Genetically Modified Foods: High GMO/GM Levels, Allergies And Anaphylactic Shock That Can Stop You permanently
72People with food allergies may not be aware that when they eat a genetically modified food (GM food) it could be the last food they ever eat. One example is the soy bean. In 1996, genes from the brazil nut were spliced into soybeans to enhance the protein content. Some individuals are so allergic to the brazil nut that they can go into anaphylactic shock which can lead to death. Because there are no laws requiring companies to label foods that have been genetically modified, individuals with food allergies have no idea what they are eating and cannot protect themselves from the dangers of GM foods.
According to an editorial found in the New England Journal of Medicine, blood tests have shown that millions of americans have allergies to certain foods, the higher percentage of these being among children under the age of three. Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago reports that in recent years the rate of food allergies in children has skyrocketed. The Center of Disease Control has confirmed an increase in food allergies in americans on a national level. In fact since GM foods were first introduced in 1996, the rate of allergies and chronic diseases has doubled.
Fish Proteins Spliced into Produce
The FDA, whose job it is to protect public, claims that (GM) foods are no different than regular foods. What they don’t mention is that they have been under intense pressure from industry lobbyist to make this claim. Against the advise of their own scientists, the FDA decided that there was no need for allergy and safety testing of the most commonly consumed foods.
One example is the tomato. Food sensitive individuals should feel safe eating tomatoes because they do not trigger allergies. In 1990, the DNA Plant Technology Corporation began genetically modifying tomatoes with fish proteins, which are known to be among the most hyper-allergenic of all foods. Since there is no requirement for GMO food labeling, people who eat these tomatoes who are allergic to fish proteins are no longer safe eating tomatoes.
Other GM foods that have been found to cause allergic reactions in people include potatoes, corn and peas. The most commonly consumed GM foods include processed foods containing corn syrup from GM corn, vegetable oils from GM canola and soy, sugar from GM sugar beets and meat, eggs, milk and cheese from animals given GM growth vaccines and hormones.
These GM foods are the ingredients found in processed, refined and fast food. Americans typically spend ninety percent of their food budget on processed foods and therefore most of the food intake is from foods that have been genetically modified.
Modern medicine has in the twentieth century brought about the decline of infectious disease but at the same time, the rise of immune system disorders and the degenerative diseases associated with these disorders. GM foods can now be added to the list of culprits responsible for degeneration of the immune system and the onset of autoimmune diseases. Foreign DNA fragments found in GM foods are not always completely digested in the stomach and intestines. These fragments enter the bloodstream and mix with normal DNA, forming unpredictable and dangerous gene fragments.
GM foods are promoting new super-viruses. The majority of all fruits, vegetables and baby food in the United States come from crops genetically modified to resist viruses. Experiments show that these genetically engineered viral genes designed to protect against virus attacks gives rise to the formation of even more deadly viruses.
Injecting Cows with Growth Hormones Makes Huge Profits
The genetically engineered growth hormone (rBGH) injected into cows to increase milk production increases udder infections requiring the use of large amounts of antibiotics. This results in unacceptable levels of antibiotic residue in milk which has been found to increase allergic reaction and weaken the affects of antibiotics being used to treat viruses. This growing resistance to antibiotics combined with new virus strains being formed from GM foods and a weakened immune system is giving rise to greater resurgence of infectious disease than ever before.
GM foods have been found to impair the body’s immune defense system. The intestines contain healthy bacteria which is the first line of defense against every disease and health condition. Research shows the GM foods are changing the genetic structure of these healthy bacteria. In their altered form they are producing abnormal proteins responsible for a host of serious health conditions.
How to Avoid GM Foods
Avoid processed foods containing corn, sugar beets, soy, canola and cotton seed. The best place to find corn, corn products, sweeteners and oils is at your local health food store. If you eat beef, pork or fowl you are getting a regular dose of GM corn second hand. Cattle and other livestock are fed a diet of GM corn. When choosing meats, look for only free range or alfalfa fed livestock meats only. When choosing fruits and vegetables always choose organic.
