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GMO Health Risks

GMO Health Risks

What’ s wrong with GMOs?

If someone tried to sell you an apple they “grew” in a laboratory—like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster—would you take it home and serve it to your family? Probably not. Especially if you have a non-Franken-apple, grown on a normal tree to eat instead.

And even if you did consider buying it, wouldn’t you first want to know how the Franken-apple was made? Wouldn’t you want to learn about the potential health risks?

GMO foods are basically “Frankenfoods”- designed in a laboratory and manipulated at the genetic level to create traits not seen in nature.

The problem is that these man-made foods have detrimental effects on human health, either from the primary trait, or from the secondary consequences of such foods.

GMOs Increase Poison in our Food

Monsanto is one of the leading producers of GMO seeds—and also of the chemical glyphosate, which is the main ingredient in their potent herbicide, Roundup. Monsanto genetically alters seeds so that they become resistant to glyphosate, allowing farmers to literally bathe their crops in poison, killing other weeds but not the corn or soy plant.

But while Roundup does not kill Monsanto’s seeds, it is harmful to humans and the environment. Studies have found that glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor, is harmful to kidneys, livers and reproductive organs and can cause cancer. New research also suggests that Roundup negatively affects beneficial gut bacteria, which can lead to numerous diseases.

Monsanto would have us believe that Roundup stays on the plant and doesn’t make it into the food chain and so the health risks are negligible. However, glyphosate has been found in human urine and blood. It finds its way into fetal cells in pregnant women and the breast milk of new moms. We ingest it through contaminated water and also through pesticide residues on the plants themselves.

Insect-Killing Toxins in GMO Food

The other main mutation in GMO seeds is the injection of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a soil bacterium that produces an insect-killing toxin in each cell of the plant. When you consume a plant that is genetically altered with Bt toxins, that toxin enters your system.  It has consistently been found in fetuses and human blood.

  • Bt toxins trigger immune responses in all lab animals tested
  • Farm workers exposed to Bt toxins are far more likely to suffer from allergies than the rest of the population
  • There is a growing consensus that Bt Toxins have led to thousands of livestock animals dying or becoming sterile.

GMOs have Lower Nutritional Value

On top of the health concerns surrounding the chemicals in and on GMO plants, there is also strong evidence that GMOs have sub-par nutritional value when compared to their non-GMO counterparts.  MomsAcrossAmerica got a hold of a report from the De Dell Seed Company that outlines the nutritional differences in GMO vs non-GMO corn. Here’s an except from the report:

  • Calcium: GMO corn = 14 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 6,130 ppm – 437 times more
  • Magnesium: GMO corn = 2 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 113 ppm – 56 times more
  • Manganese: GMO corn = 2 ppm / Non-GMO corn = 14 ppm – 7 times more

No Testing, No Labeling of GMO Foods

So, in short, a diet based on GMO crops can lead to poor nutrition, allergies, cancer, liver damage, hormone disruption, infertility and kidney disease. Not to mention all the health risks related to the alteration of gut bacteria.

But even as evidence mounts regarding GMO health risks, the government, the FDA and the EPA all stand on the side of Monsanto and other bio-tech companies—time and again they have resisted requiring testing, labeling or restricted production of GMO crops.