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| The Silly, and Wonderful Ms. Genie! |
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| Pointing out our signs while serving Steak and Salad |
One of the customers I had today enjoyed our sample but had concerns about GMO's. I informed her that they are not bad for your health, but she was adamant that they were and she had done extensive research that proved that they modified your genetics. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to talk with her further about the research she had found, as I am genuinely interested in what is so bad about GMO's. I would like to give you the facts behind GMO's and my opinion as to their usage.
What is a GMO Anyway?
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. We have been modifying plants and animals for millennia. Desert people have selected stallions to breed with their mares that will be faster and more heat tolerant. There have been fruits bred without seeds, and corn bred to be larger and have more kernels. Tea cup or miniature animals are great examples of this. These processes have been bred through a term called artificial selection, and are limited only to naturally occurring variations. This is where genetic modification has found it's calling.
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| Selective Breeding - How we have developed several things from one plant |
We Need GMO's.
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| Healthy cotton boll before it blooms to product cotton |
With a world population that is rising quickly, the UN has stated we need to produce 50% more food by 2050. There are several ways we could achieve this. We could mow down more rainforests to make land for crops or we could invest tens of millions into trying to build infrastructure to effectively use hydroponics on a large scale. Neither of these sound like economically or environmentally friendly options to me. On the other hand, we could use GM crops. My vote goes for the last one because it keeps prices low for consumers and helps to conserve vital areas of importance. With the use of these modified crops, we are better prepared to handle extreme changes in temperatures, which is happening more frequently, and we can battle the diseases and pests that often damage our crops.
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| Damaged Cotton Boll |
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| Inside of Cotton boll damaged by Boll weevil |
GMO's in Use
Did you know that genetic modification has helped to produce bacteria that make insulin? This has helped to change the lives of millions of Type 1 Diabetics. Another great example of GMO's saving the day is a product called Golden Rice. Around 250 million children are Vitamin A deficient in the world, which can lead to blindness. Sure, we could put in supplement centers, but these are expensive to build and distribute, let alone you have to convince the people to take them. Thanks to genetic modification, Golden Rice, a rice with a corn gene that helps to produce beta-carotene (precursor to Vitamin A), has been developed. Since rice is a staple in many of these people's diets, this is easy and cheap to implement. One single bowl of Golden Rice provides 60% of a child's daily need for Vitamin A. And contrary to popular belief, this was developed by foundation-funded academic researchers, not big companies. This has helped to save millions of people and improve their way of living. Other great examples are BT cotton, which is resistant to boll weevils (a pest who severely impacted cotton yields), and RoundUp Ready Crops - these are resistant to the weedkiller RoundUp which allows them to be sprayed with the pesticide and not be harmed while weeds are killed.
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| People Harvesting Golden Rice |
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| Golden Rice on the left, normal rice on the left |
Are GMO's Bad for my Health?
There are many concerns that GMO's may be bad for your health and that altering the genes in these crops may create dire consequences for our genetic profile. There have been several well designed studies that prove there are NO health risks. Below is an excerpt from an article about GMO's:
"A lot of fear was sparked about the safety of GM foods after a scientist named Gilles-Eric Seralini published a study that found rats fed with Monsanto's glyphosphate-resistant corn developed more tumors and died earlier than controls. After these results, many demanded tighter regulations whereas others called for an outright ban on the corn. However, numerous problems with the study came to light which led to its retraction from the journal.
First off, Seralini is an outspoken anti-GMO activist. At the time of initial publication he had conflicting interests - he was releasing a book and a documentary on the research. For the experiments Seralini used Sprague-Dawley rats that are prone to developing spontaneous tumors. He only used 10 rats for each group, for a period of two years which is almost a rat's lifespan. The study was described as a "statistical fishing trip" by reviewers - if you test enough variables for long enough, you'll get a result something. This is not good science. The recomendation for carcinogenicity studies is that 65 or more of each sex should be used. There is a high probability that he results were due to chance."
Shared from: http://www.iflscience.com/environment/myths-and-controversies-gmos-0
Summary:
Until there is any study that proves me different, I know that GMO's are safe to eat and safe for our beef to eat. They do not have any adverse effects, yet they are helping to reduce the amount of land used, amount of pesticide applied, and keeping costs low at the grocery store. I really can't see anything wrong with these things! Over 85% of the corn in the U.S. is modified and there have been no serious illnesses or diseases linked to the use of these crops. I believe GMO's are helping to solve a growing problem and that we need to embrace them and utilize them for everything they are worth. They are what is going to keep agriculture going strong in the coming years and allow us to feed ourselves, let alone the world.
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