GMO Foods

To Avoid or Not?

The topic of GMO's is very controversial in my family.  Coming from an agricultural community where both my dad & step-dad, and now my brother, work in farming.  Their argument is that agriculture isn't sustainable without breeds of plants that will withstand the environment, that the world can't be fed and will eventually starve without GMO's and other advancements in agriculture that increase production.  I can see this argument to some extent; I saw first hand growing up how devasting a pest invasion or weeds can be to an entire crop.

However, what good is sustainable agriculture if it harms humans?  Which is the other side of the argument.  The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has reported, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food.”  These effects are already showing up in the insect populations so it begs the question how long before it affects humans?

The argument for GMO's says that studies show that it has no long-term effects on humans, but having looked at the study I see two glaring faults.  One, the study was commissioned by Monsanto - the company creating the GMO's - so it's hardly unbiased.  Second, it was a 3-month long study.  How can long-term effects possibly be determined in three months?  At the very least I fall in the middle camp that says more research is needed.  It reminds me of the transfats that were created decades ago as a healthier alternative to saturated fats in attempt to combat increased heart disease in our nation.  At the time everyone thought they were a great substitute.  Now, decades later, we know that while they may not contribute to heart disease, they cause cancer.  That's knowledge that only comes from time.  So, while we're waiting on more studies,  I'm erring on the 'safe' side and doing research to avoid GMO's.

Which brings me to this shopping guide: http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/Non-GMO-Shopping-Guide.pdf.  I have to say I was amazed at just how prevalent they are in our foods and how many my family is already consuming on a daily basis!  Things I never even though of, such as High fructose corn syrup - which we try to avoid for other reasons, but didn't even think of GMO's even though I know corn is one of the main products.  Aspertame was another surprise for me -- again something we avoid for other reasons but hadn't thought of the GMO angle.  However, the biggest Aha! for me was sugar!  Plain old sugar!  If the label simply says sugar and doesn't designate cane sugar or organic sugar, then it contains at least partially beet sugar, which is genetically modified.  Hmmmm.

My biggest take-away from the shopping guide was to buy organic as much as possible.  Avoid corn, soy, & sugar if not organic.  And stay away from aspertame.  I especially like that the guide lists brands that are committed to the Non GMO project - so I'll be on the lookout for those brands, and was pleased to find that my favorite rice cakes (Lundberg) are part of the Non GMO project.

However, I do wonder if one can truly stay completely away from GMO's?  Seems impossible unless you cook from scratch 100% of your food.  I don't do that - what about you?  Do you even worry about GMO's?