Corn, soy, cotton, canola, and zucchini all have one thing in common. The vast majority of these that are grown in the United States are genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. GMOs are plants or animals that have been genetically modified at the molecular level in order to produce a specific effect. Non GMO products are those that have not been genetically altered, and sadly they are becoming harder and harder to find in stores.
Several years ago someone got the idea that if you took the DNA from a plant or animal that had a short coming and spliced it with the DNA of one that was resistant to that short coming you could solve the problem. For instance, say there is a type of plant that gets destroyed by a particular kind of bug. You could take the genes from a plant that is repellent to that type of bug and mix them together. Now the bug no longer destroys that crop. It sounded like a brilliant idea, so companies began to use genetic modification.
Cross breeding and natural selection has been used for pretty much forever to yield better crops. Farmers would breed the strongest or best of the crops to make even better ones. This works very well and has for a long time. This may cause one to think that since these two ideas are similar that they would both be beneficial to the food supply.
The problem is that this is not the case. Cross breeding and natural selection are very different than genetic modification. With cross breeding, the breeding is intentional, but it could happen naturally. It is simply two natural species or crops that are mated in order to achieve a specific effect. Genetic modification actually changes the genetic make up, creating a species that never would have occurred naturally. These products have now made their way into our food supply.
The FDA has decided that there is not a significant enough difference between GMO foods and non-altered foods to cause a problem. Thus, these foods are not required to carry a label. The issue here is that since GMOs are a rather recent discovery there is not adequate information on any long term effects. For this reason, many people are choosing not to consume products that have been modified genetically.
This is surprisingly difficult since the FDA does not require labeling for these products, but it can be done. Certain stores and manufacturers believe that all GMO foods should be labeled. Many health food stores require that there is labeling on all GMO foods, and most manufacturers of non GMO foods label it clearly on the packaging.
The biggest problem that people who choose not to consume products that have been modified genetically encounter is that these products are in virtually everything. Ascorbic acid, citric acid, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, and yeast products are just a few of the products that are at high risk for GMOs. Finding any food in a regular grocery store that doesn't contain any of these products is difficult.
So that means that people who only want to consume non GMO foods have to shop at special health food stores. This is not an issue for some people who are able to spend more money, but for the majority of Americans who are on a strict budget, this can be a problem. Health food stores are generally much more expensive than traditional grocery stores, so non-modified foods are not available to everyone.
Several years ago someone got the idea that if you took the DNA from a plant or animal that had a short coming and spliced it with the DNA of one that was resistant to that short coming you could solve the problem. For instance, say there is a type of plant that gets destroyed by a particular kind of bug. You could take the genes from a plant that is repellent to that type of bug and mix them together. Now the bug no longer destroys that crop. It sounded like a brilliant idea, so companies began to use genetic modification.
Cross breeding and natural selection has been used for pretty much forever to yield better crops. Farmers would breed the strongest or best of the crops to make even better ones. This works very well and has for a long time. This may cause one to think that since these two ideas are similar that they would both be beneficial to the food supply.
The problem is that this is not the case. Cross breeding and natural selection are very different than genetic modification. With cross breeding, the breeding is intentional, but it could happen naturally. It is simply two natural species or crops that are mated in order to achieve a specific effect. Genetic modification actually changes the genetic make up, creating a species that never would have occurred naturally. These products have now made their way into our food supply.
The FDA has decided that there is not a significant enough difference between GMO foods and non-altered foods to cause a problem. Thus, these foods are not required to carry a label. The issue here is that since GMOs are a rather recent discovery there is not adequate information on any long term effects. For this reason, many people are choosing not to consume products that have been modified genetically.
This is surprisingly difficult since the FDA does not require labeling for these products, but it can be done. Certain stores and manufacturers believe that all GMO foods should be labeled. Many health food stores require that there is labeling on all GMO foods, and most manufacturers of non GMO foods label it clearly on the packaging.
The biggest problem that people who choose not to consume products that have been modified genetically encounter is that these products are in virtually everything. Ascorbic acid, citric acid, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, and yeast products are just a few of the products that are at high risk for GMOs. Finding any food in a regular grocery store that doesn't contain any of these products is difficult.
So that means that people who only want to consume non GMO foods have to shop at special health food stores. This is not an issue for some people who are able to spend more money, but for the majority of Americans who are on a strict budget, this can be a problem. Health food stores are generally much more expensive than traditional grocery stores, so non-modified foods are not available to everyone.
About the Author:
When you want information about non GMO products, go to the website here at arkinstitute.com today. You can check out the details at http://arkinstitute.com now.
0 comments:
Post a Comment