What are GMO’s?

The following is a persuasive speech presented in class on 11/25/2008 by Lauren Nicole Mills.

If I were to ask you if you would consciously choose to eat food that was potentially toxic, possibly contributes to new diseases and may contribute to health challenges within various organ systems in your body I hope you would at least think about it. Most importantly, don’t you think you should be informed so that you could make the decision whether you wanted to consume these foods or not.

Statistics presented by Jeffrey Smith author of the books “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette” say that 70% of the food that the public is consuming is contributing to the detriment of health and the culprit that these foods have in common is called GMO’s or genetically modified organisms. 60% of the public is not even aware that they have been eating GM foods. For the sake of health, wellness, longevity and most importantly for ethical reasons I believe that it is imperative that you should know more about GMOs. I strongly oppose the use of GMO’s without public consent and awareness because the public is unknowingly consuming products that may be harmful for them.  It is my intention to share some information on what you need to know about Genetically Modified Organisms, some current ethical issues that surround the use of GMOs and finally offer you solutions to help you avoid consuming GMOs. You are after all what you eat and should you have a choice and knowingness of what you are really consuming.

First lets talk about what GMO’s actually are.

According to thegoodhuman.com, GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. The most frequent use of the term GMO is in relation to the food that we eat, in that many crops and factory-made foods are created from genetically modified ingredients. Genes from other plants, viruses, bacteria, animals, etc. are inserted into the genes of certain products such as corn to make them more stable and resistant to drought, disease and pesticides. This sounds great in theory however, the most serious issue affecting the use of biotechnology is that there is simply no regulations that surround the use of GMO’s, companies are not even required to label their products. Nor is there any long term studies on the use of GMOs since it is a relatively new technology. According to Jonathan Campbell in his article “50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods” as well as other sources site, there are no regulations on GMO’s because the FDA only requests that firms conduct their own tests of new GM products. Not only are GMOs unregulated, but at the same time they are mutating genes which are contributing to health issues like serious allergens, both human and animals immune systems are vulnerable to these new genes, and these Mutations may be able to travel internally to other cells, tissue systems and organs throughout the body, and create issues like allergies, sterility and possibly illness. Why are there no regulations? George Bush senior, receives the credit, since it was his administration that supported the birth of biotechnology in 1992, and put a policy in place that ordered the FDA to promote the biotech industry not question it.

Lets move on to ethical issues that surround the use of GMO’s.

The implication of GMO’s not only affects health, but the environment, farming practices and issues of freedom of choice. These are only  a few examples of the ethical violations in question, but hopefully you will get a better understanding of the possible repercussions. One issue with GMO crops is that the new genes are often spread accidentally and unknowingly to other non-GMO commercial fields. An example of this according to responsibletechnology.org Organic canola farmers in Canada sued biotech companies, since cross-pollination has made it impossible for them to grow organic, non-GM canola. The use of GMO’s is also affecting other countries.  According to Andrew Malone, November 3, 2008 thousands of Indian farmers in India are committing suicide after using genetically modified seeds. Millions of Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if they switched from farming with traditional seeds to planting GM seeds instead. GM salesmen and government officials assured farmers that these ‘magic seeds’ – would generate crops that would be free from parasites and insects. Far from being ‘magic seeds’, GM pest-proof ‘breeds’ of cotton have been devastated by bollworms, and due to the lack of rain because GM seeds require double the amount of water, many GM crops have simply withered and died, leaving the farmers with crippling debts and no means of paying them off. 125,000 farmers reported have chosen to drink insecticide, a slow and painful death rather the try to find another way out of debt. Many European countries have restrictions and regulations on the use of GMO’s the US does not.

This leads me to what are GMO foods and how to avoid them.

The best way to avoid GMO foods is to buy organic food or products that specifically say non GMO. The big 4 GMO products are soy, corn, cotton and canola. So anything with these ingredients that you would buy at the grocery store most likely contains GMO’s. Corn syrup, soy sauce, non organic soy products, cottonseed oil, corn starch, sunflower oil are just a few of the by-products. The best way to avoid consuming GMOs is to avoid mainstream products that include these ingredients. Another thing you can do is get a food guide from www.centerforfoodsafety.org which has a list of companies that do not use GMO and lists the companies who may use GMO’s.

I hope you have a better understanding of how the use GMO products is a serious concern not only to our country but the world at large. I have explained what GMOs are, ethics that hold GMOs in question and I have given you information on what you can do to limit and avoid the consumption of GMOs. The best thing you can do for interest of your health, well-being and longevity is to research for yourself and determine if consuming GMO’s is right for you. I read in my studies If only 5% of our population consciously chooses to avoid Genetically modified products that this would send a strong message to manufactures of genetically modified products. It is necessary for them to know that the implementation of  GMO’s is questionable and that consumers demand accountability. SO you are left with the choice do you choose to consume Genetically Modified products or do you unknowingly allow Genetically Modified products to consume you?