gmo free food is it worth it?

ncwall
ncwall Posts: 64 Member
edited December 24 in Food and Nutrition
Well I am learning new stuff every day and a couple people I know are very hci ( health concious indviduals) and are talking about how we should be working to have a gmo free eating habbits

http://truefoodnow.org/shoppers-guide/

http://enhs.umn.edu/current/5103/gm/harmful.html


Here are 2 links i found talk9ing about GMO and GE . Please if you have any more information about this Please feel free to add and post I am not only thingking about my self but attempting to assist in a healthy life style for my wife and baby

Thanks all

Replies

  • ncwall
    ncwall Posts: 64 Member
    unsure if people missed this or people just are not intersted in the topic. I was wondering is this the same as the clean eating I hear people talking about on here?


    any info or help understanding this would be great and if the research effort of trying to go gmo free is worth it
  • laulyn
    laulyn Posts: 70
    I think it is a personal choice. I do not do gmo free. Gmo's help feed the world, help keep food prices down, help conserve water, and allow the use of fewer chemicals. Gmo's are made to be more hearty, drought, and pest resistant. Gmo's are simply not a concern for me. I believe there has been much unneeded hype about gmo's. I am a vegetarian and try to be health concisous. Conserving water is very important to me. I believe in buying certain things organic, mostly for taste, such as avacados and strawberries. I also try to buy local produce when I can, though much of my produce comes from my own garden. We are also producers wheat, milo, and cattle. I try to stay informed on things like this; gmo's, hormones, and things like that. Do a little research and don't always go for the hype, decide for yourself. Hope this helps! :)
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
    If i could go GMO...I would...but on my VERY VERY tiny budget I can't. I eat fairly clean but definitely not as clean as I wish.

    I hope one day I can exclude all gmo foods from my diet...until the time comes Ill do my best with what I have.

    :)
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,446 Member
    It is on my avoid list. Unfortunately this is hard to do if you live in the US since labeling is not required. I don't want to be the guinea pig on this. ANd I do not believe they hype that GMO is saving the world.

    All I have to say is "transfats" were touted as being the best thing ever, and 20-30 years later they turned out to be the worst thing possible.
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
    If you want more information search "Dr. Mercola GMO". He discusses it every few days in his newsletters..
  • laulyn
    laulyn Posts: 70
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/213053-pros-cons-of-gmo-foods/

    Here is a quick overview of pros and cons. It is worth at least noting that a pro included is increased nutritional value. Comparing transfats and gmo's are like comparing apples and giraffes. Not at all the same.
  • ncwall
    ncwall Posts: 64 Member
    thank you for the input, yea I am not jumping head long into it but it is something that was brought to my attention so wanted to be a good critical thinker and gather more information and decide for my self which way I want to go. I drink silk almond milk and I know its gmo free, i prefer organic bananas they taste better and love skinny pop which is gmo free.


    thank you all for the input more research i am off to do :D
  • nero82
    nero82 Posts: 27
    I think higher on your priority list should be organics. GMO is more an ethical/environmental issue to me as opposed to a health issue. I dont agree with GMO generally and avoid it where I can, but I don't go crazy about it.
  • laus_8882
    laus_8882 Posts: 217 Member
    It's an ethical thing for me. I try and buy gmo-free tofu because I don't agree with Monsanto's corporate practices. Similarly, I'd rather buy fair trade rice or rice grown in Australia rather than fret about my rice being tainted by gmos when farmers have been tinkering with crops since they first figured out that certain traits can be bred in or out with a little time, persistence and luck. Given that millions in the world are starving and it's impossible to feed them all on organic produce and grass fed meat, I can't condemn gmos that increase crop yields and make it possible for a poor family in the third world to continue their lives.

    And the only reason to google Mercola is to find out what a money-grubbing piece of rubbish liar he is.
  • laulyn
    laulyn Posts: 70
    It's an ethical thing for me. I try and buy gmo-free tofu because I don't agree with Monsanto's corporate practices. Similarly, I'd rather buy fair trade rice or rice grown in Australia rather than fret about my rice being tainted by gmos when farmers have been tinkering with crops since they first figured out that certain traits can be bred in or out with a little time, persistence and luck. Given that millions in the world are starving and it's impossible to feed them all on organic produce and grass fed meat, I can't condemn gmos that increase crop yields and make it possible for a poor family in the third world to continue their lives.

