by guest blogger Alberto Gonzalez, founder and CEO of GustOrganics
I love talking to people about food. And these days at my restaurant, I inevitably end up talking about GMOs. Often, people ask me the reasons why I do not allow any GMO foods at GustOrganics. In fact, this happens so often that I started creating a list in my head of all the reasons I choose not to offer them to my customers. The list started to get so big that I decided to write it down and I thought I'd share it with you, dear readers.
First, a little background: GMO stands for genetically modified organisms; some people also refer to them as GE (genetically engineered). According to the FDA, GMO foods are made using recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) technology. The agency commonly refers to them as "bioengineered foods," or foods that have undergone genetic modification, meaning they've been engineered and altered at the genetic level "using any technique, new or traditional."
Many years ago, I started reading studies about GMOs, and I discovered that most of the outcomes of the studies favored whoever was financing the research, which in most cases was the agrochemical companies. A few years later, I came across a book called The World According to Monsanto, by Marie-Monique Robin, and it was true eye-opener for me. Then, I read The Wheel of Life, by Debbie Barker from The Center for Food Safety, and I recommend this paper to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between food, climate, human rights, and economy.
Now I do everything I can, at home and at my restaurant, to avoid GMOs. It's not easy to do, since more than 80 percent of processed foods contain GMOs. Buying certified-organic food is the only way you can truly stay away from GMOs right now, since GMO foods are not labeled. But, honestly, the likelihood that GMO crops will cross-pollinate with organics gets higher every year as more and more GMOs are planted.
So, back to my list. Here are my reasons for avoiding GMO foods, compiled mostly from the sources named above:
Health harms.
1. GMOs are grown with toxic chemicals and resulting pesticide residues are known to be harmful to human health.
2. Research has shown that laboratory mammals fed GMOs suffer adverse effects that include damage to kidneys, liver, adrenal glands, spleen, and heart. Additionally, their immune systems were compromised and in some cases brain size was reduced.
Environmental harms.
3. GMO crops require huge amounts of chemicals that are harmful to soil, water, the atmosphere, and creatures. Although they are promoted as a technology to reduce pesticide usage, GM crops in the U.S. used greater than 26 percent more pesticides per acre in 2008 than non-GMO crops, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.
4. GMOs are actually increasing the need for stronger and more poisonous pesticides. For example, one agrochemical company is awaiting USDA approval of corn and soybeans resistant to 2, 4-D, a chemical related to Agent Orange.
5. GMOs are causing a growing epidemic of "superweeds." These massive weeds have evolved a resistance to glyphosate, a chemical used on GM crops. Stronger toxic chemicals and soil-eroding tillage operations are required in order to eliminate superweeds.
6. GMOs contribute to global warming: GM crops require synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which are responsible for approximately 60 percent of total emissions of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO2). GM crops use high amounts of fossil fuels through the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.
7. GMO practices contaminate our organic and local food systems. A report titled, Gone to Seed, found that 50 percent or more of non-GMO corn, canola, and soybean seed have been contaminated with GM genes.
8. Beneficial insects can be harmed. A Cornell University study showed that monarch butterflies suffered higher mortality rates when consuming milkweed leaves dusted with the Bt toxin associated with GM crops. And recently, pesticides called neonicotinoids have been blamed for the collapsing bee populations.
Harms to social and human rights.
9. GMOs are promoted as way to feed the world and mitigate hunger; however, numerous studies demonstrate that the GM crops do not produce higher yields as claimed. As one example, a USDA publication reports that "GM crops do not increase the yield potential."
10. GMOs lead to corporate control over seed and food: Today only one company controls about 95 percent of GM seeds. This limits access to seeds, which are the center of food and life.
11. These large agri-corporations do not let farmers save seeds, a basic practice that has continued for centuries to ensure food security.
12. GMO agriculture is an extension of current industrial-farming practices that have resulted in the loss of family farms and farmer livelihoods around the globe.
For all of these reasons, and more that I'm just not thinking of right now, we at GustOrganics choose another path. We believe organic agriculture is the only way to go. Organic agriculture has equal or higher yields than factory farming. Organics don't contain any synthetic hormones, antibiotics, chemicals or GMOs. And independent studies prove that organic food has more vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants than conventional food (which, at this point, is just another way of saying GMO food).
Talk to your friends about GMOs and help them to be aware of the facts. And go to justlabelit.org and help send 1 million signatures to the Food and Drug Administration to let them know that we want GMO foods labeled.