Cattle Fed A Diet of Genetically Modified Corn
Change always takes effort but the rewards are great. Switching to a healthy, organic diet will not only improve long term health but will help organic farming win the battle against GM farming, which is one big step towards a healthier society.
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Thanks for your comment William! You don't have to go far to find a real tomato or many other plant foods. Just by certified organic at the supermarket or local health store.
Great hub! I loved the pictures you used. We've had chronic digestive disorders, Crohn's and weight stuggles in our immediate family and I've always suspected GM foods. Now we're experiencing severe food allergies in the next generation.
Good, if scary information. We have to be super careful these days when it comes to what we put into our bodies. But finding organic products can be tough for those of us who live in small towns far from big cities. We just don't have that kind of choice.
SM122000 - Thumbs up (but only if unmodified!) Useful info.
Gus :-)))
I wonder how a person can be sure? Maybe grow all of their own food. Back to gardens and small farms. We are lucky and have an all organic farmer's market.
Thanks for all comments! rsusan, you can always grow your own or look to local farmers. which would be much better than buying from the supermarket.
SM122000 - Reading several comments and your reply caused me to wonder -
If the genes of a plant have been altered, and you grow the thing "organically." how could that possibly influence the composition of the proteins produced (arbitrated) by those modified genes? Grow the plants in your own garden or buy them from "organic growers" would make no difference at all in the proteins you will consume by eating that plant. True, there would be an absense of noxious stuff in a plant (or in an animal) that had not been fed bad things (exogenous stuff), but what is produced within the plant or animal (endogenous stuff) would not be influenced unless the absense of stuff from outside of the plant, like noxious fertilizers, antibiotics, etc., was what you are really considering.
Once the gene is there, it is there. What it does, it will do. If it is a peanut protein gene, you will get peanut proteins. Grow the thing anywhere you want, you will get peanut proteins. If it is beef cattle, you will get shark protein if that is the gene you have installed. Grow the cattle in vacuum chambers, you are going to get some shark protein in your beefsteak. Feed the cattle hay in the barn, clover in the field, or corn on the cob, your steaks will have shark protein in them, and most likely, so would the cows' milk.
Genetic modification works from the "inside" and is not dependent on where you grow or raise the products.
Gus :-)))
Gus, where are you getting your information? Organic soil has to be free from all forms of contaminants for a minimum of 3 years to be considered organic and the products those soils produce certified as organic.
SM12200 - Hi Steve...
My comment was really not related to "organic growing, organic soil, antibiotic feeding," or anything like those. It was pretty simply that, when you direct a gene to make a protein, or to moderate some bodily (plant or animal) process, it doesn't matter much at all where or how you grow the thing, harvest it, or the like.
The gene does its thing in the plant or animal body and, there, it produces whatever it was that nature planned for it to produce.
Peanut genes produce peanut proteins. Butterfly genes produce butterfly proteins. Human genes produce human proteins.
If a person who is allergic to peanut proteins eats asparagus modified with peanut genes that is grown on PURE organic soil that never ever had been exposed to peanut proteins, the allergic individual will likely suffer from his or her peanut protein allergy.
The place of growing the stuff or the farming methods that are used will not matter in the least. The modified genes, so to speak, are what matter. It matters not at all if the soil is "certified as organic" (whatever in the world that means other than that it is several years beyond having been zapped with chemical fertilizers or insecticides).
If the genes are there, the proteins for which they moderate will also be there. Put seaweed genes into mouse chromosomes and you will get "seaweed entity bearing mice." Grow those mice on "organic certified straw" and feed them with "organic certified mouse food," the seaweed stuff will be inside of them.
Genetic modification and farming practices are two very different things.
That is where "I am getting my info."
