List of Why GMOs Unsafe

Genetically modified foods are more widely grown and distributed than many people realize. In fact, people don’t realize it because warning labels are not required when selling these foods. Though genetic manipulation may sound logical to some, the consequences of transforming the food is yet to be determined. I have found an interesting list of reason genetically modified foods are worrisome:

1. Genetic engineering reduces genetic diversity. When genes are more diverse, they are more robust; this is why a pure bred dog tends to have greater health problems than the dear old mutt. Plants with reduced genetic diversity cannot handle drought, fungus invasions or insects nearly as well as natural plants, which could have dire consequences for farmers and communities dependent on GMO crops for survival.

2. Once the mutant genes are out of the bag, there is no going back. Genetically modified organisms contaminate existing seeds with their altered material, passing on modified traits to non-target species. This creates a new strain of plant that was never intended in the laboratory. In North Dakota, recent studies show that 80% of wild canola plants tested contained at least one transgene.

3. GMOs are not the answer for global food security. Genetically engineered crops have shown no increase in yield and no decrease in pesticide use.

4. Genetically engineered foods have not been proven to be safe, but the few studies conducted don’t look so hot. The organs of rats who ate genetically modified potatoes showed signs of chronic wasting, and female rates fed a diet of herbicide-resistant soybeans gave birth to stunted and sterile pups.

5. Big biotech firms have very sketchy track records, but then again what would you expect from organizations who want to patent the world’s food supply?

6. GMOs require massive amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. These things are poisons, and should not be eaten or allowed to run off into our water supply. But they are, every day, by companies who care far more about the bottom line than they do about your health, your environment or your children’s future.

7. No one monitors human health impacts of GM foods. If the foods were creating health problems in the US population, it might take years or decades before we identified the cause.

8. There can be nutritional difference between GM food and non-GM food. A 2012 nutritional analysis of GM versus non-GM corn showed shocking differences in nutritional content. Non-GM corn contains 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7 times more manganese than GM corn. GM corn was also found to contain 13 ppm of glyphosate, a pesticide so toxic that it may be carcinogenic in the parts-per-trillion range, compared to zero in non-GM corn.

Remember, gene therapy even in humans has never been proven to be completely safe. Remember the deaths and disease caused by gene therapy over the past 20 years? Scientists claimed it was safe. However, the people at placed at risk in these gene therapy studies are minor compared all those at risk from consuming GMO food products.