GMO’s – 23 Reasons To Avoid Them

Let’s Face It, There will always be someone who looks at you like a deer in headlights when you try to explain why GMO’s are not safe.  Maybe this will help.

1. GMOs are grown with toxic chemicals and resulting pesticide residues are known to be harmful to human health.

2. Research has shown that laboratory mammals fed GMOs suffer adverse effects that include damage to kidneys, liver, adrenal glands, spleen, and heart. Additionally, their immune systems were compromised and in some cases brain size was reduced.

Environmental harms.

3. GMO crops require huge amounts of chemicals that are harmful to soil, water, the atmosphere, and creatures. Although they are promoted as a technology to reduce pesticide usage, GM crops in the U.S. used greater than 26 percent more pesticides per acre in 2008 than non-GMO crops, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.

4. GMOs are actually increasing the need for stronger and more poisonous pesticides. For example, one agrochemical company is awaiting USDA approval of corn and soybeans resistant to 2, 4-D, a chemical related to Agent Orange.

5. GMOs are causing a growing epidemic of “superweeds.” These massive weeds have evolved a resistance to glyphosate, a chemical used on GM crops. Stronger toxic chemicals and soil-eroding tillage operations are required in order to eliminate superweeds.

6. GMOs contribute to global warming: GM crops require synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which are responsible for approximately 60 percent of total emissions of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO2). GM crops use high amounts of fossil fuels through the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

7. GMO practices contaminate our organic and local food systems. A report titled, Gone to Seed, found that 50 percent or more of non-GMO corn, canola, and soybean seed have been contaminated with GM genes.

8. Beneficial insects can be harmed. A Cornell University study showed that monarch butterflies suffered higher mortality rates when consuming milkweed leaves dusted with the Bt toxin associated with GM crops. And recently, pesticides called neonicotinoids have been blamed for the collapsing bee populations.

Harms to social and human rights.

9. GMOs are promoted as way to feed the world and mitigate hunger; however, numerous studies demonstrate that the GM crops do not produce higher yields as claimed. As one example, a USDA publication reports that “GM crops do not increase the yield potential.”

10. GMOs lead to corporate control over seed and food: Today only one company controls about 95 percent of GM seeds. This limits access to seeds, which are the center of food and life.

11. These large agri-corporations do not let farmers save seeds, a basic practice that has continued for centuries to ensure food security.

12. GMO agriculture is an extension of current industrial-farming practices that have resulted in the loss of family farms and farmer livelihoods around the globe.

Read Full Article by guest blogger Alberto Gonzalez, founder and CEO of GustOrganics

Updated September 16, 2013

Scientific Reasons to Avoid GMOs at All Costs

1)  A study reported in the June 2013 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Organic Systems involved research conducted over 22.7 weeks using 168 newly weaned pigs in a commercial U.S. piggery. One group of 84 pigs ate a diet that incorporated genetically modified (GM) soy and corn, and the other group of 84 pigs ate an equivalent non-GM diet.  The pigs that ate the GM diet had a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation – 32 percent of GM-fed pigs compared to 12 percent of non-GM-fed pigs (see photo above). The inflammation was worse in GM-fed males compared to non-GM fed males by a factor of 4.0, and GM-fed females compared to non-GM-fed females by a factor of 2.2. (Source)

2)  In 2012, researchers found that female rats fed Roundup Ready-tolerant GM corn developed large tumors and dysfunction of the pituitary gland; males also developed tumors and exhibited pathologies of the liver and kidney (Séralini, GE and others. Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maiz. Food and Chemical Toxicology 2012).

3)  Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences reported between 2005 and 2006 that female rats fed Roundup Ready-tolerant GM soy produced excessive numbers of severely stunted pups with more than half of the litter dying within three weeks, and the surviving pups completely sterile.  (Source)

4)  In 2005, scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia reported that a harmless protein in beans (alpha-amylase inhibitor 1) transferred to peas via genetic engineering caused inflammation in the lungs of mice and provoked sensitivities to other proteins in the diet (Ho MW. Transgenic pea that made mice ill. Science in Society 29, 28-29, 2006).

5)  From 2002 to 2005, scientists at the Universities of Urbino, Perugia and Pavia in Italy published reports indicating that GM soy affected cells in the pancreas, liver and testes of young mice (Science in Society 29, 26-27, 2006).

6)  In 2004, Monsanto’s secret research dossier showed that rats fed MON863 GM corn developed serious kidney and blood abnormalities (GMWatch, 23 April 2004.)

7)  In 1998, Dr. Arpad Pusztai and colleagues formerly of the Rowett Institute in Scotland reported damage in every organ system of young rats fed GM potatoes containing snowdrop lectin, including a stomach lining twice as thick as controls (Contaminants and Toxins, (J P F D’Mello ed.), Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, CAB International, 2003).

8)  Also in 1998, scientists in Egypt found similar effects in the guts of mice fed Bt potato (Fares NH and El-Sayed AK. Fine structural changes in the ileum of mice fed on dendotoxin-treated potatotes and transgenic potatoes. Natural Toxins, 1998, 6, 219-33; also “Bt is toxic” by Joe Cummins and Mae-Wan Ho, ISIS News 7/8, February 2001, ISSN: 1474-1547 (print), ISSN: 1474-1814 (online) http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Agricultural Biotechnology 2006, www.ISAAA.org).

9)  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had data dating back to early 1990s showing that rats fed GM tomatoes with antisense gene to delay ripening had developed small holes in their stomachs (Pusztai A, Bardocz S and Ewen SWB. Genetically modified foods: Potential human health effects. In Food Safety: Contaminants and Toxins, (J P F D’Mello ed.), Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, CAB International, 2003).

