More on GMO

So what is a GMO?  And what is all the hype about labeling?  Genetically modified (GM) foods are created using biotechnology to change their genetic material. 

Examples of What Genetically Modified Means:

Crops - toxin genes from a bacterium found in soil are inserted in the plant DNA which make the plant produce toxins specially deadly to the larvae of their pest insects
Soybeans - modified to tolerate high levels of weed killing herbicides
Farm Animals - pigs, cows, and chickens modified to have a faster growth rate.  Cows can produce milk that contain higher levels of bioactive milk protein or human blood clotting components or a human breast milk component.

Foods That Have Been Modified on the Market Today:

Maize (corn)

Wheat 

Rice 

Oilseed rape (canola)

Chicory

Squash

Potato

Soybean

Alfalfa

Cotton

Benefits  Of GM Foods:

Sturdy plants able to withstand weather extremes

Better quality
Larger quantity 

Higher nutritional yield***

Great shelf Life (tomatoes last longer, they also bounce)

Crops resistance to diseases and insects

So the benefits to the food industry are an increased shelf life, resistant to pesticides and insecticides, and improvement to the crop nutritional yield***.

Wow I just made a case for GMOs ... here is some other facts. Get ready for some heavy stuff.

Chinese researchers have found small pieces of rice ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the blood and organs of humans who eat rice.  The Nanjing University-based team showed that this genetic material will bind to receptors in human liver cells and influence the uptake of Cholesterol from the blood.  This is not the normal cholesterol** but that which collects and causes blood disease.  This type of RNA in question is called microRNA (miRNA) and has been implicated as players in several human diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.  They turn or shut down certain genes that would prevent such things as diabetes. 

When used on crops, miRNA can make insects sterile or kill them when ingested.  It also changes the genes of the insects. This is cause for some concern since genetically humans and insects have a lot in common. If miRNA can survive the human digestive system, which the Chinese researchers have found to be true, then it is possible that miRNA could also affect humans with adverse conditions.

Now that is a brain full of information!
Here are examples of why GMOs are dangerous.


I personally like lists!

Higher levels of plant estrogens 

Contain unknown toxins

Risk of negative interactions

No long term research

Unknown Genetic effect on Humans

Higher fat content in foods

Insect and weed resistance (What is wrong with this?  Weeds and Insects become resilient, so they become more of a problem)

Little information available

More Allergens 

Claimed to have higher nutritional value, but our bodies do not recognize and so there is less absorption
Lack of Regulations on Labeling

Here is an article and action you can take to push through labeling of foods that contain GMOs:

Take Action, Demand Labeling

**Cholesterol has a place in the body.  It has many functions which I will address in another blog.  The dangerous cholesterol is not LDL nor the HDL.  WHAT???? When we lower our cholesterol we are actually making our cholesterol smaller. The smaller cholesterol causes the problems, and it moves through the blood and gets caught in places it isn't supposed to be.  Like I said, more on this in a later blog.

***Higher nutritional value but there is some debate as to whether or not humans can absorb the nutrition from the plant, or if the body refuses the food.