The saying “you are what you eat” is becoming very apparent in our nation. The United States is filled with high calorie yet nutrient deficient foods—some even synthetically produced, and it is showing in our nations health. If I am what I eat, I want to be pure, healthy, and beautiful just like the organic foods that are hopefully to make a comeback in our food supply sooner rather than later.
Every time I eat outside of the grocery store’s organic section I imagine feasting on my favorite childhood toy—the kitchen set filled with an abundance of plastic foods. America’s food supply has been infused with artificial flavorings, additives, and genetically modified foods to a point of no return. I now, sadly, classify non-organic food as artificial, unnatural, and completely unappetizing. How food is prepared and the ingredients that are put into America’s food supply are repulsive and detrimental to the population’s health. I used to thrive off of Oreos, gummy worms, and Quaker Chewy Bars— nutrition and health was obviously something I chose to ignore. After complicated battles with my health, I began to learn about the regulation and preparation of America’s food supply and so began my passion for nutrition.
Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s) were added into the food supply in the year of 1996. Though I see some positives coming from them such as the possibility of producing crops that can survive in areas of mass drought, insect populations, etc., I have found the mystery of GMO’s to be something I am worried and extremely passionate about when referencing the future of nutrition in America. The United States is one of few nations that still allow GMO’s to be unlabeled and consumed. The biggest issue with genetic modification lies beneath the mysterious health effects that may arise years to come—we are currently the participants of a study that no one has an idea what the outcome may be.
Monsanto is the largest corporation within the genetically modified industry. Monsanto owns a large sum of the patents on many genetically modified seeds. The worst part about Monsanto’s domination in the food industry is that they have spent millions of dollars to defeat legislation that would require packaged foods to display a seal recognizing that food contains genetically modified ingredients. The issue here being that if humans had nothing to fear when dealing with genetically modified organisms, large corporations such as Monsanto would not take such an initiative to hide the fact that most foods are genetically modified. If we will not fully ban GMO’s, legislation needs to be required to give some sanity back to those who care about the potentially harmful effects that will arise from genetically modified organisms.
On the contrary of this argument, I believe that organic foods should become more readily available to the American population. Organic foods are grown without pesticides that have been found to be extremely detrimental to both the human body and environment. I believe if we implement more organics into our food system, we will see drastic reductions in the amount of cancer and chronic diseases that non-organic foods have many linkages too.
Research has shown results that gear towards better human health when organics are consumed. If America would like to continually better the nation’s health, then something must be done about the quality of its food industry. Organics are strictly better for the environment and have many more positive health benefits than genetically modified foods. If genetically modified foods are nothing to worry about, then companies should have no problem adding a genetically modified label to their food. There is much more research to be performed to determine what is truly better for humans. The world should focus more on organic farming to improve the health of humanity and the environment. Our lives are worth so much more than a risky science experiment. America is building a food supply that looks promising towards extreme health damage. If we are what we eat, then shall we call our population genetically modified too?
Sources:
“Organic & Whole Foods vs. Conventional and GMO’s.” Visualizing.org. N.p., 13 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Whitman, Deborah B. “Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?” Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? ProQuest, Apr. 2000. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php>.