Source Irrational Fear of GM Food
Dr. Van Montagu is founder and chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium. 2013 World Food Prize Laureate said. Billions of people have eaten genetically modified food over the past two decades. Not one problem has been found and proven in repeatable scientific research or testing.
Farmers now produce more crops in an environmentally sustainable way at a lower cost thanks to the efforts of hundreds of scientists over the past half century. Seeds are developed in a laboratory and then field tested to enhance nutritional value or resistance to drought, disease and herbicides. Genetically modified crops are now planted on nearly a quarter of the world’s farm land by some 17.3 million farmers. More than 90% of those farmers are smallholders who harvest a few acres in developing countries.
Insect resistant GM crops have cut insecticide spraying by more than 25%. Herbicide tolerant GM crops have stimulated no tillage farming, reducing soil erosion.
Opponents of GM crops have been extremely effective at spreading misinformation. GM crops don’t, as one discredited study claimed recently, cause cancer or other diseases.
GM cotton isn’t responsible for suicides among Indian farmers. A 2008 study by an alliance of 64 governments and nongovernmental organizations debunked that myth completely. And there is no provable scientific research that GM crops harm bees or monarch butterflies.
People have consumed billions of meals containing GM foods in the 17 years since they were first commercialized, and not one problem has been documented. This comes as no surprise. Every respected scientific organization that has studied GM crops, the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences and the World Health Organization, among others has found GM crops both safe for humans and positive for the environment.
Mankind has been breeding crops genetically altering them since the dawn of agriculture. Today’s techniques for modifying plants are simply new, high precision methods for doing the same thing.
* Thought of the day: If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some importance and influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
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Town & Country Gardening 
GMO’s are here but they do not have to stay. They’re only here because a majority of the population chooses to ignore the issue regarding how food should be grown. It’s only our health people–let’s wake up and become more aware of what companies and lobbyist have created and why they are desperately trying to hide their tracks with millions of dollars to fight AGAINST the labeling of their precious GMO’s. Let’s all vote with our dollars at our local farmer’s markets where we can ask the farmer about their farming techniques. Happy Gardening!
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Re thefolia Thanks for your comment(s)>
I don’t think GMO crops is or can be a good thing in the long run for human consumption.
However, I don’t think even if we get good labeling that will indicate a product contains GMO crops we can avoid them.
Grains like corn and soy are mostly GMO crops. Corn and Soy and their by products like oil and sweeteners are in almost ever supermarket item you buy. Cereals, sweeteners, syrup, flour, corn meal,,soy milk and the list gets larger every year. GMO products are found in cooking oils, soft drinks, fruit drinks, anything that contains soy or corn or their by products.
Happy safe gardening.
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That’s why I shop at the farmer’s market and don’t buy anything factory made. I have been avoiding sugar, corn, soy and gluten–trust me I know it’s in everything–I have been healthier ever since I read labels and stopped consuming them. We can make a difference, if we don’t purchase GMO’s there will not be a demand.
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Sorry to post yet again, but I also took exception to the Source of the article, “Irrational fear” of GE foods. I don’t think the fear is irrational either. With the types of genes they’re splicing (would never occur in nature), making the plants themselves insect repellent (which is cheaper than feeding them with the right foods that naturally repel bugs), dumping tons of herbicides on them (which is why they developed the plant itself to be a bug repellent), polluted water dumped on them, acid rain pours on them, I don’t think it’s fear to be concerned about these foods. I think it’s common sense.
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Re My Watering Can – Please feel free to post as often as you need/want to express yourself.
That’s what blogging is all about.
