GMOMG! – Educate Yourself.

Oct 26, 2014 | Health & Wellness | 1 comment

In our modern, advanced, intelligent society, I’m shocked to see that we’re still so susceptible to fear-mongering and mass ignorance. I’m sure we all know…

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

We have been wrong before. We believed the Earth was flat. We believed cigarettes were healthy. We believed diet soda was actually a healthy alternative to regular soda. Today, we seem to believe “GMO’s” are creating un-killable man-eating weeds, turning our soil toxic, and poisoning our children turning them into mutants.

My question is: Do you know why you hate “GMO’s”? Do you even know what they are? Really? If you use your noggin for a minute and try to see through the mob-mentality hysterics…I’m sure you’ll be surprised.

Let me clear something up right now: I’m not Pro-GMO. I’m not Anti-GMO. I’m Anti-Ignorance.

Get Educated. Let me teach you a few things…


I really can’t stand all the nonsense I see on Facebook. I see people blindly re-posting all kinds of anti-GMO propaganda (yeah, I used that word) and I can’t help but think… do you even KNOW what you’re saying by sharing/re-posting that?

Fear-mongering, scare tactics, and a gross misunderstanding/lack of actual facts has skewed things to the point where there’s a veritable war on GMO’s…and we may very well look back on it with immense regret. I’m going to do my best not to ramble. Let’s take this step by step.

First…What IS a “GMO”, anyway?


Farmers face a lot of challenges. Pests, drought, weather, and much more can lead to low crop yields. Farmers have to overcome it all – after all, we’re counting on them to feed us. Well, people realized that many organisms possessed qualities that would be IMMENSELY helpful in our crops to combat these very problems – hence, GM seeds. GMO stands for “Genetically Modified Organism”. Basically, scientists take a gene from an organism with the desired trait and put it into the DNA of the seeds of a crop farmers grow, like corn or potatoes. 
Example: BT Corn. BT stands for Bacillus Thuringiensis. Corn has MAJOR pest issues – pests that are killed by a toxin BT produces. Essentially, introducing specific BT genes into corn made the corn produce that toxin. That’s right, toxic to specific pests (mostly), not ALL insects, not animals, not humans.

There’s also GM crops that are drought-tolerant and, more famously, resistant to pesticide. They’re even working on being able to fortify foods with additional vitamins they don’t normally have! If executed properly, something like that could solve a lot of problems around the world.

Ok…but…they’re bad!…right? 
science AND research
Says who? When I surf the internet and read all of the top results on GMO, Monsanto, and why everything to do with this topic is “Bad”…I see a lot of misinformation, scare tactics, and enough fear-inspiring trust-destroying buzzword combinations to make your head spin. There is a troubling lack of facts and peer-reviewed research associated with every claim I see that GMO’s are bad/evil/destroying the world. See this, this, and this as examples.


What claims are “they” making?


-GMO Corn caused tumors in rats

There were so many issues with this “study”, and it is completely debunked, yet anti-GMO groups are still harping on it as fact (yes, that was published well after retraction). Another anti-GMO site claimed GMO’s caused liver/kidney damage…but the “review” cited said itself that the tests were not sufficient to prove anything conclusive.

–Farmers are being sued when GMO pollen blows into their crops

This is a big twisting of the truth. There are famous cases this is based on (see this, this and this). There are far less cases being brought up and going to court than many anti-GMO activist groups would lead you to believe. They’re going after people violating patent law by saving/replanting seeds, not wind-blown pollen.

-GMO Seed-sellers are “controlling and manipulating farmers”

Not quite. These Genetically Modified seeds are, essentially, akin to a software developer creating a new program, or an artist painting a new picture – they retain the rights to profit from their new creation. The scientist may not have created “seeds”, but they DID create seeds that have extra genes built-in. Copyright, trademark, and patent apply, even if it seems strange. The farmer agreed to these terms when they bought the seed. Nobody held a gun to their head – it was a choice.

-Monsanto et al are selling sterile “Terminator seeds”

While it’s true “Terminator seeds” (which do not grow back the next year) do exist, GM Companies have never actually put them to market. (that I know of)

-GMO crops are creating unstoppable pesticide-resistant super-weeds and super-pests

Pests and weeds are going to evolve and become resistant to our efforts just like the flu virus morphs and changes every year to resist the flu vaccine…but you don’t see pitchforks and torches outside your local clinic or pharmacy, do you?

-Pesticides are destroying good soil, rendering it forever useless without GMO seeds
-There’s collateral damage as a result of “Roundup-Ready” crops.
The list goes on. These are just some of the many allegations being made. I’m not here to refute them all, but I simply had to point out that some are, in fact, incredibly false.
“Label it! I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!”
This whole “gmo” labeling thing is such a huge deal right now…there are GMO labeling measures being fought for around the country…and food/drink/agriculture companies are pouring millions of dollars into the fight to squash it. Why?

