GMO FOOD
(Posted 2010-01-09 12:57:55 by ArchPaladin)

I suppose this is a follow-up to the soy rant [
https://www.archpaladin.net/2009/11/11/soybeans/ ] [archpaladin.net] that I
made not too long ago.

I read a number of publications for acupuncturists and other Asian medicine
practitioners.  Recently, most of them have gone on a rant about being
aware of genetic engineering that goes on in food.

As someone who will be encouraging people to eat healthier and develop a
balance among the different types of food that we eat, I do have an
interest in ensuring that people are able to know what they are eating, as
well as knowing the effects of the food that we eat on our health.

Most information that you will find about genetically-modified organisms
(GMO) falls into one of two camps: those that think GMO foodstuffs are safe
to eat and have no noticeable nutritional effect, and those that don't.  If
you look even further down into the arguments, what the real battle appears
to be about is whether or not nutrition science get positively say that we
know all the different kinds of nutrients that a body needs, and we can
maintain health simply by getting a proper balance of those nutrients.

While I do believe that a proper balance of nutrients will promote health,
I have a hard time saying that nutrition science knows enough to say that
we can identify all nutrients a body needs and the correct proportions that
we need said nutrients in order to be healthy.  I think this issue is
compounded by the fact that not all human bodies are the same, and that a
proper nutritional balance for me may not be the same for you.  With those
things in mind, I have to shun the idea of getting GMO foodstuffs.

There are of course other arguments to consider.  The non-GMO proponents
will say that GMO foodstuffs cause an increase in inflammation or cancer
risk in the body, or that GMO foods are not as well researched as they
should be, or that the knowledge that animals will avoid eating GMO foods
means that we shouldn't either.  I think those arguments have merit too,
although I have to admit that I haven't read enough research or talked with
enough people to know how much of this is accurate and how much is
exaggeration.

Speaking as a future herbalist, however, I do also realize the importance
of having medicines that are of a known purity.  While at first glance this
might seem like a good reason to go with the GMO camp, it actually isn't. 
The effects of the herbs used in Oriental medicine are based on the idea
that those herbs are grown in the wild and found in certain locations.  GMO
foods would never be found in the wild, and introducing new genes into
those foods will change their nutritional content, and thus their medicinal
action.

At any rate, I suppose this is my own rallying cry for people to consider
what they eat.

If you are interested in knowing how to get GMO stuff out of your diet:
Non-GMO project [ http://www.nongmoproject.org/ ] [nongmoproject.org]
Non-GMO Shopping Guide [ http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/ ]
[nongmoshoppingguide.com]

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