I surely do not mean to be argumenative. I appreciate "organic growing" practices. I practice them myself because I think they are effective, money-saving, and fun. I am not all that much appreciative of genetic modification, but I certainly do understand it. Part of that understanding is the absolute knowledge that genetic modification of living beings, plant or animal, is NOT organic agriculture and it is also NOT anti-organic agriculture. Even so, when it is combined with organic agriculture it MAY sometimes prove beneficial overall. (Unless it produces allergens in foods that harm those who eat them.)
But that depends on what the genetic modification perpetrates on the living organism and on those who later attempt to utilize it as food, etc.
Now then, just to be argumentative, I would ask if farm soil that has been contaminated with anthrax spores 10 years ago would be "considered cerifiably organic" if it has not had anything else dumped on it in the last 3 years? Surely it was contaminated more than 3 years earlier. Just as surely, anthrax spores are contaminants (...As you noted, "all forms of contaminants," right?) and the spores persist in soil for many, many years. When animals are exposed to anthrax spores those animals may become sick and die.
Another example might be tobacco (which, hopefully, no one eats!). It is contaminated by 210-polonium which is descended from 210-lead, both of which are in all natural soils in which tobacco is grown. Most tobacco plants grown in the U.S. are grown in soils that are routinely fertilized with inorganic fertilizers that are phosphate-heavy, and the phosphate content of those manufactured fertilizers give rise to a great increase in the amount of radioactivity taken up by the tobacco plants. In fact, the radioactivity of U.S. tobacco is almost 6 times that of tobacco grown in places like India, for example. So right there is a clear example of the benefit of "organically certified" tobacco. But what would happen to either type of tobacco if it were genetically modified to produce some sort of poison that would kill smokers within 10 days of their smoking instead of the 30 years taken to kill them with COPD and cancer from the inhaled radioactivity.
See the difference between organically grown stuff and genetically modified stuff? It is a very big difference.
No matter the distinctions between gene modification and "certified organic growing," your article made some good and very important points very worthy of everyone's due consideration. For that, you are to be greatly thanked.
Regards, Gus :-)))
Gus, I appreciate your thoughts on the subject. The idea of genetically modifying organic produce for the possible benefits it might provide would just be be another attempt by man to manipulate the natural order of things. Good intentions always result in disaster. The thought of certifying soil contaminated with anthrax just because it contaminated more than three years ago seems ludicrous. Organic soil is tested for contaminants and certainly wouldn't be used if it contained toxins harmful to human health. Rather than debating the subject consider the health of the many individuals have been eating an all organic diet for a long period of time. They look better, feel better than others and rarely get sick.
SM122000 - Putting a roof over one's head is another attempt by man to manipulate the natural order of things, as is sending electricity here and there to operate appliances, etc. Disaster strikes when people grab hold of the wrong wires. Organic farming is wonderful. The problem with organic farming is that it cannot grow sufficient food for all the people who need feeding. All of that has nothing to do with genetic manipulation of foodstuffs. "GM" has allowed some Asian cultures to feed themselves instead of starving. They already used only cow poop on their rice paddies, but starvation was not a desirable alternative to rice improvement through "GM" of the rice. I do not want to be disagreeable, but I do not dispute the nice things about "organic agriculture." I like it. But to also dispute the benefits of agricultural improvement by way of plant disease prevention, agricultural pest elimination, and nutritional enhancement by way of truly useful genetic manipulation (of which there have been several examples thus far)is just plain foolishness.
Yes, I would definitely be much in favor of the practice of notifying folks that a particular product destined for consumption be required. If you are going to combine fish stuff in tomatoes, you should say so. Mark it right on the seed package so that each and every "certified organic farmer" knows that his or her tomatoes have fish stuff in them even if they and their forbears for the last 300 years have never use inorganic fertilizers or pesticides - not ever. Then, when they sell their tomatoes at the store or at their own little fruit stand, they should say to buyers = "Hey - my tomatoes have fish stuff in them, genetically there, by golly!"
