Accelerated aging. Faulty insulin regulations. Changes to major organs and the gastrointestinal system. Another concern is that because these foods are engineered to withstand herbicides , more of the toxic substances are sprayed on the plants, which ultimately increases the trace amounts of herbicides found in foods.
Instead, concentrate on eating a heart-healthy diet that is high in fruits and veggies, and low in added sugar and processed foods. Products derived from these foods, including oils, all contain traces of GMOs. The 10 most popular foods that contain GMOs are:. Food manufacturers are not required to label if their food is genetically modified, but GMO labeling advocates continue to raise concerns surrounding this issue. Until laws change, there is some hope for steering clear of GMOs if you wish to do so.
The following guidelines may help you keep the GMOs in your diet to a minimum:. Buy food that is labeled percent organic. It has no GMOs. Choose whole foods that you can prepare yourself instead of processed or prepackaged foods. Purchase grass-fed beef. Shop at local farmers markets. These are much less likely to carry genetically-altered foods. The process has radically improved over the last 12, years.
Figure 2. Glyphosate usage concentration in the U. While Roundup has not tested as toxic to humans and other mammals, the longer it has been on the market, the worse its effects on soil health and long-term plant fecundity appear. In addition, Roundup Ready plants may not allow necessary micronutrients to be absorbed by animals consuming them and may also play a part in the recent die-off of bees the seriousness of which cannot be overstated. Aside from the biological concerns, there are also economic ones about which any farmer is certainly well-acquainted.
It is not too early to consider that the amber waves of grain in the Midwest might also be at risk of drought or conversely that the risk of crop-harming downpours — another manifestation of climate change — will also negatively affect grain yields. Figure 3. Groundwater withdrawal rates in It takes roughly 10, years to recharge water Source: National Atlas via Wikipedia. In light of these very sobering conditions, it is clear that agricultural technology should be focusing on increasing the resiliency of our food crops, rather than fine-tuning them to maximize yield in a narrow ecological sweet spot.
When I was researching this article, I looked for examples of companies working on developing GMO strains that were drought-resistant or would otherwise allow crops to be grown in soils with less nitrogen i. I found Monsanto had marketed a drought-resistant corn product, but that this has not had great commercial uptake and its efficacy was questioned by a scientific study. Arcadia has formed a joint venture with an Argentinian bioengineering firm to produce a drought-resistant soybean seed.
NOTE: After writing this article, I was contacted by a representative from Arcadia BioSciences with more information about the company's drought-resistant soybean product.
However, the FDA again ignored its own scientists. Because these foods were allowed to be marketed without mandatory testing for this kind of allergenicity, millions of unsuspecting consumers have continuously been exposed to a potentially serious health risk. This FDA action is especially negligent in that the potential consequences of food allergies can include sudden death, and the most significantly affected population is children. Another hidden risk of GE foods is that they could make disease-causing bacteria resistant to current antibiotics, resulting in a significant increase in the spread of infections and diseases in the human population.
For example, a genetically engineered maize plant from Novartis includes an ampicillin-resistance gene. Ampicillin is a valuable antibiotic used to treat a variety of infections in people and animals. A number of European countries, including Britain, refused to permit the Novartis Bt corn to be grown, due to health concerns that the ampicillin resistance gene could move from the corn into bacteria in the food chain, making ampicillin far less effective in fighting a wide range of bacterial infections.
The well-respected British medical journal, The Lancet , published an important study conducted by Drs. Arpad Pusztai and Stanley W.
Ewen under a grant from the Scottish government. The study examined the effect on rats of the consumption of potatoes genetically engineered to contain the biopesticide Bacillus Thuringiensis B. Thescientists found that the rats consuming geneticallyaltered potatoes showed significant detrimentaleffects on organ development, body metabolism, and immune function. The biotechnology industry launched a major attack on Dr. Pusztai and his study. However, they have as of yet not produced a single study of their own to refute his findings.
Moreover, twenty-two leading scientists recently declared that animal test results linking genetically engineered foods to immuno-suppression are valid. At the time the FDA assured consumers that the milk was safe. Since then, however, regulatory bodies in both Canada and Europe have rejected the drug, citing numerous animal and human health concerns. Perhaps of most immediate concern for consumers is that research shows that the levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1 IGF-1 are increased in dairy products produced from cows treated with rBGH.
The Canadians and Europeans further found that the FDA had completely failed to consider a study which showed that the increased IGF-1 in rBGH milk could survive digestion and make its way into the intestines and blood streams of consumers. These findings are significant because numerous studies now demonstrate that IGF-1 is an important factor in the growth of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer.
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