The term GMO, meaning Genetically Modified Organisms are in fact organisms such as fish, bacteria, mammals, insects, plants and yeast whose genetic material has been altered by the use of genetic engineering techniques.
This technique is common in order to obtain a certain trait or characteristic of one organism into another, by changing the DNA structure of the organism in which the material is being inserted. This sort of merging, which includes mutation, insertion or deletion of genes, creates unconventional animals, bacteria or plants which are not found in customary crossbreeding, and some of them aren’t found in nature.
Therefore some genetically modified animals can be produced, and one is the dinosaur “Indominus rex”, created for the purpose of filming the movie “Jurassic World” (2015).
Nevertheless, this article is concerned not about the advance of technology and its GMO creation, but with the GMO foods that are a part of every single meal to the mass population. GMO crops have been first produced in 1994, as an answer to world hunger.
Provisions which are grown through GMOs can result into better tasting and longer lasting foods, while at the same time the crops are being immune to insects, and able to withstand weather changes, such as droughts or frosts. Therefore the final product will be in a greater quantity and it will look better than a non-GMO one. However, the goal doesn’t justify its means, because at the end of the day what will concern us the most is our health.
These artificially made products do not have the nutritional or energetic value that the natural ones do. The final note goes to the damage that people do to the environment in order to grow such GMO crop.
- Daily Consumption of GMO
Believe it or not, in the United States about 70-80% of the foods people consume on daily basis are GMO and this goes mostly for the processed foods.
- Resistance to Weeds
The seeds that are genetically modified are in fact resistant to weeds. However, during the process of modification, the weeds are also affected and therefore they become resistant as well. Therefore, farmers have to use stronger chemicals in order to get rid of the weed, which affects the whole environment, the safety of the crops and the health of the consumers. The chemicals which are used for the weed are automatically absorbed by the crops as well, which as a final product are ingested by consumers.
- No labeling
The fact that the producers of the GMO products are not legally obliged to label that the products are GMO, makes it hard for the consumer to make a correct choice. Some of the products which are not GMO have an actual label “non-GMO”; however it is not applied to all of them. Therefore one cannot really know which product is and which isn’t GMO.
- Instable Health
Once GMOs have been introduced, many European countries have banned or made a strict regulation for using GMO products, because of the variety of health problems that have arisen. Problems such as: food allergies, chronic illnesses, digestive disorders, autism, damaged immune system, tumors, birth defects, problems with the reproductive organs and infertility, have all been closely connected with the consumption of GMOs. Therefore, to be on the safe side and take concern of your health it is advisable to avoid GMO as much as you can, by for example buying organic and eating products whose origin is familiar to us.
- Contamination
We have to bear in mind that the contamination of the crop, begins from the seed, which is genetically modified. Therefore, these seeds easily “travel” all over the world and can be easily mixed up with natural and non-GMO seeds. The producers of organic products face a variety of problems and also financial losses in order to avoid any contact with GMO seeds, which can easily spread the contamination to the organic ones.
- Suppressed Information
Most of the information which says that GMO products are unsafe for consumption is suppressed. It is so because at the end of the day it all boils down to money, and by revealing that kind of information, a great amount of money would be lost and the whole industry that deals with production of GMO food closed. In addition, any further information that may be found out by independent researchers and scientists is successfully kept a secret by attacks, threats and similar means.
- Unknown Genetic Effects
The fact that GMO is not natural means that it is in fact something which might be a treat for the human race on a long-term plan. Despite the fact that GMO products interfere with the human health, it may make some considerable changes in the DNA to future generations.
- Food Security?
The powerful monopoly Monsanto is one of the corporations which control about 90% of the GMO produce. Therefore, it is mostly concerned with the profit, rather than the quality or safety of the products that are GMO. It is true that more crops are grown, however the price that it is paid is tremendous, since the farmers are forced to purchase GMO seeds, leaving no profit or motivation for the organic producers.
- The Aftermath
The fact that GMO products can lead to production of unnatural and unconventional types of animals and plants, the ingestion of such products can interfere with the human DNA and therefore make devastating and unnatural changes in humans as well.
- Education
One way to keep up to date with the effects that GMO products have on our health is to get educated and always choose quality over quantity. Have in mind that foods that are mostly GMO are the following: soy, cotton, canola, sugar beets, corn, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and yellow squash. We all know that it would be less of a concern to just buy food that you don’t know the origin of, than pay twice for an organic product, but that way you will make sure that your health condition won’t suffer. Instead of paying tons of money on medication after you get a disease because of the GMO foods, why not pay that money to buy organic in the first place?