Mandatory labeling accomplishes nothing.

Labels are great – they allow us to have more information and, thus, make informed decisions. Sorry to break it to you, but Mandatory GMO Labeling wouldn’t help us make any kind of decision we can’t already make. People say they want to know so they can know what they’re putting in their bodies. They want to know so they can avoid foods they don’t want. They want labeling because…they WANT it! And other countries have it, so why shouldn’t WE?!

Know what ELSE other countries have? Communism.

Seriously, though – every argument FOR mandatory labeling I see is a lot of demands, a lot of ignorance, a lot of “I THINK I know what’s up” and little or no fact / REAL good reason. Current U.S. Law requires labeling on new foods that have significant nutritional or allergenic characteristic, and the FDA has judged that, so far, there is no danger, health risk, or reduced nutritional value from GM foods. There are many “Certified Organic” and “non-GMO certified” foods labeled as such. So…all those “informed choices” you want to make? You already can.

On the flip side, all the arguments I see against mandatory labeling are based upon facts, research, and real reasons. There would be a lot of cost involved in such an endeavor. Mandatory labeling hasn’t exactly gone like a dream in other countries. Customers ALREADY have choices (as I said above). My favorite reason – mandatory labeling would imply some kind of health risk – you don’t need to be a genius to imagine how that would pan out…it’d be like slapping on a poison label.

There IS positive potential for GM foods

I’m no expert, but given the technology GM foods could solve a lot of problems. Better pest resistance and less reliance on pesticides could mean it’d be less expensive for farmers to…farm. Less crop loss due to pests means more people get fed. Genetic Engineering could lead to larger fruits and vegetables, feeding more people. Vitamin enrichment could solve critical vitamin deficiencies in other parts of the world. Drought-resistance could mean crops could be grown in far more places – more people get fed. All in all, GM foods could be a big part of the fight against world hunger and feeding an ever-increasing world population.

And if we freak out and squash GMO’s…we’ll only have ourselves to blame.

TRUTH IS – We’ve been doing this for centuries 

Maybe not the same way, but farmers have been “messing with” your food for a very long time. How do you think broccolini exists? Farmers have been doing their own (more crude and unpredictable) genetic modification for a very long time. Cross-breeding, selective breeding/planting, etc. This is not a new idea, just a new method. Why, all of a sudden, are we upset?
Again, let me be clear – I am not pro-GMO. I am not anti-GMO. I’m simply remaining open-minded. I’m forming my opinion and making my decisions based on fact, not fear. I’m certainly not blindly following what everyone else tells me about GMO’s. If YOU would like to be educated and sound a whole lot smarter when you talk about GMO’s, you can visit any of these sites/read any of these studies:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/study-linking-genetically-modified-corn-to-cancer/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/09/24/does-genetically-modified-corn-cause-cancer-a-flawed-study/

https://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/monsantos-good-bad-pr-problem/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/09/17/the-debate-about-gmo-safety-is-over-thanks-to-a-new-trillion-meal-study/
https://www.popsci.com/article/science/core-truths-10-common-gmo-claims-debunked
https://gmoanswers.com/
https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/09/10/19-year-study-of-trillions-of-meals-shows-ge-crops-do-not-harm-food-producing-animals-humans/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408621/
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm352067.htm
https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/09/10/19-year-study-of-trillions-of-meals-shows-ge-crops-do-not-harm-food-producing-animals-humans/
https://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/pdf/a_decade_of_eu-funded_gmo_research.pdf

Please – be educated. Know what you’re talking about before you join a fight that could have major global impact later on. Be open, learn something, and contribute something meaningful to the discussion :).

1 Comment

  1. TTom
    TTom on October 26, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    First, Almost all seeds you buy now do not grow back after the first generation. You have to buy "Heirloom" seeds in order to be able to re-use them. If you don't believe it then buy a tomato from the store and replant all the seeds from it. See if they grow into plants. This is a marketing tactic to get you to buy their seeds every year.

    Second, I have personally spoke to a farmer who said that he has to go into his fields and chop down the giant canola plants that the weed killers won't kill. They get so big that they damage the harvester if he doesn't cut them.

    Third, Why hasn't Europe allowed GMO seeds to be used? They didn't allow GMO's long before the current "scare"?

    Fourth, What about the link between GMO's and the decimation of the bee population? I have read where entire hives were poisoned by the honey they made due to the pesticides collected with the pollen!

    Now, I will grant that you have many valid points in your article. I also try to keep an open mind and not make decisions based on fear, but my research points to GMO's being a bad idea. You can't control all the consequences of putting these things out in the open!
    As far as the labeling, I can see that being detrimental to certain companies, but much like the return of real sugar to soda; they will adapt.
    I'm sorry I don't have links handy for all the points above, but from doing my own research with multiple sources, this is my opinion. Thank you.