Page 70 - Spring2008

GMO Report

HOW TO AVOID GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS
by Jeffrey Smith

There are plenty of reasons to avoid eating Could such unsafe food get past our Food and
genetically modified (GM) foods. In fact, after Drug Administration? It probably wouldn’t have,

reading just 10 pages or listening to an hour-long if the decision were in the hands of the scientists.
lecture about their health dangers, most people Memos made public from a lawsuit reveal that
are ready to change their diet on the spot. the consensus among FDA scientists in the early
If genetically modified organisms (GMOs) 1990s was that GMOs were inherently unsafe and

are not yet on your radar screen, go to www. could lead to toxins, allergens, new diseases and
GeneticRoulette.com for a full presentation. Here nutritional problems. They urged their superiors
is a teaser of what you’ll fi nd: to require long-term safety studies before any
GM foods were allowed on the market. But the
• The only human feeding study on GMOs ever political appointee in charge of FDA policy was
conducted showed that genes “jumped” from the former attorney of the biotech giant Monsanto
GM soy into the DNA of human intestinal and later the company’s vice president. The
bacteria and continued to function. That scientists’ warnings were ignored and today the
means that long after you stop eating GM FDA does not require a single safety study on
soy, you may still have GM proteins pro- GM foods.
duced continuously inside of you. (What if The FDA is also the agency that decides
the pesticide-producing “Bt” gene found in whether or not GM foods need to be labeled. But
GM corn chips were also to jump? It might the White House told the FDA to promote the
transform our intestinal flora into living biotech industry, so they nixed labels. Thus, our
pesticide factories—possibly for the long government ignores the desire of nine out of ten
term.) Americans who want the labels, to support the
• Most offspring of mother rats fed GM soy financial interests of five biotech seed companies.

died within three weeks (compared to a 10 We’re on our own.
percent death rate in the non-GM soy group).
The only Similarly, when a lab switched to rat feed HOW TO MAKE SAFER
human feeding with GM soy, most of the offspring at the NON-GM CHOICES
study on GMOs facility died within two weeks. There are four major GM crops: soy, corn,
ever conducted • Studies with mice also show reproductive cotton, and canola. The majority of acreage for
showed that problems. Mice fed GM soy had altered each of these crops is genetically engineered.
genes “jumped” sperm cells and the DNA of their embryos Herbicide-tolerant varieties of each have their
acted differently.
DNA inserted with bacterial genes that allow
from GM soy • Hundreds of farm workers complain of al- the crops to survive otherwise deadly doses of
into the DNA of lergic reactions when touching GM cotton. herbicides. This gives farmers more fl exibility
human • After sheep grazed on GM cotton plants after in controlling weeds and gives the GM seed

intestinal harvest, about one in four died; about 10,000 company lots more profit. When farmers buy
bacteria and deaths in one region in India. GM seeds, they sign a contract to buy only that
continued to • Farmers on three continents say their live- seed producer’s brand of herbicide. Herbicide
stock became sterile, sick or died, after eating
tolerant crops comprise about 80 percent of all
function. GM corn varieties. GM plants.
70 Wise Traditions SPRING 2008