Genetically modified or engineered food, known as GM, GE and GMO (for genetically modified organisms), is a major hot topic for activists and consumers. The original vision for these types of food was to provide a better growing, cheaper, more nutritious food supply. Major GM manufacturers still claim this is what their foods do. The fact is none of their foods have contributed to their promises: better taste, better nutrition, lower fats.
Many GM foods were created so that they would be resistant to herbicides. The ability to spray chemicals on all of our crops without killing them has created “superweeds” that are very difficult to get rid of. The runoff from all these herbicides and pesticides creates enormous dead zones in the ocean as well as polluting our air and bodies.
Many European countries require strict labeling on GMO foods, and for this reason they don’t sell very well there. The US has no such laws, so unless it’s labeled organic it can be GM. Andrew Kimbrell, founder and executive director of the Center for Food Safety, puts it this way:
“What we have in this country is a complete regulatory failure with GMOs. We have no mandatory labeling, no mandatory testing. The USDA to this day has never come up with an environmental impact statement on a single GMO plant, though they’ve promised it over and over again, and court after court has demanded they do so.”
Monsanto and other corporations have also modified their seeds to be sterile in the second generation. While they don’t have 100% efficiency, they get closer every year. The obvious result is farmers, unable to save and plant seed from last years crop, are forced to rely on the corporation to provide them with their seeds every season. They have even gone so far as to claim they own the organic crops cross-pollinated by neighboring GM fields.
More and more countries in Europe have completely banned GMO crops. Hungary has been in the news for the last few months for destroying a field of GM crops.
This is just a brief overview of some of the things going on in the anti-GMO world. If you want to find out more the links below can be a good starting point.
Further reading