That, Steve-o, is the point of my comments. I don't care how the stuff is grown. If the genes are there, the gene-moderated stuff will also be there.
Gus :-)))
Gus, someone has you convinced that foods that are proven to destroy our health is the only way to feed the world and it just isn't true. If you are going to make a statement that organic farming cannot feed the world, prove it. Before GM foods and before conventional farming, organic farming fed the world for thousands of years. Oh by the way Gus, my name is Steve.
Great article Steve. GMO's are dangerous to any individuals health and well being. I am on the bandwagon with banning GMO's from the American diet.
Thanks for your comment Marlin! When public outcry becomes loud enough, food producers have no choice but to listen. We are already seeing this take place as many major manufacturers are beginning to add organic foods to their product lines.
Gus - Anything that has been genetically modified can no longer be called organic by the industry. It doesn't matter if the soil is organic or that they don't use pesticides - if it is a GMO product, it is not organic, period.
Steve - Great hub! I think a lot of people just don't want to think about the food that they eat. It can be scary and depressing if you start to delve into the system too much. Then you feel obligated to buy food that is much more expensive than what you are used to paying and that can make people very defensive. Personally, I try to buy as much organic food as possible, but I can't always afford it. One tip I have - if you live near a Whole Foods, their 365 brand is very affordable and guaranteed to be GMO free.
Thanks for your comment ThreeFootHat!
You're right! People don't think about the food they eat and that is why there is so much disease and obesity today.
Thanks for this great hub and the useful informations. But you can't stop this madness as long as you can make the big money with GM food and the politicians don't do anything to stop this insanity because they are the slaves of this mafia.
Thanks for your comment nextstojupiter!
Actually we can stop it because food producers are slaves to the will of the public. Every time we purchase a GM food we are voting for the company that produces it. If enough people switch to organic these food producers are forced to change or go out of business. Believe me these food producers fear the public. Public outcry about GM foods so far has caused food producers to pressure the FDA to say that GM foods do not require food labeling. These companies understand the old saying " out of sight, out of mind."
I agree with you that people power - the switch from GM to organic food - can make a difference but without education there is a long way to go. As long as the GM food producers have the money and the power to manipulate the people, the process of change will be very slow but I believe that there is hope. Your hub is at least a step in the right direction.
Hi Steve - It is good of you to pursue an interesting dialogue with your admiring readers - of whom I am certainly one. You asked me to provide some reference as to where I got the idea that "organic farming methods" were insufficient to feed a growing population. Here is a quotation from a large article about that subject - mostly the article was very much for organic methods. Below the quotation is a URL that you can use to access the entire article.
"Moos (1997) assessed the potential global production of food from agriculture run organically, and concluded that the vast majority of Earth's population would have to starve to death, in the case of total convertion. Her calculation however, was an extrapolation from yields in North Korea, which she claim is 'truly organic' as they cannot afford neither fertilizers nor pesticides. More than anything this exemplifies the disturbingly low level at which the debate has been waged at times.
I found the entire article interesting. It is from Denmark, a very agricultural nation, so whoever is in that mix likely knows what they are talking about.
Actually I have read many articles that spoke of the differences in agricultural yields between organic farming and ordinary commercial farming. On the whole, the differences were startling to me. Potato yields stand out in my memory with customary fertilizers being credited with several times the yields from organic methods. I do not recall the source of that information but the difference in yield was really very large - as I recollect, perhaps twice as much with chemical fertilizers.
I enjoy reading your articles, Steve. I hope you enjoy reading the article from Denmark. It is a good one.
Gus :-)))
Thumbs up, It is really great hub with good information.
We have to be careful for what we eat.
Thanks
That's great Gus, but I can't say I trust your source. Here is a credible source from the University of California explaining how through organic farming we can "...develop sustainable farming methods that have the potential to help the world feed and sustain itself." There is also another benefit "Organic management practices promote soil health, water conservation and can reverse environmental degradation."
