I gave you the link to a 1:24 movie called Genetic Roulette. Then I realized that most of you wouldn't watch it all the way through so I watched it again and here is my summary.
In 1986 Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) were put into our food system. Like most of you, I assumed that anything going into the food system was tested, but it was not. The main products are corn, soy, cotton, and canola, but now there is sugar beets, alfalfa and others as well.
There are 2 types of modification that occur currently. First is a BT toxin that is added as a pesticide. It works by causing the stomachs of insects that eat the product to explode. To get the modification into the genetic makeup of the seed they introduce a virus which works to turn the modification genes on. It causes all of the cells of the plant to produce pesticide.
The second type of modification is herbicide resistance. They use the same process to make plants that they can spray Roundup on without killing the plant. Roundup is a chelating compound - meaning it hugs the plant and keeps it from getting any nutrients thus killing it. That is why it works so well in your driveway to kill weeds - it denies them nutrition.
These modifications sound reasonable at first glance. Kill the bugs and weeds and farming gets more efficient. The problem is that, first they don't work long term. The bugs and weeds develop resistance to the pesticide and Roundup so they need to make more and different modifications to keep up. Second, there have been NO INDEPENDENT STUDIES DONE THAT SAY THAT THE PRODUCTS ARE SAFE TO EAT! That's right - NONE!
The FDA's own scientists said in memos that the safety could not be assured and instead warned that there was a high potential for problems including not yet known toxic substances. That should have put an end to it except the FDA is ran by Michael Taylor who had been Chief Counsel for Monsanto prior to joining FDA and then went back to Monsanto as VP before returning as the Food Czar for the FDA. Scared yet? It gets worse.
What independent research has been done has shown the ability of both modifications to live through the digestive process. In a Canadian study 93% of pregnant women had the BT their blood. Animal testing has shown that the BT toxin causes leaky digestive systems which leads to improper nutrition since your body isn't digesting food normally. The disruption of the flora in your system has foods going through digestion before key nutrients can be absorbed and processed. Fun huh?
Over 20 years ago The American Academy for Environmental Science studies showed that infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling and changes in liver, kidney and spleen functions as well as damage to the gastro-intestinal system were associated with these products. The FDA ignored the findings.
An expert in the area, Dr. Huber sent a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture alerting him to the emergence of a new mystery organism that is neither a bacteria or mycoplasma or virus or viroid or phage, but rather a brand new organism that has been shown to cause widespread infertility in livestock and is found in high concentrations in feed that is sprayed with Roundup. A call was made to him weeks later asking for sources. He gave them names and contact information and NONE of the people were ever contacted. The Sec. Of Agriculture used to be the Governor of Iowa and was named the Biotech Governor of The Year. Nice. I wonder what you get for that? Hopefully no BT corn.
What do we know? Americans are sicker than any other industrialized nation. Since the mid 1990's Americans with 3 or more chronic illnesses has more than doubled. Inflammatory diseases are going up at logarithmic rates and diseases of the GI tract like colitis, Chrohns' disease, Irritable bowel syndrome and GERD are at near epidemic rates.
People who are prescribed GMO free diets have almost instant improvement to symptoms including some autistic kids. I wasn't aware that most autistic kids have GI issues along with their behavioral issues, but that appears to be the case. In fact, all chronic diseases have their root in our GI systems one way or another.
Children are especially sensitive to the issues for a number of reasons including size, metabolic and respiratory rates, and the stage of development of their immune systems. That is why they seem to have more effects and more severe affects than adults. The fact that most infant formula is made from GMO soy and cattle fed GMO feed and bovine growth hormone is scary.
SO the good news is you can elect to live in a GMO free world. It requires you to give up fast and processed foods and eat either Organic or non GMO verified foods instead. Boo Paully! I can hear the hisses through the Internet. It would not have to be forever. A good estimate is that a 5% change in market share will be the tipping point where the food industry makes changes. So stop for a while. Your body WILL thank you and the companies will adjust and you can go back and eat a fast food burger - if you can still stomach it.
Be very well and more soon....
No comments:
Post a Comment