Health and Environmental Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods

The hazards of genetically engineered foods have had people fighting to get their foods labelled. You might have heard recently that President Obama signed the spending bill HR 933 into law, which was mostly concerned with the threat of government shutdown. Buried in the fine print of this law (in Section 735) was the Farmer Assurance Provision (in other words, “the Monsanto Protection Act”) which prevents federal courts from being able to stall sales or planting of genetically modified foods (GMOs) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds.

This bill states that even if future research finds GMO or GE seeds to cause significant health problems like cancer and other disease and illnesses, that the federal courts can do nothing about it, and will not have the power to stop their spread, use or sales.

Genetically engineered foods are toxic to humans. Most of the plants that humans consume produce toxins at low enough levels that they do not produce any adverse health effects – however, with Monsanto and inserting exotic genes into plants could lead it to produce toxins at higher levels that are dangerous to humans. This has been observed in potatoes conventionally bred for increased disease resistance and produce incredibly toxic, high levels of glycoalkaloids. GMOs also have a much lower nutritional value than their traditional counterparts, by making the nutrients unavailable or indigestible to humans. Studies have shown that strains of genetically modified soybeans produced lower levels of phytoestrogen compounds, which are believed to protect against heart disease and cancer.

GMOs not only cause health problems, but they also reinforce genetic homogeneity and promote large scale monocultures which contributes to the decline in biodiversity and increases vulnerability of crops to climate change, pests and diseases. The impact of GMOs on biodiversity is also seen in the development of superweeds and superbugs since the widespread use of single herbicides and pesticides lead to resistance in the pest community. The unregulated use of glyphosate-resistant crop systems has triggered an epidemic of glyphosate-resistant weeds which have infested over 10 million acres.

Here is a simple, printable list (original from The Ascending Star Seed Blog) of companies that use Monsanto products. By making the informed choice of not purchasing from these companies you are ensuring the health of yourself and your family, as well as making it clear that you do not want GMO products in your food.

Click on the image below to print: