product or soy in them. Even many health food store items have canola oil listed as an ingredient. 
 
Cotton is another product that has been genetically modified. There is an account of workers in India who developed rashes all over their bodies just from picking genetically modified cotton.  Thousands of animals died from grazing on the cotton and mass numbers of farmers have committed suicide, after facing the loss of their farms. The seed companies somehow come out unscathed, while widespread devastation is occurring.

So what exactly are GMO's?

Genetically modified organisms are genes from bacteria or viruses forced into the DNA of other species. For example, soybeans have been modified with bacteria, so they can survive being sprayed with Roundup.  Monsanto is also responsible for rBGH (recombinant growth hormone), an artificial hormone that has been injected into cows, so they will produce more milk. This particular hormone was made with genetically engineered E.coli bacteria.

At times it seems we are living in a science fiction novel. Some of the more bizarre forms of genetically modified organisms have been glow-in-the-dark cats, cabbages injected with scorpion poison that kills caterpillars, bananas with vaccines inserted into them, "Enviropigs",  goats that produce spider web protein in their milk, salmon that grows twice as fast, trees altered to grow faster,  and chickens with human genes added to their DNA to produce disease-fighting compounds.

Plants that fight pollution, foods that fight diseases, web material from goats that could be used in various ways to make parachute cords, artificial limbs, and so on, trees that can withstand freezing temperatures, medicinal eggs-all seemingly noble aspirations. This is science at its best, right?! Not so fast.

Take for example the rBGH hormone that has been injected in some of our milk to increase cows' milking capabilities. The US was the only developed country to allow this particular hormone into the dairy supply. When other countries realized it made their cows weak and sick they would not allow it. Studies have shown that it elevated hormone levels associated with breast, prostate, and colon cancer. The US response was to inject the cows with antibiotics and drugs, so not only were Americans drinking milk from sick cows, they were ingesting the same hormones, antibiotics and drugs the cows were given.

Americans were not informed of these changes when they first began, but European mothers were advised to avoid GMO foods during their pregnancies and other countries have banned these foods as well ! in 1996, GMO's were sneakily placed into American foods without any notice or consumer warning. In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency wanted to conduct a study called, "GMO's cause Food Allergies." One would think the average businessman would want to test out their product, know its performance before putting it on the market, and ensure the success of the product for its customers. Monsanto and our government are obviously not the average businessman.

Another potentially health-damaging GMO food is soy. Touted as a health food,  even non-GMO soy is extremely hard to digest. Asian cultures that consume soy do not consume it in large quantities; it is either used as a condiment or it goes through a long fermentation process to make foods such as miso or natto to make it more digestible. The American Soybean Association has stated that "Soy is nondigestible in animals with only one stomach." So what does that mean for us? GMO soy actually increases something called a trypsin inhibitor, making it even harder for our bodies to process than non-GMO soy, which is already a problem unless it is properly prepared. 1998 was the year that Genetically Modified Soy was introduced in the UK. That same year, the rate of soy allergies soared to 50%. Mothers often wonder why peanut allergies were once almost unheard of, and now schools across the US are implementing peanut-free cafeterias. No one I've ever come across has ever had an answer for this, until now. The "crazy" scientists and researchers who are trying to warn us of GMO foods, have made a connection that there a lot of parallels between the structure of peanuts and soy. Peanuts are also often rotated with GMO cotton crops, some of the most heavily pesticide -doused crops out there.  Between 1997 and 2002, we saw a doubling of peanut allergies.

I have become interested in knowing what's in our food supply through having my own health almost devastated, and through observing the effects of own my health deterioration pass onto my children. The above photo is of my son, when he had a severe allergic cross-reaction to nuts in a snack that said "Nut-free" on the package, at of all places, Whole Foods. The pictures show the aftermath, when he is happy again. They do not show how badly swollen his face was when the reaction started, or him vomiting, or being lethargic, or the faces of concerned parents wondering if we should rush him to the hospital. I think GMO's are just a piece of the puzzle for us, but they are a piece nonetheless. 

So is this piece useless, for those of you without any "known" allergies? Certainly not!

We live in a free nation. "Free" to let others make decisions for our food for us or free to question why there is:

A 400% increase in allergies

A 300% increase in asthma

A 400% increase in ADHD

1 in 3 Caucasian kids and 1 in 2 minority kids expected to be insulin-dependent by the time they reach adulthood.

Cancer as the leading cause of death in children under the age of 15 (according to the CDC)

 

And why our Golden Years, if we make it there, are starting to take on more of an agent orangish hue than golden?