By Laura Rosenberger
Large amounts of the following crops and foods are genetically modified (GM): soy, corn, corn syrup, canola oil, cottonseed oil, sugar beets (and sugar from beets), maltodextrin, aspartame (in NutraSweet and Equal), erythritol in Truvia sweetener, alfalfa and Hawaiian papaya. Some sugar and some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are genetically modified. Most processed food contains at least one GM ingredient. The Monsanto Company engineers and produces much of the genetically modified seeds.
The March Against Monsanto Fresno Group is against GM foods and corporations like Monsanto because there is a concern with the negative effects this will have on our bodies and environment. In response, the group led a march on Blackstone Avenue from Nees Avenue to Herndon Avenue on May 24. The marchers chanted: “GMOs [genetically modified organisms] have got to go!” Some shouted that Monsanto should be jailed for genocide.
In a study done by the French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini published in the Food Chemical Toxicology Journal in 2012, rats were fed a Roundup-tolerant GMO maize (corn) with Roundup herbicide or Roundup herbicide alone diluted to an amount allowed to contaminate drinking water for two years. Seralini found that “in females, all treated groups died 2–3 times more than controls, and more rapidly…Females developed large mammary tumors almost always more often than and before controls, the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was modified by GMO and Roundup treatments.
“In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5–5.5 times higher…Males presented four times more large palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier. Biochemistry data confirmed very significant kidney chronic deficiencies.”
The Daily Mail added, “The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The researchers said 50% of males and 70% of females died prematurely, compared with only 30% and 20% in the control group.”
Lee Euler, a cancer specialist, commented in Cancer Defeated Newsletter #144 (2012): “Substantial health problems linked to GMOs are starting to surface. Studies are uncovering links to fertility problems and birth defects and a cancer link.”
In Cancer Defeated Newsletter #186, Euler said, “GM foods are increasingly being linked to disease-including cancer…There is a cancer link that’s been confirmed both by a Russian study and by British environmentalists.”
Dr. Guy R. McPherson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of natural resources, ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, mentioned that 90% of pregnant women have Bt toxin in their bodies from GMO corn. He recommended eating non-GMO food two weeks before conception. IgF1 in bovine growth hormone causes several times the rate of breast cancer in women. GMOs will affect the growth and life of an unborn child. GMOs are in most infant formulas.
Dr. McPherson has gone on to claim that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has 44,000 pages of memos since 1992 from scientific staff who did not think that GMO foods were safe. These memos warned about health problems from GMOs, mentioning such concerns as autoimmune disorders. The FDA disregarded these memos and kept them secret. The White House kitchens are now organic.
GMOs are banned (forbidden) in most European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Brazil and Paraguay. This year, Mexico banned GMO corn and Oregon voters banned the planting of all genetically engineered crops across Jackson County, Oregon.
The March Against Monsanto Fresno Group demands that the United States ban or label GMOs. You can also avoid GMOs by buying foods labeled “organic.” Certified organic foods are not permitted to be made from genetically modified crops. You may also visit www.non-gmoshoppingguide.com.
Vote by what you buy.
*****
Laura Rosenberger is an active member of the community involved in various issues, one of them being the fight against GMOs.