10)  In 2002, Aventis company (later Bayer Cropscience) submitted data to UK regulators showing that chickens fed glufosinate-tolerant GM corn Chardon LL were twice as likely to die compared with controls (Food Safety: Contaminants and Toxins (CABI Publishing 2003 also Novotny E. Animals avoid GM food, for good reasons. Science in Society 21, 9-11, 2004).

11)  Testing by Monsanto itself has found that rats eating GM maize (MON863) develop smaller kidneys and show startling changes in blood chemistry.  One blood change included an increase in white blood cell count which demonstrates that the GM food elicited an immune reaction by the body.

Sources: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/from-sterility-to-stomach-holes-11-scientific-reasons-why-you-must-avoid-gmos-now/

The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Non-GMO Verified Project

LINKS HERE

Monsanto law undermines democracy, public health

It takes away the power of U.S. courts to block the planting and sale of genetically modified seeds if evidence indicates they are harmful.


The otherwise-named Farmer Assurance Provision, which is now law, takes away the power of U.S. courts to block the planting and sale of genetically modified seeds if evidence indicates they are harmful.

It was slipped in anonymously at the last minute as part of the budget bill President Barack Obama signed to avoid a federal government shutdown.


How could such a provision, which undermines both the public health and the democratic process to serve the bottom-line interests of a major corporation, get through without broad public attention and lobbying? Why were no hearings held on it and no reviews conducted by either the agriculture or judiciary committees?

.And how could members of Congress claim not to know when, as Stewart drily noted, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., lashed out at the provision in a Senate speech and sponsored an amendment to nullify it? An organic farmer, Tester said he had tried to find out which lawmakers put it in there, but no one would own up to it.

Of course they wouldn’t. Mother Jones magazine reports that Monsanto spent $5.9 million in lobbying last year. No politician wants to appear to have been bought.


Even in the era of the Citizens United ruling, when undue powers have been accorded corporations, we have three branches of government to protect and balance public interests. Congress and the executive branch should not be able to take power away from the judiciary at the behest of a corporation, or any other entity.

And lawmakers should not be doing a corporation’s bidding at the expense of the public health and economic well-being.

That sinister provision needs to be overridden, one way or another.

More Here

50 Shades of Green: GMO 101

OMG, GMOs WTF? Genetically modified organisms are being talked about more and more these days, the subject gaining popularity by the many controversies surrounding the topic.  A genetically modified organism is exactly what the title infers- an organism that has been genetically modified.  If you can think of it, scientists have probably tried to genetically alter it for one reason or another, from blue roses to pigs with enhanced digestive enzymes, for commercial purposes or cutting edge medical breakthroughs, it’s been done. Some biotechnology companies advocate that genetically altered crops are a more sustainable practice than conventional farming and are more beneficial for our environment.  The living organisms are able to withstand conditions that other organisms can’t, food grows faster, bigger and doesn’t need the same TLC.

A major source of conflict relating to GMOs is the recent introduction into our food supply. One can’t mention GMO crops without mentioning Monsanto; Monsanto is a multinational biotechnology company owning 90% of GMO crops in the world.  Monsanto first introduced the approved Roundup Ready Soybean into our food supply in 1996. Through patented technology, Monsanto created a roundup resistant gene and inserted it into the soybean’s cell penetrating the DNA and creating a protein resistant to Roundup, a pesticide also manufactured by Monsanto.  Farmers are now free to spray entire crops with Roundup herbicide without fear of killing the food along with the weeds and pests. At present, Monsanto has introduced several other GMO crops including:  cotton, corn, potatoes, wheat etc… GMOs are in almost every manufactured food source these days, if it contains partially hydrogenated soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup it’s a good indicator it came from these altered crops.

Monsanto is a concrete giant and has monopolized the farming industry, coupled with it multimillion dollar lobbyists and close political connections it’s hard to weed out the truth concerning GMOs.  For every naysayer there are ardent supporters advocating the science and advancements behind GMOs.  One could argue for days on either side and the verdict would seem none the clearer, which is exactly what has taken place thus far.  I won’t try to argue facts, it won’t go anywhere I say potato and they say “potahto.” Besides there are no conclusive studies showing the long lasting health implications of consuming GMO food, quite simply it hasn’t been around long enough to examine the data thoroughly anyway. But whatever studies have been done showing the detrimental health effects of GMOs, Monsanto has quickly and quietly tried to discredit and sweep the studies by the way side. This doesn’t surprise me much, Monsanto has a vested interest, so one couldn’t really trust what they about its own products if we were examining it objectively- it’s just too bad the FDA doesn’t agree.  GMOs have been linked with ailment after ailment- from cancer or to be more specific, precipitating a cancer enhancing environment for the disease to one day flourish (since no long term studies have concluded this yet, I must remain politically correct here) to asthma, food allergies, digestive disorders and more…

Monsanto has also been involved in a host of lawsuits, as in Monsanto hosts the lawsuit and sues smaller businesses and farmers for patent infringement, the smaller ants cannot afford to fight the legal battle whether they are right or not and end up folding to the bully.  I don’t think I need to explain why allowing our food chain to be monopolized could be bad for us and why putting small farmers out of business is bad for our economy.  Countries in South America who originally wouldn’t allow GMO crops have now been cross pollinated and have had no choice but to allow the GMO seed into their borders- putting local farmers out of business, driving jobs away and families from self sustainable communities into city slums and poverty. That’s one way to feed the world, grow the food for those that could have grown food on their own so it can be subsidized to feed the starving- just doesn’t sound very sustainable to me.

MORE