What is Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) Foods. GMO food is a food product that has had its DNA artificially altered in a laboratory by genes from other plants, animals, viruses, or bacteria, in order to produce foreign compounds in that food. This type of alteration is experimental and is not found in nature. One of the most popular GMO foods is corn. Genetically modified corn has been engineered in a laboratory to produce pesticides in its own tissue. In fact, that pesticide is derived from e coli bacteria; so if you eat that corn, you are in fact eating a derivative of e coli bacteria. The United States and Canada do NOT require labeling of genetically modified foods while 50 countries have significant restrictions or bans on GMOs. These countries include UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Mexico.
Researches have been going on GMO foods since several decades. Every time researchers are coming up with new health related issues. Last year, a research claim GMO corn risks leading to cancer symptoms and damages multiple organs in rats for exclusively eating GMO corn. As a result, scientists raised few serious questions about the safety of GMO foods and demand governments for GMO foods recall.
In the US about 85% of the corn grown is genetically engineered and 91-93% of all soy beans are genetically engineered. Therefore nearly all the foods you buy containing either corn or soy will contain GMO unless it’s organic. Other common foods include cottonseed, canola, milk containing rbGH, rennet (used to make hard cheeses) and aspartame (NutraSweet). You also need to avoid their derivatives, which include maltodextrin, soy lecitin and high fructose corn syrup.
Most Common GMO Foods
1) Sugar Beets
A very controversial vegetable, sugar beets were approved in 2005, banned in 2010, then officially deregulated in 2012. Genetically modified sugar beets make up half of the U.S. sugar production, and 95 percent of the country’s sugar beet market.
2) Milk
To increase the quantity of milk produced, cows are often given rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), which is also banned in the European Union, as well as in Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
3) Corn
Almost 85 perecent of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified. Even Whole Foods’s brand of corn flakes was found to contain genetically modified corn. Many producers modify corn and soy so they are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, which is used to kill weeds.
4) Soy
Soy is the most heavily genetically modified food in the country. The largest U.S. producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, created a genetically engineered soybean, which was approved in 2010. It is modified to have a high level of oleic acid, which is naturally found in olive oil. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid that may lower LDL cholesterol (traditionally thought of as “bad” cholesterol) when used to replace other fats.
5) Yellow Crookneck Squash and Zucchini
Numbers of this GMO veggie are relatively small, but genetically modified yellow squash and zucchini can be found in two different species in the U.S. The species contain protein genes that protect against viruses. Just like their other GMO counterparts, you won’t be able to tell the difference between non-GMO and GMO zucchini or squash.
6) Alfalfa
Cultivation of genetically engineered alfalfa was approved in 2011, and consists of a gene that makes it resistant to the herbicide Roundup, allowing farmers to spray the chemical without damaging the alfalfa.
5) Canola
Canola is genetically engineered form was approved in 1996, and as of 2006, around 90 percent of U.S. canola crops are genetically modified.
Top Health Risks Of GMO Foods
- Allergies
Perhaps the number one health concern over GM technology is its capacity to create new allergens in our food supply. Allergic reactions typically are brought on by proteins. Nearly every transfer of genetic material from one host into a new one results in the creation of novel proteins. Genetic engineering can increase the levels of a naturally occurring allergen already present in a food or insert allergenic properties into a food that did not previously contain them. It can also result in brand new allergens we’ve never before known.
- Antibiotic Resistance
Genetic engineers rely heavily on antibiotics to guide experiments. It works like this: Not all host cells will take up foreign genes, so engineers attach a trait for a particular type of antibiotic resistance to the gene they introduce into host cells. After they’ve introduced the gene into the cells, they douse all the cells with the antibiotic to see which ones survive. The surviving cells are antibiotic-resistant, and therefore engineers know they have taken up the foreign gene.
Overuse of antibiotics can potentially cause the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Several health organizations, including the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association, have spoken out about the need for the use of these antibiotics to be phased out of the process of making GM foods.
- Pesticide Exposure
The majority of GM crops in cultivation are engineered to contain a gene for pesticide resistance. Most are “Roundup Ready,” meaning they can be sprayed with Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide Roundup without being harmed. The idea is that if the crop itself is immune to Roundup, you can spray it to kill any weeds endangering the plant without worrying about harming your crop. Sound like a good thing? Only if increased human exposure to pesticides is a good thing. Glyphosate has been linked to numerous health problems in animal studies, among them birth defects, reproductive damage, cancer and endocrine disruption.