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This is very controversial, but I personally don’t care about studies. I prefer to buy open-pollinated, heirloom seeds that I can save and not be dependent on big Ag to feed this country. Something in me has always believed that if it’s processed, mass produced, sprayed with tens of thousands of tons of fertilizers and other chemicals, it simply cannot be the healthiest version of food. Whether colony collapse disorder with bees is caused by the increase of toxins in our environment (which is irrefutable, the toxins, that is) or not, it is something to take very seriously. There are ways to grow sustainably, but mono crops like big Ag grows, are devastating the environment. There is an excellent program on PBS that shows just how our food is produced, and even the big farmers are realizing they have to change their methods. The series is called AMERICA REVEALED, and in one episode, he focuses on food production. It is called Food Machine. It’s not trying to villainize big Ag. It’s just a fascinating look at what they are up against when it comes to feeding America. http://video.pbs.org/video/2214315175/
My vote is my food dollar. I do my best not to support processed food manufacturers, who heavily rely on GMO foods. I don’t drink soda (corn syrup) or other such things usually.
In the last 20 years, we have seen a huge increase in disease and obesity in America. If you look at those statistics, you see something is up. Maybe it’s fast food, maybe it’s GMO food, maybe it’s processed food. But whatever the reason, people have to get back to eating wholesome foods. I’d rather err on the side of caution than throw caution to the wind.
Which reminds me, today was sure windy here in Illinois. No tornado was near us, but it wasn’t far off. The way the rain and hail was hitting our windows & house for nearly an hour was pretty scary!
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Re My Watering Can – Thanks for taking time to visit my tiny blog.
Big Grin, Almost all of SW Oklahoma and NW Texas is under mandatory water conservation measures. Lake levels have fallen below 30 percent of normal lake levels. That means that all outside watering is ban and using more than your household allotment of water is ‘Very’ costly.
It will take one of those once in 500 year rains to refill the lakes that provide our drinking and cooking water.
Happy Holidays
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Thanks! I think my main point of saying all that I did was (and I forgot to say it outright). If our vote is with our food dollar, if we don’t buy foods with GMOs in them, we have the power to make it go away. I don’t know that I agree it’s here to stay. The more we inform people about eating healthy foods, hopefully the more they’ll avoid that kind of manmade crop.
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Did you watch “SEEDS OF DEATH”? It is on my blog or you can find it on YouTube. Any laboratory tests that have been done that have PROVEN GMO’s to be harmful have been silences, stolen, or lost. The men that performed these tests have been threatened, fired, and/or forced into retirement. Farmers have been sued and harassed for speaking out against GMO crops. Many countries have banned GMO crops and if they find it, the government destroys it. There are also countries that do not have any products with GMO’s on the store shelves. The U.S. is certainly not a flagship this go around. We are being bullied by the big boys and farmers are led to believe how much better GMO seeds are.
Bio-Tech companies and the food companies are spending MILLIONS fighting labeling issues because they have MILLIONS more to loose. The video “SEEDS OF DEATH” has a lot of information. GMO crops are even linked to the reduction of bees and many growing health issues in humans and animals.
Even if it a loosing battle, I stand with the people of the earth and not the big chemical and food giants. One way they seek to “control” the population is through food… Guess which country is the only one allowing GMO food crops? Africa. Why? Is is because they are a poor and starving country or for other reasons.
I could go on, but now I am getting worked up and need to stop. But I do thank you for this post… I can’t wait to see all the comments you get!
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Re The Belmont Rooster – Just for the record I do not approve or support plant gene splicing or the continued use of Glyphosate based herbicides.
But that does not change the fact GM food and Glyphosate based herbicides.are here and is here to stay.
The real question is what can ‘we’ the consumer do to stop or delay the introduction of GM foods to our supermarket shelf’s?
Happy Holidays
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Good question… I think first we need to vote to approve GMO labeling which will let the food companies know that we, the consumer, care about what we eat. It isn’t going to keep them from getting on the shelf, but IF their food sales decrease, maybe they will look for alternate sources for their ingredients. This will not be an overnight change, I know. Companies have THOUSANDS of labels already printed which will cost a lot of money to replace. SO, I really understand how much they have to loose. They could use the labels they already have and change the new ones. Eventually, their products would be correctly labeled. But just look at the MILLIONS they are spending fighting the labeling laws. Wasn’t that around $28 MILLION in Washington alone? Organic food sales is WAY up compared to 10 years ago. I saw that chart somewhere. I do eat certain junk food like potato chips, etc. We do grow and preserve all our own vegetables. But we, like everyone else, do use an amount of food items from the store. We use sugar, flour, coffee, cornmeal, etc. All these can be bought from an organic source. Not everyone has an organic source, though.
