The Mad Soy Disease

The "mad soy disease" strike Brazil due to Genetically Modified crops. According to the USDA Global Agricultural Information Network, 78 percent of Brazils soybean plants are GM. The scientists in the United States, identified more than 40 diseases linked to Genetically Modified plants. The GM crops spread the disease to the crops themselves, and to other near by planted crops. The disease delays the maturation of infected plants.  The plants remain green until they eventually rot in the field. The top leaves thin out, and the stems thicken and become deformed. The poison and highly toxic chemical in the GM plants, threatens human and animal health. 


“Significantly increase the severity of various plant diseases, impair plant defense to pathogens and diseases and immobilize soils plant nutrients rendering them unavailable for plant use”, says Don  Huber, recently retired scientist from Purdue University. Scientists are in the process developing a cure for the disease. So far they have not found a cure and disease will continue to spread across South America.  

One of the ways you can find out if your produce have been genetically modified.

Seven out of every 10 items on grocery stores shelves contain ingredients that have been genetically modified. Scientists are using new technology to transfer the genes of one species to another, and these altered foods are in the market stream. How do people know if the food they're buying has been genetically modified? Companies that produce genetically engineered seeds fight hard to keep the genetically modified label off the foods. Almost all fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores have identification sticker with numbers attached to the fruit. The code provides hidden information about the fruit.  Maria Gallagher reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the code printed on the sticker can tell a person if the fruit was genetically modified, organically grown or produced with chemical fertilizers, fungicides, or herbicides. 

The food grown with chemical inputs, the code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral code prefaced by the number 9. Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral code prefaced by the number 8.

The sticker labels attached to the fruits and vegetables at the grocery stores contains valuable information. The code on the label uncovers the truth about the food you buy. 

Monsanto

The Monsanto Company is the leading producer of genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982. Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops. All the plants they modify cannot be resold or breed with other seeds because Monsanto own the original genetic makeup of the seed. Monsanto contaminates the organic crop with their modified seeds. They go around and sample the fields for GM plants. If they find any GM plants growing in the fields they then sue, saying they own the crop. Monsanto seeds contain highly toxic class of chemicals. Results of tests on mice and rats caused concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA determined that treated plants are so dangerous to agricultural workers that they must wear special protective clothing when handling them.

In May 2010, Monsanto announced will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds to Haitian farmers. They farmers called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day. 

People from all over the world developing an awareness of Monsanto Company. Poor countries like Haiti and India would rather starve than consume food from Monsanto Company. 

Genetically Modified Foods Hazards

Genetically modified foods raise many concerns among people all over the world.  European environmental organizations and public interest groups protested against GM foods for months. Recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified corn pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars brought the issue of genetic engineering to the U.S. In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, in order to establish a new regulatory procedure for government approval of GM foods.  

Last year a laboratory study showed that pollen from genetically modified corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Some of the genes in GM technology are taken from a food that causes allergies in some people. Inserting that gene into another organism could cause the host organism to express that allergen as a trait. Several GM foods are modified using bacteria and viruses which can create an outbreak of new diseases. 

A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats. The study discovered appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes. The gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, which is known to be toxic to mammals.  

Genetically Modified foods create a controversy and concerns among people from all over the world.  When it come to food, most people want to make sure it won't  harm  human health and the environment. 

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

Purpose of GMO

We live in the time where science and the modern day technology can develop things that seemed impossible and unrealistic in the earlier times.  The weather and climate no longer affects the crops.  Humans are now able to control the production of food by genetically modifying crops. The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years.  The increasing population creates food supply challenges. Genetically modified foods original purpose was intended to be a solution for the food supply shortage.

GMO creates a pesticide resistance. Crop losses from insect pests can result in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. 

The idea behind GMO is to provide an opportunity to feed the world. The quantity of genetically modified crops can be controlled because of the pest and herbicide resistance.  Unexpected frost can destroy plants. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish allows those plants to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill them. However, several countries do not want genetically modified foods due to health concerns.  This week, India rejected what would have been the country’s first genetically modified food crop, a transgenic eggplant. Indian government decided not to approve the crop because of possible negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Science can control the food that we eat today. Even though the idea of GMO can increase the food supply in the world, it might not be in the best interest for human health and environment. 

List of Genetically Modified Foods

People consume genetically modified foods on the daily bases without even knowing it. Science messed with the natural make up of a seeds by injecting genes from various unknown organisms. Some of the seeds lost their natural state to the genetically modified method. Estimates say as many as 30,000 different products on grocery store shelves are "modified."  That means every time a person goes to the grocery store they end up buying a food product that was scientifically altered.  Here is the list of genetically modified fruits and vegetables that should be avoided. 

Soybean and foods including tofu, soy oil, and soy flour are genetically modified to resist herbicides. 

Genetically modified sugarcane is resistant to certain pesticides. 

Tomatoes made for a longer shelf life and to prevent a substance that causes tomatoes to rot and degrade.

Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that thousands of tones of genetically engineered sweet corn made their way into the human food supply chain.  Recently Monsanto, a biotechnology food producer, said that about half of the USA's sweet corn acreage has been planted with genetically modified seed this year. Regular corn and products containing corn such as oil, flour, and syrup  were modified to resistant certain pesticides. 

Next time you go to the grocery store, think twice before grabbing a food item off the shelf, because that food item might be genetically modified.  

GMO Food

Modern day science and technology makes anything possible. Various foods we eat today contain genetically modified ingredients.  Genetically modified foods derive from genetically altered characteristics which aren’t present naturally. Scientists change the plants' characteristics by putting new genetic material into them, genes for example from bacteria which can withstand pesticides. The method transfers selected individual gene from one organism into another. The technology is also known as “modern biotechnology”, “gene technology”, “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering”.

Most of the time, GMO manipulates a plant or an organism for pest and herbicide resistance. When a farmer sprays pesticides on genetically mortified plant, the pesticide destroys the pest but it does not kill the plant. Herbicide chemicals are designed to kill weeds around the plant but without damaging the actual plant, because the plant is genetically altered to resist the herbicide. 

GMO raises environmental, health, economic and ethical concerns. Most people oppose to GM foods, and insist on further investigations. Science plays an important role in our modern day society, but did it go too far with GMO?  

Why Eat Vegetables?

Eat your vegetables! Every person most likely came across this saying at some point in their lives. Children are taught at young age to eat their veggie. Why is there such a great emphasize on eating vegetables? Fresh vegetables provide various health benefits. People who eat more fruits have a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases. 

Daily vegetable consumption reduces risk for stroke, cardiovascular diseases, as well as type 2 diabetes.  The nutrients found in vegetables protect against certain cancers, such as mouth, stomach, and colon-rectum cancer. Vegetables high in potassium reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss. Vegetable high in potassium include sweet potatoes, white potatoes, white beans, tomato products, beet greens, soybeans, lima beans, winter squash, spinach, lentils, kidney beans, and split peas. 

Vegetables are great source of vitamins, especially A, E, and C. Vitamin A is vital for our eyes and skin healthy, and it helps to protect our bodies against infections. Vitamin E protects artery, and heart health. Avocados are rich with vitamin E. Vitamin C strengthens immune system. Cabbage, chard, collard greens, green peppers, kale, parsley, and mustard green contain an excellent source of vitamin C. 

Next time you hear a saying "Eat your vegetables", remember the reason why. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of a human body.