How's this for a credible source.
Christos Vasilikiotis, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
Hi Steve - Thanks for the interesting link to that fellow over there in Berkely. All arguments aside, mine or anyone else's... If "organic agriculture" were the better way to do things, the commercial growers would all be into "organic agriculture." What is better would make them more money, right? So I would only ask anyone who might be interested in the controversy, why does not everyone choose the "better way." All the same, Steve, that was not the main subject of your article. The main subject, as I understood it, was genetic manipulation. Perhaps I need to go back to the grades and learn better how to read. What may be needed is another article concerning the differences between commercial agriculture as now practiced and organic farming. Mixing the two very different subjects may not be the best of all ideas, if they are indeed "ideas." Seems to me that there is a lot of "heat" released when the two subjects are mixed (confused).
Gus :-)))
interesting take on the auto immune issues. They are such a mystery but this makes a lot of sense.
Gus, I think that Organic farming vs. GM farming is very relevant to this article because if every one wanted organic food, organic farming would prevail. The purpose of this hub is to encourage people to support organic farming rather than GM farming by choosing to buy organic foods. Organic farming only works when it is produced by many small farms worldwide. That is why large food producers don't want it because they can't profit from it.
Nice hub. Man this post scares me. Good thing I'm going mostly organic in my groceries.
and they're cloning the good tasting cattle beef. It helps the corporations, the farming industry, and the medical industry as more health problems arise. That train ain't stoppin' it has too much momentum and maybe 70% to 80% of the population will have medical problems in a decade or two in the US.
Thank you for this alert Steve. I actually wrote a 13 page article 4 years ago when I became aware of the health risks surrounding GMO's. I became quite a little activist--in fact it was a "religion" to me for a time. Anyone within 3 feet of me received a warning about GMO's, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, the devastation to our Honey Bee's-- Monsanto is the Devil, all of it!
I have always had a huge interest in herbs and all things Natural Healing related. I studied it practically full-time. I am still a huge believer. I even convinced my Doctor!
So thank you for your excellent work through these hubs. While I am still staunchly a believer in natural healing, I came to Christ a year ago, and so now HE is my religion. But I am so gonna follow your work here! Great JOB!
Thanks for your comment exjwlaurie! Congratulations on your new found faith and thanks for stopping by.
Stevemark122000 - this is a VERY important hub - for everyone who eats! I am in the process of writing and publishing a series of hubs reference 'scams' which have been visited deliberately upon us and my very next one is on drugs and chemicals in food!
I bow to your great knowledge on this subject Steve, far greater than mine as I have merely learned a little about a lot of 'scams' - would you obect if I directed other hubber's attentions to your work here by mentioning you in my next hub?
Hope you might not object - I feel the whole subject is vital - and not some other time - right now! Thanks for this - great hub and voted up.
Thanks for your comment amorea!
Feel free to mention this hub. The more people that learn the truth the better.. I'm looking forward to reading your hub.
Another excellent article. I have been crabbing about this to everyone i know for the past several years, to the point they are all sick of hearing me and run the other way when they see me coming. LOL. And now they will be ruining salmon that i have always enjoyed so much. Just saw that one on CNN where the FDA is "considering" okaying it. And we all know what that means - it will be done and none of us will even know it. Makes me sick just thinking about it. Of course your hub is a little more eloquent than my ranting about it. Keep up the good work.
I have been reading you all- mostly the GMO "war" between Steve and Gus. I have to say that I have read where Organic Tomatoes are not more nutritional than non-organic, due to less something or other in them- I tried to locate the article but cannot without turning the house up-side down, or searching ALL my files on the compy.
Also MANY farms are organic but cannot PAY for the certification thus, being labeled Organic is not the end all in healthy foods- obviously.
