Friday, February 4, 2011

GMO Thoughts

I've often wondered if kids today just have more allergies or if there's better tests out there than ever before. GMOs have been in the news a lot in recent weeks. I wanted to share a list from Robyn O'Brien (the founder of AllergyKids.

Below is Ms. O'Brien's list on GMOs. I noticed last night my cheese was labeled GMO-free. It seems the labels are everywhere. I buy non-GMO seeds for my garden and never really gave it much thought. So I decided to learn more.

FIVE TIPS about GMOs and why you should care:
  • Introduced in the 1990s, this new technology was developed to enhance profitability for the food industry.
  • The technology allows food scientists to inject chemicals and food proteins into the genetic material of our food.
  • Eaters in other countries were given a warning sign when these foods were introduced in 1994 and labels were put on their food that essentially said: “Not yet proven safe”.
  • In the US, this new technology and the proteins it creates were introduced in 1994 without labels under the premise: “Not yet proven dangerous” while being patented by the agricultural industry for their unique characteristics.
  • Unlabeled food proteins that contain chemicals and other foreign ingredients can trigger severe allergic reactions that include difficulty breathing, asthma, eczema, inflammmatory gut conditions and in some cases life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
Bottom line: Americans have the right to know what’s going into their food just like eaters in other countries.

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Do you see the non-GMO labels and also wonder what the big deal is? Is GMO just one of those things that you figure is not something to worry about? Part of me is more concerned with hormones and chemicals when I realize that we've been eating GMO corn and soy products for over a decade now. The other part of me thinks about how my office of 25 has 4 cancer survivors...

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