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Re The Belmont Rooster – As you say, buying organic is sometimes harder than it sounds. Lawton(4th largest town in Oklahoma) does not have an organic food store. The closest organic food store(Wholefood store) is 120 miles oneway from my tiny house. Fuel and road tolls will cost me over $50.00 to shop for organic foods.
Something as simple as making flour or cornmeal is slow, labor intensive and requires investing in expensive grain milling equipment.
Add to that you must have enough land and equipment to plant and harvest and store a years worth of wheat, corn and other cereal grains like oats, rye, barley, maize, soybeans, rice and so on to feed your family and your poultry, pigs, cows and such.
As a child there were many mom and pop operated grain mills that would process your home grown grains into flour and meal. Those small millers disappeared as America moved off farms into cities taking better paying manufacturing jobs. Finding it easier to buy foods from supermarkets.
There is no easy answers.
Grin … Just out of curiosity. Survey your Thanksgiving feast for foods known to you to be 100 percent organic. I think I will do the same. I’m pretty sure I will be shocked how little I can say without question is totally free of possible GM food crops.
Happy Turkey Day
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Even if you can drive to buy whole foods, there are a number of online sources for just about any product you want. I think that is another page for the blog. ONLINE SOURCES OF ORGANIC FOOD… I was thinking about opening a store myself, but plans chance. I do still have all the product catalogs, though.
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While GM crops have increased yields and decreased pest infestations, seeds are also genetically engineered to be sterile so you are forced to buy new seeds only from the same company. When students head out to make money planting trees, the seedlings’ dirt is treated with a herbicide which kills any other plant/tree growing nearby. I’m all for science improving food security but I’m not a fan of food production becoming a monopoly. Wasn’t the French Revolution in part because the masses were starving because the food was controlled by the rich few?
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I have to agree with Lynda on basically every point.
Genetic modification is not the same as cross-pollination.
I try to grow a large percentage of my own food from open pollinated/heirloom seeds.
While I believe the jury is still out on any harm caused by GM crops as yet, I think the long-term ramifications of ‘playing God’ are yet to be felt and by the time we do it will be too late to turn back.
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Do you really believe this drivel or are you stirring the pot to see what surfaces?
~ We all know for a fact that what is being spliced into our food’s genes is not going to be found in nature. When do plant and animal genes splice themselves together for our consumption?
~ We also know that the use of roundup ready crops is producing roundup resistant weeds! This is making growing crops harder for the farmer.
~ We should know that the genetic modification of foodstuffs for the market place is eventually going to make it hard for someone with severe allergies to eat without fear of being poisoned by foods that were previously OK for them to eat. (A scientific crossover with brazil nuts and soy beans comes to mind.)
My biggest fear? That we are daily losing our seed banks all over the world in favor of parking lots, progress and lack of funding to continue curating. What happens when the genetically modified foods get sick and we have lost the original genetic building blocks to start over again? (And BTW, who died and made us God?)
Regardless of the studies that ‘prove’ that GM foods are safe for us to consume, blight happens. So what are we to do when the food is gone?
You asked. 🙂
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Re Lynda Just for the record I do not approve or support plant gene splicing.
But that does not change the fact GM food is here and is here to stay.
If you consume any product containing, corn, soybeans or rice, you are most likely eating GMO foods. The ‘real’ truth is man has been genetically altering food crops either by design or by accident for millions of years. Even so called heirlooms are and have been genetically altered by man to achieved a desire plant species from less desirable varieties.
There is not a single plant on planet earth that has not been Genetically altered by man or by natures natural selection of reproducing only the strongest,, disease tolerant,, insect, and weather resistant plants.
FDA, USDA labeling of GM food plans to date have been a total failure.
Not trying to be a smart ass, but just how do you plan to avoid GM foods?
