Organic Food Industry: GMOs: a Super Mutant Food

Interview with Joyce Gillespie: my mother and organic food advocate

After reading about genetically modified foods, I felt strongly that this was a topic that many were unaware of. To see just how aware our community is of this topic i asked someone very informed on the subject of nutrition; my mother.

Do you feel that the topic of genetically modified organisms is an important topic?

"Yes, food is the fuel in which we feed our bodies. I feel it is very important that we understand exactly what we are ingesting including how it was created. Genetically modified food could have short term benefits at the expense of long term ramifications."

Do you think others in our community think this is an important problem? Why/ why not?

"Unfortunately, I believe that many in the community are unaware of where the food they eat is coming from. I feel that many people are ignorant to just how important diet is and how our food industry is modifying the food we eat. I feel that if our community became more aware of the truth that this would be an important issue with everyone. Being someone who has always help diet as high importance, including where the food is coming from, I have seen increased numbers at whole food markets such as Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s."

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

"I’m not sure that any policies are in place. While shopping at Trader Joe’s I have seen some items marked that they have no GMOs but I have never seen them marked on any nutrition labels."

What foods are most often genetically modified?

"I'm not too sure, i think corn may be one of them."

The policy for GMOs is that they are considered equal to natural food and do not need to be labeled. How do you feel about this?

"It makes me feel uncomfortable that something of such importance would be hidden to the public. This lowers my confidence in the FDA which has already been low as they seem to have a hidden agenda. The public has a right to know how there food is being created and this issue would be pushed."

Are you for or against genetically modified organisms?

"I am against GMOs as something so unnatural must have serious effects. A food that is altering our immune system cannot be safe. People are ingesting antibiotic organisms without even known it or the consequences of it. Although there are financial benefits to the companies using GMOs we must understand all effects of a diet that includes GMOs before feeding them to our community."

Before doing this interview I did some research on genetically modified food from the most objective resources I could find. It was of no surprise to me that even someone as healthy as my mother knew very little about GMOs. Both my mother and I feel that this is a topic that our community must become more informed about. It was interested to see some of the contradictions between pros and cons. One of the contradictions is pesticide usage. Advocates of GMOs say that GMOs need fewer pesticides because of their strengthened genetic makeup while opponents to GMOS say that the strengthened genetic makeup creates the need for larger amounts of pesticides. Listed below are some of the pros and cons I was able to find from different locations on the Internet

Pros	Cons
Insect resistance: modified to be more pest resistant, this bacterium that is toxic to insects is safe for human consumption and can help reduce amount of needed pesticides	Herbicide Herbicides: Herbicide tolerant GE crops have created weed resistance, causing pesticide use to increase by 70 million pounds between 1996 and 2003.xviii
Environmental protection: crops and animals that GMOs are used require less chemicals, time and tools and help reduce environmental pollution, greenhouse gas and soil erosion	Decreased antibiotic efficacy: antibiotic features built into food are ingested in humans and lowering the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs
More nutritious foods: been engineered to be more nutritious in terms of mineral and vitamin content	“Superweeds”: Risk that modified genes escape into environment. These genes could cross into the weed population creating a “superweed” impossible to kill with herbicides. This same issue could happen with animals, that if the gene is passed into animals they could create super-organisms that out compete natural animal and plant populations and drive certain species into extinction
	Gene pollution: The effects of modifying gene pools are not easily removed or even possible
	Gene mutation: Scientists do not know if the forced insertion of one gene into another gene could destabilize the entire organism, and encourage mutations and abnormalities. Likewise, no one knows if or how eating mutated food could affect people’s own DNA.
	Allergic reactions: mixes or adds proteins that weren’t indigenous to the original plant or animal, causing new allergic reactions

Created by Tom Gillespie

Whether you are for or against genetically modified organisms, it is important that we become more informed on a topic such as dietary health. We owe it to our future generations to be more cautious about how we our growing our food and the long-term consequences that may come from our actions.

This video gives an interesting view on GMOs and the possible conspiracy behind it.