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what's wrong with genetically engineered food?
Genetically Engineered food does not have to be labeled in America. Roughly 75% of U.S. processed foods- boxed cereals, other grain products, breads, chips, cookies, candy, frozen dinners, cooking oils and more- contain some genetically modified ingredients. Nearly every (non-organic) product containing corn, soy, canola and cottonseed oil, and a growing amount of wheat and rice, is contaminated with GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms).
Because there is no labeling, there is no way to know what foods contain GMOs. However, certain products are more likely to be contaminated with GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Certified Organic food is supposed to be safe from GMO, but there is no way to guard them forever. The clock is ticking.
1. pesticides in GMO
The most common engineering of GMO involves splicing chemical pesticides into food crops. Although it would seem that the purpose of growing a plant that contains these toxic chemicals in every cell would reduce the application of pesticides in the field, it is quite the opposite. Plants engineered with pesticides are able to tolerate larger doses of chemicals without dying. This raises more than one problem.
#1. Food from plants that have pesticides genetically spliced into them is saturated with contamination of chemicals far exceeding “safe” levels. The pesticides cannot be washed off or reduced by peeling away the skin.
#2. These crops are additionally dosed with a heavy application of pesticides, compounding the dangers of these chemicals.
#3. Studies show that an increase use of pesticides is not decreasing crop loss. Initially, pesticides kill insects and pests, but regular and excessive use of pesticides is breeding super-insects that are resistant to the chemical pesticides, and more crops than ever are lost.
2. resistance to antibiotics
Antibiotic genes are used as “markers” to identify which host cells have accepted inserted foreign genes. The antibiotics remain in the plant tissue and can be passed to humans and animals when eaten. The main concern is that a constant low-dose of antibiotics in food will make antibiotics medically less effective, especially against newly emerging strains of E. coli and Salmonella.
3. allergies, new proteins,
and toxic effects of gene insertion
The crossing of one plant’s genes with another is one thing, but inserting animal genes into a plant is extremely disturbing. The thought of fish genes in a tomato is disconcerting to many. Ethics aside, new proteins are created from inserting genes from animals and non-food organisms like bacteria, into plants. These new proteins may have toxic or allergy-causing effects, especially in allergy-prone children. Further, as these genetically modified organisms roam freely through open pollen, it is absolutely unknown how they will mutate and interface with each other and other plants.
4. pharm-crops: exposure to drugs
and industrial chemicals
The newest and most alarming developments of genetically engineered food are pharm-crops, pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines grown on food. Very little information is available to the public sector, but permits have been issued to grow birth-control, AIDS-vaccines, herpes simplex-vaccines, and animal vaccines on food in the open field. Corn is one of the most common host plants and a fundamental reason to eat only organically grown corn (as it must be free from GMO to be labeled “Certified Organic”), because cross-pollination from crops with drug-inserted genes cannot be contained.
5. genetic pollution
Genetically engineered organisms are alive. This means that once they are released into the environment, genetically engineered plants and animals can reproduce and contaminate any other plants or animals with which they come in contact with. Genetically engineered organisms can never be recalled or contained after they have been released, and any problems then multiply for the rest of time. For example, researchers at Purdue University studied the potential affect of releasing a small number of genetically engineered fish into the wild. They estimate that just 60 generically engineered fish released into a wild population of 60,000 fish would lead to the extinction of the wild fish within only forty generations.
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the clock is ticking ...
Genetically engineered organisms can never be recalled or contained after they have been released, and any problems then multiply for the rest of time.
Studies show that an increase
use of pesticides is not decreasing crop loss ...
... main concern is that a constant low-dose of antibiotics in food will make antibiotics medically less effective ...
... it is absolutely unknown how they will mutate and interface with each other and other plants...
Initially, pesticides kill insects and pests, but regular and excessive use of pesticides is breeding super-insects that are resistant to the chemical pesticides, and more crops than ever are lost ...
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