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5 Myths GMO Companies Want You to Believe
It’s hard to believe, but just a few years ago, GMO’s were rarely talked about. Today, however, GMO’s, along with the pesticides that go with them, are not only banned in many countries all over the globe, but it seems as if it’s the topic of conversation everywhere.
Some people have been noted as saying “What’s the big deal about GMO’s? It doesn’t look as though they are hurting anything.” This is where the myths begin. First off, GMO’s have only been around since 1994. There is no way of telling the long term effects of these products on human or animal populations in such a short amount of time. Remember DDT? It was “discovered” in 1939 but began being commonly used at the end of WWII and then widely used as an effective pesticide in 1948. It took until the mid-sixties before the damage to animals and people (especially birds) became well known and accepted. It still wasn’t banned until 1972. 20 years is not a long time by these standards. There is simply no way possible anyone can test and evaluate all possible data to say with certainty that GMO’s are harmless.
Photo credit: bigstock
If you think biotech companies will always tell the American people the truth, you are in for a shock. Just recently it was discovered that they were using deceptive semantics of their formulations as well as their regulatory practices. A recently published study showed that the herbicide Roundup was 125 times more toxic than its makers claimed. This was in the Journal Biomedical Research International.
Want to know more myths biotech companies want you to believe? Here is a list of the top 5.
1. GMO Crops are the Only Way to Stop World Hunger
This is a very common lie GMO proponents will tell you. They often state that, without GMO’s, world hunger will continue to increase and kill millions of people.
Consider this; the amount of money the United States spends on national defense and war would probably feed everyone on the planet for one whole year. It’s ridiculous to think that we do not have the resources available to feed the world.
We could set up sustainable agriculture worldwide if chose to do so. GMO crops are not sustainable. Don’t believe it? In India, where Monsanto sells its insect repellent cotton, the seeds cost twice as much as regular seeds; require much more water as well as herbicides. Monsanto’s cotton has literally wreaked havoc on India’s cotton farmers. Don’t forget, too, that Monsanto does not allow for the collection of seeds since they have a patent on them. As a result, this could mean that entire communities could be pushed to the edge of starvation. Saying that they are trying to end world hunger and/or poverty is simply a way to justify the use of GMO’s in the same way 9/11 was the justification for invading Iraq.
SEE MORE: 6 Easy Ways to AVoid Eating GMOs
2. GMO’s Need Less Pesticides (so they are safer)
Food and Water Watch released a study recently that showed that the goal of using fewer chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) has not worked out as planned, nor as we are told has it. Both the EPA and the USDA showed data that farmers who use GMO crops have habitually increased their herbicide use over the last 9 years. Like the overuse of antibiotics has bred a new breed of “super bugs” that are highly resistant to antibiotics, the over use of pesticides has led to “super bugs”. This means farmers must use greater amounts of pesticides or they must continually try new ones. By the way, the same is true of “super weeds”.
There are literally dozens of articles and reports that show that this is yet another lie biotech companies are feeding us. Check the internet and you will see that this is true.
3. GMO Technology is Similar to the Cross-Breeding Our Ancestors Did
This is absolutely not true. What our ancestors did was cross-pollination, where pollination occurred within different varieties of the same plant species. For example, it used to be that you needed to plant both a “male” pear tree and a “female” pear tree in the same spot, or near to each other, so you would be able to obtain fruit. With cross pollination, our ancestors have made it so you need only one tree to have fruit because they now contain both male and female aspects. This is completely reasonable and natural as well, since nothing genetically about the tree has been altered. This could actually have occurred naturally over time. Modifying seeds on a genetic level is a whole ‘nother story, friends.
GMO seeds go way beyond what would ever happen in nature, into part of biology humans really know very little about. For an example, Monsanto has genetic material from a type of bacteria with corn seeds. They hoped to create a bug-resistant plant. This means that any insect that eats any part of the corn plant will die because this pesticide is now a part of the plant, not something sprayed on, it’s an actual part of the plant. So when you eat GMO corn, you are eating this pesticide too.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: How to AVoid GMO Foods at Grocery Stores
4. The FDA as well as the USDA says GMO’s are Safe, so They Must be OK
The US government used to use DDT on their soldiers as a means of killing typhus germs, too. Too many people believe that if the US government says something is OK, then it must be OK. The public believes that Uncle Sam is looking out for our health and safety, that it’s their number one concern. Well, that would be nice if it were true but it’s not.
The FDA is supposed to protect public health by assuring us that the foods they oversee are safe, well labeled, and sanitary. The EPA was established to protect the health of humans and the environment. The USDA oversees most livestock and poultry. All three of these government agencies have websites with their mission statements on them that you can read for yourself. They certainly sound good and look good up there on that computer screen but, unfortunately, most of it is just a bunch of rhetoric designed to make us feel good.
This is not to belittle the employees who work for these agencies. Most employees are very conscientious about their work and truly believe in what they are doing. It’s their leadership that’s tainted and it’s clear that they don’t have our best interests in their mind.
Are you finding that hard to swallow? Check out this short list just for starters.
- Clarence Thomas: General Counsel for Monsanto > US Supreme Court justice.
- Margaret Miller: Monsanto supervisor > Deputy Director of Human Food Safety
- Donald Rumsfeld: Board of Directors for Monsanto’s Searle Pharmaceuticals > US Secretary of Defense
- Ann Veneman: Monsanto Board of Directors > US Secretary of Agriculture
You might want to think twice about that USDA approved label in the future. These are some of the same people who will tell you that pesticides and radiated food is perfectly OK, but raw milk isn’t (read more about Europe raw milk vending machines). Something stinks here.
5. There is No Proof GMO’s are Harmful
This is perhaps their most common argument. So, if GMO’s are so “safe” and there is no “proof”, then why are they banned in numerous countries around the planet? Mexico and Russia are just the two latest countries to ban GMO’s. Why would they do that if there was no evidence that GMO’s were harmful?
GMO’s have been linked to tumors, liver damage, kidney damage, premature death, and allergic reactions, just to name a few. There have been hundreds of studies, too many to list here. Google GMO studies and you will have thousands of results at your fingertips.
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