During a Lunch-and-Learn session on nutrition and healthy eating for a corporate wellness week program, we had fun talking about everything from the importance of carbs to the toxicity of artificial sweeteners, but when I ended the session with a discussion of the horror of GMO foods, I left feeling like Cassandra of Troy with her prophesies of impending doom.
Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms into the American food supply is starting to be recognized as an insidious, unscrupulous, deadly mass experiment on the public health. This has been done to us without our consent, and if you are not up in arms about it already, prepare to have your eyes opened.
Here is a brief synopsis of the history of GMO foods in this country.
Monsanto, the evil chemical giant who brought mankind such gifts as DDT and Agent Orange, developed a chemical herbicide, glycophosphate, called Round-Up. Ooohhh, they thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could genetically engineer crops to make their own pesticide and respond only to our weed-killing product? Farmers who planted our Round-Up Ready seeds would be obligated to use the Round-Up herbicide spray as well. Double the profits!
Monsanto scientists set about artificially intermingling DNA across species, splicing some of the DNA from insects into corn kernels, so that when the corn seeds grew into corn ears they would repel pests by causing the bugs’ stomachs to explode. This is called Bio-Toxin corn, or BT corn.
In 1996, the US FDA approved BT corn for unrestricted planting, without ever requiring any testing on humans, and relying solely on junk science provided by Monsanto scientists. Monsanto began a massive campaign to convince farmers that genetically engineered corn was the way to higher yields, drought resistance, and higher profits. Monsanto worked to convince the public and the government that GMOs were the path to eradicating hunger.
Europe didn’t fall sway to Monsanto’s influence for long, and many member states banned GMOs in 2001 . Even famine-striken Sudan, in 2002, rejected US offers of assistance comprised of containers of GM corn to feed the people because they did not want to poison their starving people with unsafe food.
Now, less than 20 years later, 88% of the corn found in the USA is genetically modified and the incidence of leaky gut-based diseases in humans has risen dramatically. BT corn does not only cause insects harm, it will cause our own cells to react the same way. GMOs have now been seen to cause tumors and early death in rats, as well as infertility, disease, and premature death in many animals.
That means that, unless your corn or corn product specifically says it is “organic”, you can be pretty confident that it is from GM corn and contains the BT toxins. Corn chips, tortillas, taco shells, grits, polenta… Not to mention the multitude of corn byproducts that concentrate the toxin into a different form like high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, or other corn derivitives that show up everywhere from baby food to salad dressings to coffee creamers and other unlikely places.
The GMO corn is also ubiquitous in the feed given to our domesticated livestock. The pigs, cows, and chickens eat the GM corn, which gets passed on to us when we eat the meat, milk, and eggs. In order to avoid the effects of genetically modified foods in your body, you have to also avoid all meat and dairy products that are not raised on organic feed.
Watch Jeffery Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology’s seminal documentary on GMOs: Genetic Roullette. It will be the most important three bucks you’ve ever spent in pursuit of better health.
