Stay Away From Genetically Modified Foods

Stay Away From Genetically Modified Foods
You may have heard of them and wondered what all the contraversy is about.
Here a good report on just why you should avoid them.

Genetically Modified Organisms are Unfit for Consumption Thursday, June
11, 2009 by: Ethan Huff, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has
issued a warning urging the public to avoid genetically modified foods
and has also called for a moratorium on GMOs until long-term,
independent studies can prove their safety. The group has also called
for required labeling of foods that contain GMOs, a move that has been
strongly opposed by the Food and Drug Administration and Big Biotech
which cooperatively purport that consumers should not have the right to
know whether or not the foods they buy come from traditionally bred or
genetically engineered sources.

While urging for more independent studies, the AAEM paper cites its own
studies alleging that genetically modified foods cause serious adverse
health effects, emphasizing more than a mere “causal association” as is
commonly assumed. These effects include rapid aging, severe alterations
to the major bodily organs, infertility, immune problems,
gastrointestinal dysfunction, and disruption to proper insulin
regulation, among others.

Many doctors are warning their patients to avoid GMOs as well,
recognizing the distinct correlation between GMOs and disease. Ohio
allergist Dr. John Boyles believes genetically engineered foods are so
dangerous that people should never eat them. Biologist Pushpa M.
Bhargava, following the review of more than 600 scientific journals, has
concluded that the drastic deterioration of Americans’ health in recent
years can be attributed to GMOs being introduced into their diets.

Experimental studies of genetically engineered foods and their effects
in the body are disturbing, to say the least. Biologist David Schubert
of the Salk Institute has stated that children are the most likely
people to experience the adverse effects of GMOs, noting that apart from
adequate safety studies, children become “the experimental animals”. In
truth, every citizen is a guinea pig when genetically altered organisms
are introduced into the food supply without adequate safety studies let
alone honest labeling.

In the animal studies that have been conducted, some noteworthy findings
have been discovered about GMOs: Female rats fed genetically modified
soy saw most of their babies die within three weeks compared to the 10%
death rate experienced by rats fed natural soy. The babies that survived
in the genetically modified-fed control group were also born smaller and
had problems getting pregnant later on. Male rats fed genetically
modified soy experienced a change in testicular color from pink to dark
blue, as well as altered young sperm and significant changes in their
DNA. Indian buffalo that consumed genetically modified cottonseed
experienced various birthing complications including infertility,
abortions, premature delivery, and prolapsed uteruses. Many of the
calves that survived birth died shortly thereafter. In the United
States, about 24 farmers reported that their pigs became sterile after
consuming genetically modified corn. Genetically modified corn and
cotton, purposely engineered to create their own built-in pesticide
called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), have been indicted in several
studies to provoke intense allergic and immune reactions and death.
Since the levels of Bt produced in the plant represent thousands of
times more a concentration of Bt than natural Bt spray, the effects are
greatly amplified. Shepherds whose sheep grazed on Bt cotton after
harvest witnessed thousands of their sheep die. Post mortem examinations
revealed severe irritation and black patches in the intestines and
liver, as well as enlarged bile ducts. All sheep fed the Bt cotton
eventually died within 30 days while those that grazed on natural cotton
remained healthy. Bt corn was also responsible for the deaths of cows,
horses, water buffaloes, and chicken in both Germany and the
Philippines. Genetically modified tomatoes fed to rats were shown to
cause bleeding stomachs and eventually killed many of the rats.

These are just a few examples of the many catastrophic effects of using
genetically modified organisms as food.

Probably the worst finding in the AAEM report is the fact that GMOs can
live and reproduce in the intestinal flora of the body long after being
eaten. The genes present in the genetically modified organisms transfer
into the DNA of intestinal bacteria, the good bacteria that digests food
and maintains bodily health. This reprogramming can cause the intestinal
flora to begin reproducing Bt pesticides, for example, rather than
producing the living bacteria it is supposed to. The permanent, deadly
implications of these alterations are mind boggling since intestinal
flora is crucial for life.

Despite consensus from most FDA scientists in the early ’90s declaring
that genetically modified foods are inherently dangerous and could lead
to all sorts of serious health problems, politics won out as mandates
were given from Washington to promote biotechnology and GMOs in spite of
apparent and obvious dangers. This led to the promotion of Michael
Taylor, former attorney for Monsanto, as head of GMO policy at the FDA,
a move that led to the official denial by the agency of any knowledge or
substantiated concern by any FDA scientists about the safety of GMOs.

Despite findings in some 44,000 pages of internal FDA memos and reports
released in 1999 due to a lawsuit, findings that contained the warnings
from then scientists about the “unintended negative side effects” of
genetic engineering, official FDA GMO policy has been scrubbed clean of
the truth and purports blatant lies in its defense of GMOs as safe. In
fact, current policy emphatically states that no safety studies on GMOs
are even required or necessary; it is instead up to Big Biotech to
determine the safety of its own genetically modified organisms if it so
chooses.

Many people may remember the deadly epidemic in the late 1980s from the
genetically engineered version of L-tryptophan, a food supplement, that
was introduced into the market. An estimated 10,000 people became
permanently disabled and about 100 died. Yet despite the rapidly
occurring, deadly effects from this particular GMO immediately following
its release, including noticeable changes in the blood, it took over
four years to identify the existence of this epidemic.

Many concerned doctors hypothesize that the disease-causing symptoms of
GMOs being consumed today will take years to show up, further besetting
the efforts of those who are trying to expose the dangers of GMOs.
Current data is showing that since 1996 when genetically modified crops
were first introduced, the incidences of people with three or more
chronic diseases has jumped from 7 percent to 13 percent.

In addition to all the existing evidence, AAEM is urging its members,
the scientific community, and those in medicine to continue gathering
case studies and initiate epidemiological research to help determine,
once and for all, the effects of GMOs on human beings in addition to
their effects on animals.

It is wise to avoid foods that contain GMOs and ingredients that are
genetically engineered. These include non-organic corn and soy
derivatives, canola and cottonseed oils, and sugar from sugar beets.
Ingredients such as corn starch, corn meal, and soy lecithin are great
examples of common ingredients that are suspect. Unless labeled as
non-GMO or explicitly organic, these common ingredients are most likely
genetically modified and should be avoided at all costs.

Lastly, the mindful citizen should contact grocers, food manufacturers,
and restaurants to inquire about genetically modified ingredients and
oppose their usage. As increasing numbers of people begin to seek out
this information across the food supply-chain and purposefully avoid
products that contain GMOs, producers and retailers will phase them out
in order to meet demand. This can be seen in the gradual elimination of
toxins such as high fructose corn syrup from food as consumers learn
about its effects and avoid products that contain it.

Call Congress and urge support for mandatory GMO labeling, perhaps even
the elimination of GMOs entirely. Get creative. Tell friends and family
about the dangers of GMOs, organize local campaigns, and pass out
literature. The sooner people become aware of GMOs and the havoc they
are causing, and demand their removal from food, the sooner GMOs will
exist only in history books as one of the most detrimental scientific
experiments ever perpetrated on mankind.

Sources:

Opposing Views, “Genetically Modified Foods Pose Huge Health Risk”

News With Views, “Obama’s team includes dangerous biotech ‘Yes Men’”

The Times of India - GM food? It’s poison

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