Yesterday, while driving home listening to FOX NEWS, I heard a story that forced me to research the facts. It was a story about the need to get genetically modified foods labeled, just like organic foods, so people can choose whether they will eat them or not. I had to find out what they were referring to, so I have done some research and found the following.
The fear mongers have done a good job, using the argument “If there is no data to support our contention that GMO’s are harmful, there is also no data to support the contention that they are not potentially harmful.” In fact, all the scientific data to date has shown that the GMO’s that are being used to improve our food crops pose no risk to the human consuming these foods. In fact several of the GMO alterations have been employed to do away with harmful chemical pesticides by making the food crop resistant to the pests.
What are we talking about anyway? Our genes reside in the nucleus of our cells. They communicate to the rest of the cell by producing proteins called RNA. It is this RNA that makes the cell do things dictated by our genes. One way to create a GMO is introduce new RNA into the cells.. Another way to change the RNA is to change the genes themselves. Farmers have been doing this for years creating hybrids by selective breeding. We have been eating these genetically modified crops for years. Compare an 
ear of Indian corn to present day corn to observe the changes caused by substantial 
genetic Modification!
We have never been afraid to eat food altered by selective breeding. However, the new fear is that the modified foods will infect us and cause harm. Science has addressed this and there is broad scientific consensus that food on the market derived from GM crops poses no greater risk than conventional food. Science has also proposed safety review standards that are being employed, testing for the risk of the RNA crossing the gut to alter the human, testing for potential deleterious effects of the protein produced by the introduced plant RNA. For a GMO to be approved it needs to be evaluated by the FDA, EPA and the USDA. Advocacy groups that oppose the use of GMO’s have no other recourse but to question the objectivity of the review by these agencies since these agencies approve of GMO’s.
The real problem stems from fear. Social science surveys have documented that individuals are more risk averse about food than institutions. There is widespread concern within the public about the risks of biotechnology, a desire for more information about the risks themselves and a desire for choice in being exposed to risk. There is also a widespread sense that social and technological change is speeding up and people feel powerless to affect this change; diffuse anxiety driven by this context becomes focused when it is food that is being changed.
The bottom line would seem to be acquiescing to the desire for food labeling even though it will increase the cost of foods. It will make people happier to have that choice. The massive food industry will act against this as they fear an unreasonable loss of sales since there is no scientific evidence to fear GMO’s. People should be aware that improving plants and animals through genetic alteration has not been demonstrated to cause us any harm, and it has done us some good, and the new GMO’s are being tested by appropriate government agencies, the same ones that test all our foods, and medications.
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