Monsanto

Monsanto…you have probably seen and heard this one word over and over on the news, in the papers, on Facebook.  Well, I have and I wanted to research some more about Monsanto and see what all the talk is truly about.

I wish I never researched it, to be frank.  Monsanto is a publicly traded company headquartered in Missouri, that produces genetically engineered seed and herbicide.  The first thing that came to my mind when I read that was that genetically engineered is not good…don’t mess with that.  Monsanto also used to produce DDT, Agent Orange, and PCBs to name a few.  Hmmmm….a company that used to produce chemicals that were deadly to humans and animals alike, not kosher.

When you read Monsanto’s website, they say that their purpose is to help farmers meet the needs of the growing population.  BUT they are helping to produce genetically modified organisms that have not been tested and can harm us.  A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM)* recently released its position paper on Genetically Modified foods stating that “GM foods pose a serious health risk” and calling for a moratorium on GM foods.

Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes “there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects” and that “GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health.”**

I have always learned that you don’t mess with Mother Nature…I just read an article that the pesticide Roundup, that Monsanto produces was told to be harmless to humans and animals and has now been deemed as “the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies.”  Roundup is sprayed on the majority of the world’s GM produce, is penned to cause autism … gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn’s disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, among others.”

I know that it is hard when you hear, “Don’t eat X because it will cause Y”, or “Z will do this, try to avoid it”, but this has been proven to harm!!!

Here are some tips to avoid buying food with GMOs:

1.  Buy organic
2. Look for food with labels stating “Non-GMO”
3. Avoid products that are made with ingredients that might be derived from GMOs.  The eight GM food crops are corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed, sugar beets, papaya from China, or Hawaii (most) and a small amount of zucchini

   and yellow squash. GM alfalfa is also fed to livestock.

4. Check out the Non-GMO Shopping guide HERE.

It’s scary, it truly is.  You have to really research and worry about everything you put into your body or surround yourself with.  It’s sad that this is the way life is right now, and I hear people say all the time, “Back when I was little we ate all of that stuff and we turned out fine.”  That could be because maybe there was no need for the genetic modification of the crops as the population wasn’t that big?

The best thing that you can do is educate yourself.  If you have any websites that you would like to share, I welcome them in the comments section!!

** quoted from nongmoshoppingguide.com