Last Monday night I had the honor of going to the Common Ground Banquet Dinner. It was a nice night a local farm with stations set up to learn about different farming practices throughout the state. It was hosted by Common Ground, which is a group of women farmers who have gathered together to help educate the public on farming practices, health, and roles they have in creating sustainability.
It was the fist Banquet Dinner near where I live and I had a great time. However, it was a little hard to RSVP to a farming event where half the food they farmed...I couldn't eat. Gluten, dairy,... soy. ha!
My aunt and her family are farmers so I have first hand experience working the cattle, and sitting in the combine. I love visiting the farm, taking our four wheelers out to ride up and down on the hills, but I also love helping with calving, and moving cows from one pasture to the next. For the man and I, it might be a working vacation but we love it all the same. My aunt, as well as her husband, and I have had many discussions on how the cattle are treated, where my food comes from, and how it's grown. There's been a lot of backlash against big farm corporations, but what I didn't realize, at least where we live, that 90% of farms are family owned. These family owned farms are fighting back against some of the attack ads that have come out against them.
Let's start with the biggest misconception that consumers are believing. That GMO's are bad for you.
GMO's or genetically modified organism is basically a plant that's been put together by scientists and farmers using the best genes from their family tree. If you think about it...and this might be a terrible analogy, but it's like breeding dogs. Some people really want a pure bred dog, with all the best qualities, hypoallergenic, able to fight bulls, etc. That's essentially what scientists and farmers are doing with plants.
Did you know, I certainly didn't, that there are only 10 crops that are that are considered genetically modified.
1. Corn
2. Soybeans
3. Cotton
4. Canola
5. Alfalfa
6. Sugar Beets (I've never actually had a sugar beet before)
7. Papaya
8. Squash
8. Potato
10. Apples
They are making these crops and plants more resistant to bugs, insects, herbicide tolerant (WHAT? Aka, turns your plants into warrior plants. Meaning they are harder to kill among the weeds.) This is just to name a few things.
Now that we know the basics of what a GMO is, how it's been created what does it mean for our livestock animals?
I checked out the the GMOanswers.com and found out what happens if a livestock animal consumes a GMO product "It turns out that conventional and organic feeds can have more of the mycotoxin fumonisin in them than does insect resistant GM feed. Specifically, studies show that insect protected corn can have less fumonisin. Molds that produce mycotoxin often grow at sites of insect damage on corn ears and because the GM grain has less insect damage it has less mold and consequently lower levels of fumonisin. Thus GM grain can in this instance be safer than non-GM. Fumonisin causes esophageal cancer, neural tube defect babies (NTDs) and other illnes"
Secondly what impact do GMO's have on our health?
Pamela Ronald, Plant Geneticist (studies Rice Genetics at University of California at Davis) a guest on Star Talk Radio with Neil Degrasse Tyson states "Every crop must be looked at on a case by case basis...every major scientific organization in the world including the National Academy of Sciences, European Food Safety Authority and many other organizations have concluded that the process of genetic engineering is no more risky than conventional breeding. In fact, genetic engineering has been used for the past 40 years in cheeses, medicine, and in crops. There hasn't been a single case of harm to human health or the environment."
One of the most sited researches against GMOs is the Seralini Study , where rats were fed heavy amounts of genetically modified feed as well, the pesticide round up. According to Scott Kennedy of Food Evolution the research may be a little skewed as they were feeding a known chemical to an animal. As well as the rats that were used in the study were known to develop tumors if they lived longer than two years of age. Which these rats were older than 2 years. This study was later redacted from the scientific journals because of these issues but it is still being cited as a case against GMOs.
The importance of GMOs according to Pamela is "we need to advance sustainable agriculture. There are many important tools that we need. We need ecological based farming practices but we also need seed. That seed could be developed with many approaches."
I didn't want to come out for or against GMOs and give you my opinion up front. I want to present to you the facts and research I have found through a short time frame of research. I feel as if I could spend weeks on researching and still not be able to do this post justice. Even if you check the National Center Biotechnology of Information most of the studies that are being conducted on how consumers feel about GMOS, not the harm that each of these crops "might" produce. In some studies they are asking for more research in order to be able to track the GMO from plant to livestock to human, but even that is varied and depends on each individual farm. While I'm not opposed to more research on the long term affects on humans, thus far the studies have yet to prove the long term damage that could potentially come from any modified plant.
I'll leave it up to whether you decide to eat a GMO product or not...for me, it's simple. I'm going to continue to each some of these crops, and some I won't...not because they are genetically modified but because I am allergic to some of the pesticides used to treat them. (YOU SHOULD ALWAYS WASH YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES!)
Bottom Line: Act local, Think Global. As Pamela Ronald said "How are we going to feed our growing population without destroying our environment?"
