Sunday, June 23, 2013

Why Having A Diet Of Only Non GMO Foods Is Difficult

By Lana Bray


There are many foods in today's market that are GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. Cotton, corn, soy, and canola are just a few of the foods that are usually genetically modified in the United States. GMOs are animals or plants that have been changed at the molecular level so that a specific goal can be achieved. Non GMO products are those that are in their natural state and have not been altered genetically. The problem is that these foods are getting more and more difficult to find.

Once upon a time someone had an idea. If you took the genes from a plant that was repellent to a pest and you spliced it with the genes of a plant that was being destroyed by said pest, you could fix a huge problem. You wouldn't need as many pesticides and the yield of the plant would increase. Many people thought this sounded like a good idea, so genetic modification began.

In a simpler form, this has been happening since humans first began farming. Farmers would use natural selection and cross breeding to create plants that were heartier and produced more food. This has worked well for many years. So why wouldn't it work just as well to essentially do the same thing, just with better technology on our side?

The problem is that this is not the case. Cross breeding and natural selection are very different than genetic modification. With cross breeding, the breeding is intentional, but it could happen naturally. It is simply two natural species or crops that are mated in order to achieve a specific effect. Genetic modification actually changes the genetic make up, creating a species that never would have occurred naturally. These products have now made their way into our food supply.

The FDA has ruled that there is no significant difference between GMO and foods that have not been genetically modified. Therefore they do not have to be labeled at the stores. The problem with this is that GMOs are fairly new, which means there is little data on the long term effects. Because of this problem many people choose to only buy foods and products that are not genetically modified organisms.

People who have made this decision, however, are finding it very difficult to find foods that are not modified. Some stores and food manufacturers do believe that GMO foods should require labeling. Most health food stores are requiring labels on any food that contains GMOs. Manufacturers that produce foods without GMOs usually clearly label it on the package as well.

Even so, there is still the problem that GMOs are in almost everything. Additives such as high fructose corn syrup, ascorbic acid, yeast products, maltodextrin, and citric acid are in almost everything. They also happen to be at extremely high risk of containing GMOs, which means that finding food in a regular supermarket that has not been modified is nearly impossible.

This means that people who are serious about only having non GMO foods in their diet are forced to shop at health food stores. This is not a problem for some people, but can be a serious issue for people who are on tight budgets. Those types of stores are generally fairly expensive since they have to be so selective with their suppliers.




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