    And the only reason to google Mercola is to find out what a money-grubbing piece of rubbish liar he is.

    Well said. I don't entirely agree, we actually don't breed in or out those traits ourselves, it is done by higher education research teams. All of our seed is bought locally and most of it is grown locally and was developed by Texas A&M. Most of what we use has been around for quite awhile.

    Again, well said. :)
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,446 Member
    GMO foods lead to the needs of stronger and stronger herbicides and pesticides, as the normal insects get adjusted to it, and grow resistent to the modified genes. How far will we have to go to keep up with evolution.

    I also worry about cross contamination from GMO seeds and non GMO seeds.

    For me GMO seeds are quite a lot like colonization. IT is like we ar forcing our crops and processes on to everyone else. Not every country around the world should be growing corn and soy. It doesn't suit their climate or soil or landscape. Over reliance on industrial corn and soy has ruined the soil in the midwest, and people don't even know what they should be growing. And sadly, most of our farmland here in the US is growing food that isn't fit for consumption until it is excessively processed into thickeners, flavoring agents, and whatever else they do with these industrial plants. "Solving the world hunger problem" looks more like a marketing-speak for creating profits in a new market segment.

    Right now the current claim is that consuming GMO plants is no different than non GMO products. If that is the case, why is it that Monsanto and friends aren't allowing us to have a GMO label on our foods? Shouldn't people have the choice to consume or not consume? Or are thy worried about falling profits. We have a long history of calling commercial additives "safe" and later finfing out they weren't so safe. Until then,
  • laulyn
    laulyn Posts: 70
    GMO foods lead to the needs of stronger and stronger herbicides and pesticides, as the normal insects get adjusted to it, and grow resistent to the modified genes. How far will we have to go to keep up with evolution.

    I also worry about cross contamination from GMO seeds and non GMO seeds.

    For me GMO seeds are quite a lot like colonization. IT is like we ar forcing our crops and processes on to everyone else. Not every country around the world should be growing corn and soy. It doesn't suit their climate or soil or landscape. Over reliance on industrial corn and soy has ruined the soil in the midwest, and people don't even know what they should be growing. And sadly, most of our farmland here in the US is growing food that isn't fit for consumption until it is excessively processed into thickeners, flavoring agents, and whatever else they do with these industrial plants. "Solving the world hunger problem" looks more like a marketing-speak for creating profits in a new market segment.

    Right now the current claim is that consuming GMO plants is no different than non GMO products. If that is the case, why is it that Monsanto and friends aren't allowing us to have a GMO label on our foods? Shouldn't people have the choice to consume or not consume? Or are thy worried about falling profits. We have a long history of calling commercial additives "safe" and later finfing out they weren't so safe. Until then,

    The idea is to evolve our seeds to reduce the need for pesticides and conserve water. We have adjusted our practices to meet demand. If just under half of the nation produced food as in the recent past, the need for GMO's could be reduced, though I still believe in the importance of conserving water. Now just over 1% of the nations population grows our food and food for export. The FDA regulates labeling, hence the fairly recent enactment of COOL. Monsanto is one of many companies who engineer and sell seed. We have adjusted many practices to suit the changing market, including utilizing a no till program. We use efficient equipment. We have a million dollars of equipment on land that cost much more than that to plant and pray. GMO's give us the best shot at making a crop. Choosing to buy non-GMO is a personal choice. I can see both sides of the argument, but as long as there is only 1% of the population producing food, they are a necessity. We do our very best to conserve our lands resources, be efficient, buy local, and pray for rain and a crop. GMO's also do allow countries to grow crops that may not have been intended to grow in a certain region, but now can marginally make enough to feed people who might otherwise starve.

    It is a personal choice of what to buy, but please don't judge the producers trying to make a living and feed the nation and beyond.
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