Something to think about anyway. Later this week I'll be back with more info from the banquet...next big hitter, hormones in our meat. Then later, organic farming!
Blessings,
A
It was the fist Banquet Dinner near where I live and I had a great time. However, it was a little hard to RSVP to a farming event where half the food they farmed...I couldn't eat. Gluten, dairy,... soy. ha!
My aunt and her family are farmers so I have first hand experience working the cattle, and sitting in the combine. I love visiting the farm, taking our four wheelers out to ride up and down on the hills, but I also love helping with calving, and moving cows from one pasture to the next. For the man and I, it might be a working vacation but we love it all the same. My aunt, as well as her husband, and I have had many discussions on how the cattle are treated, where my food comes from, and how it's grown. There's been a lot of backlash against big farm corporations, but what I didn't realize, at least where we live, that 90% of farms are family owned. These family owned farms are fighting back against some of the attack ads that have come out against them.
Let's start with the biggest misconception that consumers are believing. That GMO's are bad for you.
GMO's or genetically modified organism is basically a plant that's been put together by scientists and farmers using the best genes from their family tree. If you think about it...and this might be a terrible analogy, but it's like breeding dogs. Some people really want a pure bred dog, with all the best qualities, hypoallergenic, able to fight bulls, etc. That's essentially what scientists and farmers are doing with plants.
Did you know, I certainly didn't, that there are only 10 crops that are that are considered genetically modified.
1. Corn
2. Soybeans
3. Cotton
4. Canola
5. Alfalfa
6. Sugar Beets (I've never actually had a sugar beet before)
7. Papaya
8. Squash
8. Potato
10. Apples
They are making these crops and plants more resistant to bugs, insects, herbicide tolerant (WHAT? Aka, turns your plants into warrior plants. Meaning they are harder to kill among the weeds.) This is just to name a few things.
Now that we know the basics of what a GMO is, how it's been created what does it mean for our livestock animals?
I checked out the the GMOanswers.com and found out what happens if a livestock animal consumes a GMO product "It turns out that conventional and organic feeds can have more of the mycotoxin fumonisin in them than does insect resistant GM feed. Specifically, studies show that insect protected corn can have less fumonisin. Molds that produce mycotoxin often grow at sites of insect damage on corn ears and because the GM grain has less insect damage it has less mold and consequently lower levels of fumonisin. Thus GM grain can in this instance be safer than non-GM. Fumonisin causes esophageal cancer, neural tube defect babies (NTDs) and other illnes"
Secondly what impact do GMO's have on our health?
Pamela Ronald, Plant Geneticist (studies Rice Genetics at University of California at Davis) a guest on Star Talk Radio with Neil Degrasse Tyson states "Every crop must be looked at on a case by case basis...every major scientific organization in the world including the National Academy of Sciences, European Food Safety Authority and many other organizations have concluded that the process of genetic engineering is no more risky than conventional breeding. In fact, genetic engineering has been used for the past 40 years in cheeses, medicine, and in crops. There hasn't been a single case of harm to human health or the environment."
One of the most sited researches against GMOs is the Seralini Study , where rats were fed heavy amounts of genetically modified feed as well, the pesticide round up. According to Scott Kennedy of Food Evolution the research may be a little skewed as they were feeding a known chemical to an animal. As well as the rats that were used in the study were known to develop tumors if they lived longer than two years of age. Which these rats were older than 2 years. This study was later redacted from the scientific journals because of these issues but it is still being cited as a case against GMOs.
The importance of GMOs according to Pamela is "we need to advance sustainable agriculture. There are many important tools that we need. We need ecological based farming practices but we also need seed. That seed could be developed with many approaches."
I didn't want to come out for or against GMOs and give you my opinion up front. I want to present to you the facts and research I have found through a short time frame of research. I feel as if I could spend weeks on researching and still not be able to do this post justice. Even if you check the National Center Biotechnology of Information most of the studies that are being conducted on how consumers feel about GMOS, not the harm that each of these crops "might" produce. In some studies they are asking for more research in order to be able to track the GMO from plant to livestock to human, but even that is varied and depends on each individual farm. While I'm not opposed to more research on the long term affects on humans, thus far the studies have yet to prove the long term damage that could potentially come from any modified plant.
I'll leave it up to whether you decide to eat a GMO product or not...for me, it's simple. I'm going to continue to each some of these crops, and some I won't...not because they are genetically modified but because I am allergic to some of the pesticides used to treat them. (YOU SHOULD ALWAYS WASH YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES!)
Bottom Line: Act local, Think Global. As Pamela Ronald said "How are we going to feed our growing population without destroying our environment?"
Something to think about anyway. Later this week I'll be back with more info from the banquet...next big hitter, hormones in our meat. Then later, organic farming!
Blessings,
A
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