Alberto Gonzalez is the founder and CEO of GustOrganics, the world's first certified-organic restaurant using 100 percent organic ingredients, and one of the greenest and most progressive restaurants on the planet, gustorganics.com.
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com
Follow Maria Rodale on Twitter: www.twitter.com/farmkitchenblog
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/12/dow-agrosciences-developed-new-genetically-modified-crops.aspx?e_cid=20120212_SNL_Art_1
Great way to learn about agri-business!
(You cannot make this stuff up)
I feed my family Beyond Organic foods and beverages, a new company that raises the bar when it comes to organic meat, dairy and chocolate:
Check it out here: http://beyond-organic-food.com
It was started by esteemed nutrition expert and best-selling author, Jordan Rubin.
All of these scientists say GM is safe:
WHO
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/
FSANZ
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/gmfoods/
FAO
http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/06/27/new-fao-chief-accepts-gmos-not-seed-monopolies/
National Academy of Sciences
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804
Royal Society
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/opinion/genetically-engineered-food-for-all.html
European Food Safety Authority
http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=8533
80% link back to other Rodale blog post which, in turn, contain links that link back to (surprise!) more Rodale blog entries. Maybe she should speak to her webmaster and make him aware that the site experience is like being stuck in the spin cycle of my washing machine.
I
Lets keep GMO food off of our tables and lets boycott all Monsanto's products.
Readers who wish to know about Agent Orange should go to: www.aoag.org
Len Aldis. Chair
Agent Orange Action Group
"WASHINGTON -- Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits -- such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields -- compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council"
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804
nope.....Roundup is less hazardous than some pesticides used on organic farms like copper sulfate.
http://web.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/resourceguide/mfs/06copper.php
"8. Beneficial insects can be harmed. A Cornell University study showed that monarch butterflies suffered higher mortality rates when consuming milkweed leaves dusted with the Bt toxin associated with GM crops. :"
LOL! organic farms dust their crops with Bt spray. The farm described sounds like it is organic. Bt genes are in the GMO plants...it's not on milkweeds.
http://web.pppmb.cals.cornell.edu/resourceguide/mfs/02bacillus_thuringiensis.php
".....Stronger toxic chemicals and soil-eroding tillage operations are required in order to eliminate superweeds"
No-till methods use mostly GMO. No-till means much less erosion. Organic farms are more erosion prone.
Here's an overall GMO study by scientists published by the National Academies:
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804
"WASHINGTON -- Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits -- such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields -- compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council"
It's distracting to have such misinformation sprinkled in a potentially-informative article.
The worst thing about them is they are not needed. there is no need for this research and science. We can produce all the food we need without them and be much healthier. the only reason they exist is so a few companies can control the food supply of the world and have a monopoly and control prices and essentially everyone alive.
nope.
Let's see...There are 8 or more passes per season of a tractor through an organic field and three passes with a crop like no-till GMO soybeans. Organic uses much more fuel. It's obvious. That's the whole point with GMO. GMO has less input costs, less labor, less fuel, less soil erosion. That's why farmers like GMO.
Your organic crops are more expensive and contribute more to global warming.
And to top it off, you people STILL use pesticides..just not synthetic ones.
In fact, one pesticide used on organic crops is called Copper Sulfate and is classified on the MSDS as more hazardous than RoundUp.
And don't try to convince me that organic fertilizers use no fuel.
The foolishness is a european standard. Comments are the same in the italian newspaper's blogs.
Plant based food 'are what they eat' too and organic matters (which also means no GMO); there is a broader range of micro-nutrients in organic produce so that's what I always recommend http://www.drbaileyskincare.com/blog/vitamins-for-healthy-skin/ Yes it's more expensive, but we waste so much food in modern society and I know that if we buy organic, careful not to overbuy more than we can eat, then it's not a budget buster.
Great post!
Since you are a doctor, maybe you can explain to us how your body can recognize the difference in a GMO, hybrid, or heirloom vegetable? Dont dumb it down, Im specifically speaking on a molecular level.
Or maybe you could point us to a valid peer-reviewed journal entry that shows GMO is correlated with mammalian toxicity.
Surely you are basing your claims on science as a Doctor. I feel it would be irresponsible to denigrate such an important technology without scientific understanding of the subject.
Also, GMO crops are fertilized with natural fertilizers on a massive scale. Many crops are topically applied with micronutrients to encourage strong root systems, So, why would you think GMO's have no micronutrients in them?