Background:
Today, there is
so much confusion about what organic means, when we need to buy organic, what GMO’s are, how pesticides and chemicals affect
the foods we eat. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, but
there are scientific studies that have been performed to see what foods you
REALLY need to be careful about, and which ones are generally ok.
Vocabulary:
GMO: Introduced in
1996, Genetically Modified Organism – an organism whose natural genetic
composition has been altered through genetic engineering.
Organic Foods: Foods grown
and produced without modern synthetic products like pesticides, chemical
fertilizers, irradiation, industrial solvents or additives. Typically, these
foods a fresh and are minimally processed using organic ingredients. In the
case of animals raised for meat, the animals are not treated with antibiotics,
unless they are ill, and the animals are not treated with growth hormones.
Some Facts:
-
o
They
can be toxic, causing allergies to foods (such as soy allergies caused by
peanut genes now in soy – people are actually allergic to the peanuts, not soy!)
o
Little
regulations exists, so safety is questionable
o
This
is a newer technology, so all risks have not been studied or well documented
§ Because of the
point above, tests like those that claimed Agent Orange and DDT were safe are
used to promote the safety of GMOs
§ Independent research
with negative results is suppressed by companies (like Monsanto) with the big
money
o
Do
not actually increase yield of crops
o
Do
not reduce pesticide use, but increases it – crops are tolerant to pesticides
now, so they are used more freely on crops to prevent weeds (The differences in
applied herbicide in 1996 and 2008 was 383 million pounds!), thus, GMO crops
tend to have higher trace pesticides on the produce we eat.
o
They
are creating resistance to pesticides in weedy plant and insect species
§ This can make
crops more susceptible to disease, because they are not adapted to the changing
pest species
o
The
reduce biodiversity due to becoming better competitors, and disrupting
ecosystems
§ These are linked
to habitat reduction of even the Monarch butterfly, for example, whose
population is down 50% in the US in recent years.
§ These also cause
infertility and infant deaths or birth defects in wild bird and amphibian
species.
o
Studies
from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine indicate that GMO’s have shown
to cause intestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging and even
infertility in test animals!
o
GMO’s
involving growth hormones (like those we get from cow milk) are linked to
cancers.
o
They
require the same amount of energy (if not more) than non-GMO species
o
Cannot
solve the world hunger problem, because amount of food is not the problem, lack
of land and access to the food causes the problem.
-
Not
all organic foods are better than non-organic foods
o
Most
studies do not find significant vitamin differences in produce
o
Studies
show that there is no significant differences in protein or fat content in
meats
o
Only
organic milk seemed better nutritionally, having better omega-3 fatty acids
-
Not
all organic foods have less pesticides than non-organic foods
o
A
lot of our foods come from other countries where they do not actually have
access to the chemicals put on foods in the USA.
o
Not
all foods absorb pesticides
§ Pesticides are
designed to use different “modes of action” within the plant metabolism.
§ This is to
prevent killing off target plants.
§ As an example
soy plants are genetically modified to me “round up ready,” meaning they are tolerant
to glyphosate (the active chemical in round-up). This is because the genetically
modified soy plants are able to hydrolyze the glyphosate- or break it down into
non-active ingredients.
-
There
are foods that you can get by with eating non-organic, while others should be
substituted, as they have the highest residues for pesticides (From the
Environmental Working Group at ewg.org):
o
“Clean
15” are 15 foods with the LOWEST traces of chemicals and thus the safest to get
the non-organics
§ Sweet potato
§ Cabbage
§ Pineapple
§ Grapefruit
§ Cantaloupe
§ Eggplant
§ Mango
§ Kiwi
§ Sweet peas
§ Onions
§ Mushrooms
§ Asparagus
§ Avocado
§ **Papaya and
Sweet corn have little pesticides, but are common GMO’s, so, EWG recommends to
go organic
o
The
“Dirty Dozen” are 12 foods with the HIGHEST traces of chemicals, so get them as
organic!
§ Strawberries
§ Cucumber
§ Celery
§ Bell pepper
§ Grape tomatoes
§ Spinach
§ Hot peppers
§ Grapes
§ Nectarines
§ Peaches
§ Potato (baking
style)
§ Apple
§ **** Kale and
Summer Squash (green squash) exceeded even the Dirty Dozen criteria, as they
also test positive for traces of known neurotoxins!
Go
organic on these FOR SURE!
Conclusion:
GMO’s are
looking to be pretty terrible over all for our health and for the environment.
Recent studies, like those sited in the facts section above, indicate that GMOs
have done nothing but cause more problems. These sources, and many others,
suggest that we avoid purchasing any known GMO foods. When we avoid purchasing
them, we do not support their profits and we let them know that we are fed up
with the half cocked science experiments. Look what happened with the “safe”
PCB’s that caused a hole in the ozone layer and DDT that killed thousands of
animals of different plants, just to control a single insect. As a biologist, I
am obviously not making the claim that science is bad, but science needs to be
thought out fully and tested well before it is implemented in the world.