Happy gardening
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I do not see cross pollination as the same thing as gene splicing in a lab. I don’t believe for an instant that soy and brazil nuts would cross pollinate themselves in nature, or that we could ‘do this at home’.
Nor do I believe that the glow of a lightning bug would get into a tobacco plant by it’s own natural crossing as was done in 1986, and thus produced tobacco that glows in the dark ( https://static.nbclearn.com/files/nbcarchives/site/pdf/41482.pdf ). I also know now that the GMO pollen poison is out there it can’t be taken back. I’m not ignorant on that score.
I just hate the blatant corporate propaganda that all of this is perfectly OK, and that there will be no real consequences for us in the future.
As for avoidance of GMOs I do my best to grow what I can from seed that hasn’t been adulterated in a lab. It makes me feel better and gives me a certain satisfaction, an intrinsic motivation to keep trying, and to know that I am working at eating the cleanest food that I can grow.
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Re Lynda – I agree, I think gene splicing, between unrelated plants and or creatures can not be a good thing
Selecting and saving seed that fits your wants, desires or beliefs is, I think is our only option.
Happy Holidays
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Thank you Pobept for your thought provoking post. It will be interesting to see what others have to say on this subject.
Happy Holidays to you as well!
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‘Dr. Van Montagu is founder and chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium. 2013 World Food Prize Laureate said”. Did he now, and where does his funding come from?
http://digitaljournal.com/article/324565
“The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated
with or without Roundup, and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb in water), were studied 2 years in rats. In
females, all treated groups died 2–3 times more than controls, and more rapidly. This difference was vis-
ible in 3 male groups fed GMOs. All results were hormone and sex dependent, and the pathological pro-
files were comparable. Females developed large mammary tumors almost always more often than and
before controls, the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was mod-
ified by GMO and Roundup treatments. In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5–5.5
times higher. This pathology was confirmed by optic and transmission electron microscopy. Marked
and severe kidney nephropathies were also generally 1.3–2.3 greater. Males presented 4 times more large
palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier. Biochemistry data confirmed very
significant kidney chronic deficiencies; for all treatments and both sexes, 76% of the altered parameters
were kidney related. These results can be explained by the non linear endocrine-disrupting effects of
Roundup, but also by the overexpression of the transgene in the GMO and its metabolic consequences” Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant
genetically modified maize
Gilles-Eric Séralini
a
,
⇑
, Emilie Clair
a
, Robin Mesnage
a
, Steeve Gress
a
, Nicolas Defarge
a
,
Manuela Malatesta
b
, Didier Hennequin
c
, Joël Spiroux de Vendômois
Until comprehensive longitudinal studies are done on humans, instead of treating us like guinea pigs I dont believe a damn word of it!
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Re marieandtheappletree
Please read the source document then you will know exactly what little I know about ‘Dr. Van Montagu.
Source Irrational Fear of GM Food
Happy holidays
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Yes I did read it: much of the debate for feeding the 3rd world is incorrect we produce enough food and can for the future its economic and social reasons that lead to hunger …as to golden rice ….people have micronutrient and protein energy malnutrition due to poverty, war. Disadvantage and social inequality …none of which gm address. I appreciate the ideas and the basic business model but can’t support pesticides herbicides farmer debt and sterile seeds I feel this if the opposite direction to which we should ne travelling ….yes happy holidays!
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Hi pobept, yes I did read it thanks, on the surface the business model and rationale appears sound, but much of the poverty is related to lack of access to food because of colonialism, exploitation, poverty, gender access, cash cropping, and many other reasons. the so called golden rice is not addressing the core issues; micro nutrient deficiency due to lack of access to fresh produce. Asia in particular is suffering from protein energy malnutrition, crops are not going to fix this. filling up the earth, land and sea with chemicals is not going to fix this. Revolutionaries like bill mollison and fukuoka have designs to fix all these problems, but again it relates to big business, globalisation and politics. We are all worried about 9 billion people in 2050, but I really don’t feel that GM will attend to these problems. Ensuring and protecting our precious drinking water is a far more critical concern. Yes peace out, happy holidays to you and loads of garden produce too!
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