Genetically Modified Foods; how harmful?

As most of us live on campus, we pretty much eat whatever they’re serving in the closest dining commons. We don’t think about health or have any concern over what we’re putting into our bodies. It happens all over America; we eat before we think. 

 According to Responsible Technology, “Starting in 1996, Americans have been eating genetically modified (GM) ingredients in most processed foods. GM plants, such as soybean, corn, cottonseed, and canola, have had foreign genes forced into their DNA. The inserted genes come from species, such as bacteria and viruses, which have never been in the human food supply. Genetic engineering transfers genes across natural species barriers. It uses imprecise laboratory techniques that bear no resemblance to natural breeding, and is based on outdated concepts of how genes and cells work. Gene insertion is done either by shooting genes from a “gene gun” into a plate of cells or by using bacteria to invade the cell with foreign DNA. The altered cell is then cloned into a plant.”

Hearing that process definitely doesn’t make me want to consume processed goods for my next meal, but then again here I am eating the same kinds of foods that I always eat. 

What many people are unaware of is that the genetic engineering process creates massive collateral damage, causing mutations in hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the plant’s DNA which reacts with the natural genes and causing behavioral changes. Even the inserted gene can be damaged or rearranged, and may create proteins that can trigger allergies or promote disease. 

So what will it take to prove to people that eating organic foods is much better than eating GM foods? 

reference:

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/health-risks

One thought on “Genetically Modified Foods; how harmful?

  1. Michael S Martinez

    One of the biggest problems of GM foods isn’t the health aspect but actually the legal aspect. Organic farms and farms that grow Monsanto genetically modified plants tend to sometimes neighbor each other. What would happen is seed from the GM plant would blow over into organic farms, grow and then reproduce and populate the organic farm. Monsanto would then charge lawsuits against the organic farmers for illegally growing their crops, when they actually had no idea. Another problem lies within that, where you might be thinking you’re consuming organic foods, when really it’s genetically modified and know one knows.

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