But unfortunately, we need them to be all labeled this (for FREE btw by the US gov. as a public service for the citizens)because, the GMO industry is causing havoc in our lifestyles.
Now, I KNOW GMO or Monsanto- is all about MONEY AND POWER.
If you don't know that Gus then google Monsanto, PCBs, Agent Orange, Aspartame and see the history of POISONS this company has been dealing in since their inception as a factory in Mo.
I get your logic Gus about the difference between GMO and farming with organic soil, purified water, etc...
but truly,
lily bugs have been known to sustain plants who cannot and WILL Not get nutrients from the ground- they "heal" plants, if you will and simple farmers in "third world" countries know this and have come here and taught us, the big "leader" in the world.
One reason why farming is not sustaining people is because the gov. has been telling/paying them to plant X,Y,Z. none of which is for people consumption but for trading/commercial uses.
Well, that certainly helped to starve many nations who prior to this were self sustaining.
All I can say on this "war" is that neither one is right 100% of your thoughts.
Organic is not the end all solution- in fact if not done properly threats of bacteria in E.Coli have broken out and that can kill!
(manure can be dangerous!)
GMO is tampering with nature- just like Hybrid animals used in the animal sales industry have produced "cute" but weak and sickly animals for the public to "enjoy" or watch die sooner than those poor animals should have, tampering with gene cells is NOT smart. MAN is not informed ENOUGH to know what he is doing.
For example- a perfect example of the simplification that man uses in his thinking-
taking ONE amino acid out of a bunch of them all with different jobs found in nature and saying it is safe to do this is ridiculous. (it is not.) and we have found this to be true in the effects that Aspartame gives to people who consume it. (brain tumors due to the job that the ONE amino acid in it wreaks on the human brain. Resulting in a brain tumor. )
What in the dickens is so smart about that? and now the world is drinking this stupidity of chemistry- the big FAIL.
Aspartame is an excitotoxin- allowing too much calcium into the brain and burning the cell found therein.
well, man oversimplified and thought it would be a smart thing to do-
nature is brilliant and all we can aspire to do with it is learn from it as have the Native Indigenous race. They respect it and learn from it sitting in their humble pie. I wish we could aspire to do that- many have and the benefits they have found in doing so is saving millions of people from disease and many other ills-
this is who "revelations" come to - those who are humble and LISTEN vs. those who are trying to "force" things to go their way and lie about what they have to share because the only thought they gave it was how to sucker a buck from the imbecilic public who believes what media they have contrived will say !
enuf said :P
This is a truly important hub, Steve! I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about nutrition, but learned some vital things from your article.
I buy many fruits and veggies organic, but not all of them. I avoid processed foods, and, of course, don't eat meat at all. However, I could be getting GM "interference" with the non-organic fruits and veggies I buy. It's very difficult for a senior citizen on a fixed income to buy exclusively organic foods because they're priced so much higher. I'm glad spring is here so the local farmers' market will be open (though not all local farmers use organic methods--I have to search for the few who do).
One of the really bad issues about this whole scenario of GM foods is that there should be a government agency that would REALLY protect the public from unsafe foods, but it doesn't exist. Even those, such as the USDA, which I once thought was there for the consumer, actually just look out for the meat industry corporations!
People must educate themselves and learn how to avoid so many things, from GM foods to unsafe prescription drugs that the FDA approves while they fight tooth and nail to keep natural supplements off the shelves! It's disgusting! Jaye
Go to www.justlabelit.org to petition the FDA to label genetically engineered foods - spread the word!!
William F. Torpey Level 2 Commenter 19 months ago
I'm sure the majority of Americans are living on a diet of GM foods, stevemark122000, and it appears to me we're all in a lot of trouble. Corporations are becoming more powerful every day and, apparently, there's no stopping them so we'll have to live with the results. Personally, I remember what a real tomato tastes like, but I don't expect I'll ever taste one again (I've been searching for a real tomato for years without success.) Thanks for spreading the word about this serious problem.