I want to address questions about the consequences of eating GMO foods. But… Just so you know… I will be coming at it from the backdoor, so to speak.
On Sunday evening after church I stood with three other men discussing various issues. One of the men is heavily involved in the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).
This man said there were 21 million armed forces members who served in the Vietnam war in one capacity or another. The majority didn’t see combat.
Of those 21 million, it’s alarming to note only seven million are still alive. Vietnam vets are dying faster than any other group of veterans.
I guessed this was due to Agent Orange. He said that was right.
Agent Orange was weed killer sprayed from the air to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam. It’s hard to bomb from the air if all you see is trees.
Millions of Vietnam veterans have sickened and suffered a variety of health problems as a result of exposure to Agent Orange’s toxins. Obviously, more have died than anyone would have guessed, and more quickly, too. God only knows what the consequences have been to the Vietnamese people, as well.
In the 1970’s environmentalism came to the forefront with efforts to stop the use of weed killers and eliminate their effects on wildlife and people. Sounds like a good thing, right?
Science eventually came up with genetically modified crops, such as corn and soy beans. The idea was that, if we put weed killers and pesticides in the seeds and crop plants themselves, we wouldn’t need to use so many bad chemicals on the growing crops.
The logic of it sounds good, and many scientists tell us the food we and our livestock eat is perfectly safe. But what really are the consequences?
Many debate this. But the next time you hear a report about the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in our foods, ask yourself who is paying for the study that says this stuff is OK.
Think about this. What does weed killer in seedlings do to the surrounding soil and its microbial life? It has a negative impact on the nutrient content of the crops grown. Also, for some time now we’ve been seeing reports of super weeds that can survive and resist these in-plant weed killers.
As for pests, if the guts and metabolism of insects is disrupted when they gnaw on genetically modified plants, what happens to the guts of our livestock (and us) when we eat the corn or soy beans grown from those plants?
As you may know, livestock raised for meat eat massive amounts of corn and soy beans. We in turn eat the meat.
Plus, we eat plenty of foods made using corn and soy bean byproducts. But you’ll never know if that bag of corn chips contains GMO corn because there will be no label saying as much. The big agribusiness corporations and the government will see to that.
While the debate rages on, I can’t help but wonder. Are we seeing more illnesses and deaths from GMO foods than anyone could ever guess?
And who of us thought so many Vietnam vets would be dead in such a relatively short time after the 1960’s and ’70’s?
I realize I’ve oversimplified the issues at stake here. Look into it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Meanwhile, are you and I committing slow suicide by eating those corn chips and other processed foods?