Daily Survival: GMO Foods: Everything You Need to Know

Today, it’s all about GMO Foods: Everything You Need To Know. I’ve had numerous conversations with people about GMO foods and how they feel about them. Those who are for them say that technology is the only way to feed an overpopulated world, whereas those against them say we are tampering with nature.

Who is right? My goal today is not to steer you in any direction but to educate you on GMOs and how they affect our food and allow you to make your own decisions.

Farmers Market Tomatoes

I need to add this because I haven’t been able to garden for three years. Mark picked up some Kirkland thick center-cut bacon, and I baked it on parchment paper—the best idea ever! If you have cooked bacon, you need to make a BLT, right? We picked up some Farmer’s Market tomatoes (Celebrity-It’s a Hybrid), the best tomatoes ever—just like I used to grow in my garden. Then Mark picked some up at Walmart, and boy, are they awful. No flavor, just blah. You know that first bite when you are expecting a good tomato, nope, not good. Having a garden is a must for me.

What is GMO?

GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. Another name for food is bioengineered foods. An organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques is a GMO.

In layman’s terms, it is modifying an organism in a way that doesn’t occur naturally.

We’ve been genetically enhancing other organisms through selective breeding for hundreds of years. This is how we have sweet corn, seedless watermelons, purebred dogs, and prize-winning rose bushes.

However, GMOs are a type of genetic enhancement that goes beyond selective breeding.

Technology allows us to transfer genes between different organisms! An example of this would be the tomato plant’s recent decades of resistance to beetles. It didn’t have this resistance in a natural setting.

Scientists genetically modified the tomato plant’s genome by inserting a gene from a bacterium that encodes a poisonous protein in particular insects, including the beetle. They do this to improve the yield for farmer’s crops, and do so in a way that should make them safe for human consumption, at least according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

How is it Done

Have you ever used the copy-and-paste feature on your computer? Gene transfer technology is a sophisticated version of copy-and-paste, only for organisms.

Once the desired gene is identified in an organism’s genome, it can be cut out, transferred to the desired plant, and pasted into its genome.

Once the gene is introduced to the target plant, the plant can then be bred to create a new strain where that gene is passed from generation to generation.

Should We Eat GMO Foods

As I stated earlier, my goal is not to steer you in one direction or the other. Instead, I’ll give you information on the benefits and concerns of eating GMO foods. You can weigh those benefits and risks and decide on your own.

It’s not possible to prove that GMO foods are safe, but no hazard has been shown to exist. That being said, here are some health concerns and benefits.

Health Concerns of GMOs

According to studies done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, they may cause toxic effects such as:

Hepatic problems
Pancreatic concerns
Renal failure
Reproductive issues
Alters hematological, biochemical, and immunologic parameters
Less nutritious foods

Additionally, GH (Growth Hormone) is shown to increase IGF-1, which promotes cancer. These studies have only been done with animals and not on humans.

With these issues, others are even more concerned about cross-contamination, which occurs when genes from a genetically modified plant or animal move to a plant or animal that has not been genetically engineered.

Benefits of GMOs

As there are concerns, there are benefits that scientists are focussing on. These benefits include:

Plants will require fewer environmental resources.
Disease and drought will not affect our food supply to the same extremes. Crop Yields will increase, and we can deal more efficiently with world hunger.
The use of pesticides and insecticides will decrease, as will the pests that attack plants.
We will have an increased food supply with a longer shelf life.
Faster growing plants and animals and fewer weeds.
Food with desirable traits.
Medicinal foods can be used to save lives.

In essence, we have a lack of food problem; scientists are trying to fix it, and we are getting genetically modified foods that will prevent us from starving but could wreak havoc on our bodies.

What Foods are GMO?

Do you think GMOs are lurking in your pantry? The truth is, they probably are. Without any clear labeling, GMO foods are hard to avoid.

Many GMO crops have been approved in the United States. There is a long list of FDA-approved GMO crops or meat products, from apples and potatoes to salmon.

New ones are released every year. Although you can find GMO foods in fresh food, you are more likely to see them in processed food.

GMOs hide in the ingredient list of processed food. Because 93% of corn and 94% of soybean acres in the U.S. are GMO, they sneak into a lot of our processed foods.

Additionally, they hide in additives such as corn starch, cornmeal, corn syrup, glucose, dextrose, canola oil, cottonseed oil, soy oil, soy flour, soy lecithin, and protein extracts. Even livestock feed is usually made from GMO crops.

Top 10 GMO Foods

Below, I provide you with a list of the top 10 genetically modified foods. This list doesn’t include all GMO foods, but it includes most of them.

Soy: 90% of soybean-based products on the market include genetically modified soybeans.
Corn: Half of the corn sold is from GMO crops.
Canola Oil: One of the most chemically altered oils sold in the U.S.
Cotton: Cotton oil is a higher risk for our health.
Milk: 1/5th of the dairy cows in the U.S. are given growth hormones through the foods they eat.
Sugar: Genetically modified sugar beets were introduced in 2009.
Aspartame: Completely artificial sweetener that is used instead of sugar.
Zucchini: Contains toxic protein to make it resistant to insects.
Yellow squash has also been modified with the toxic protein to make it insect-resistant.
Papaya: Genetically modified papaya trees have been grown in Hawaii since 1999.

How to Stay Away from GMO Foods

If genetically modified foods are unsafe, you can do your best to avoid them.

Buy Organic

If you don’t want to eat genetically modified foods, your best bet is to avoid them by eating only organic food. The organic label is a federal standard of how food is produced. It means the product can contain absolutely NO GMO ingredients.

Not only is organic a federal standard for crops that don’t contain GMOs, but it’s also the standard for meat. When you buy organic meat, the animals can only eat organically grown feed.

In addition to not having GMOs, organic foods come with other benefits. They can’t be grown with synthetic chemicals or treated with irradiation.

This means organic is an all-natural food free from chemicals, additives, or genetically modified plants.

Look for the Non-GMO Label

You may have seen a label for non-GMO foods on store shelves. Although it says non-GMO, these foods can pass with this label if they have less than .09% genetically modified ingredients. This means that the food can still be genetically modified even with this label.

Grow Your Own

The best way to avoid GMOs is to grow your food! It’s all about the seeds. Once a plant has been made subject to GMO treatment, the seeds from that plant are GMO seeds that grow GMO crops. Here are some posts on how to grow things yourself:

Additionally, check out our “What to Plant….” posts to find information on what to plant each month in each climate zone.

Everything You Need to Know Series:

Final Word

Because there haven’t been human trials on the effects of GMOs, we don’t know what they can or can’t do to our bodies. The question remains, “Do we starve or genetically modify our food?”

Some people avoid GMOs, while others welcome them as a new and better alternative. Only time will tell if these foods are better or worse for human consumption and mortality.

What are your thoughts on GMO foods? Do you think we should be tampering with nature? Share your opinions in the comments below! May God bless this world, Linda

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Daily Survival

Friday, August 23, 2024

GMO Foods: Everything You Need to Know