If You Want Grandchildren, Don’t Feed Your Kids Commercial Corn
Article #4 in our GMO Series
In 2001, Epicyte, a California bio-engineering company, revealed that it had created spermicidal GM (Genetically Modified) corn. So how do you know if you have consumed this fertility-destroying corn? You don’t…because products containing GM corn aren’t labeled with a warning. (Excerpted from http://www.radicallynatural.com/2012/02/if-you-want-grandchildren-dont-feed.html)
According to research cited by Whole Foods Market, in 2011, 88% of the commercial corn was GM modified. Does all 88% of corn have this Epicyte gene? We really don’t know. And that’s a problem. But if someone I loved was trying for a pregnancy (male and female), I’d say just avoid anything with corn in it unless you know it’s grown from an “Heirloom Seed”.
But the problem doesn’t end with the Epicyte Spermicidal gene that man has shoved into the DNA of the corn. There are two other major GMO gene villains in most commercial corn:
- Bt Toxin is a soil-dwelling bacteria commonly used as a biological pesticide. It works by busting open the intestines of insects that ingest it. Among its victims in the wild are bees. Hmmm, since we are also bio creatures, people may be just big bugs in terms of Bt Toxin’s effects on us! It has not been tested, as far as I know, but I can’t imagine it has any good effects on us. Here’s more on Bt Toxin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis
- Glyphosate (Roundup’s main poison) has already been proven scientifically to cause horrible cancers and immune system disease processes, this from a rigorous 2- year study on rats. See our first article on this poison’s effects. And this poison is in many of our food crops now. It is being found in the blood of people all around the world.
WHAT DO “WE THE PEOPLE” KNOW ABOUT GMO’s?
Sometimes I get my head inside a bubble and think everyone must know the things that I know; and therefore it is obvious what sort of changes people must be making in their behaviors and purchases. (Vote with your dollars—that will change the situation in a Capitalistic economy!) But, as my husband, Dr. David, often reminds me, “Not everyone is Deb Martín.” So, I decided to take an informal survey of people. I talked to people at the airport, to software engineers I used to work with in high tech, teachers, family and friends. What I found is truly concerning.
Here is the question I asked: “What do you think about GMO’s?”
Samples of the responses people gave:
“What’s that”? (most common response)
After I further stated that GMO means “Genetically Modified Organisms”, I would receive mostly baffling answers. Here are examples:
“Well, I’m not sure what I think about stem cell research. Mostly it is probably good.”
“I have an uncle who is a bio engineer. He has been passionate about helping to feed the world for a long time, and GMO’s is a way to do that.”
“Those pesticides they spray on the food aren’t good for us.”
And—the response I wish I heard from everyone (this from another natural health care professional): “I do my best not to eat them.”
QUICK SURVEY ANALYSIS: From my brief survey, the data I gathered shows that at least 80% of us don’t know what Genetically Modified Organisms are or what Genetic Engineering is all about…. Nor do they know why they should care. They expect the FDA and the companies and people in charge of growing and processing our food to be making good choices for the masses. In fact, most people confuse the term “GMO” with completely different subjects such as stem cell research and topical pesticide sprays. The term “GENETIC ENGINEERING” should alert us to the fact that this involves a base-level change to the organisms.
What About GMO’s Growing More Food, and other good things?
I absolutely know there are good, generous-hearted people involved in GE research and development who truly do want to make life better. I am also certain that not all GMO results are bad. There’s a statistical law of averages involved here, as in any arena. However, GMO activity is fairly recent, most of it occurring in the last 20 years. There is very little “testing” and fewer long-term studies. But, what we know about the “bad” is overwhelming bad enough to say “Whoaa, horsey!”
Consider these things:
- Monsanto has created seeds that do not reproduce a 2nd generation (so farmers have to buy each year from Monsanto). How does that help grow more food? Oh, and never mind that perhaps we should have some concern if a Corporation has control over the seeds which grow our foods and are fed to our livestock!
- It has been proven that GE plants tend not to be as resistant to drought or other natural conditions because their immune systems are weakened in some unanticipated ways.
- There is plenty of evidence that GMO’s are contributing to the growth of really mean viruses and bacteria which are antibiotic resistant.
- Protecting the crops from weeds by GMO’ing them isn’t working that well either. Nature’s answer to the Roundup-Ready gene engineered into the wheat (so we can spray the b-gee-bees out of the crops with Roundup) has been answered by “the super weeds” which are no longer affected by it either. Weeds adapt fast. Wonder how long it might take humans to adapt? Hundreds or thousands of years, I’d guess.
WHAT DO EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE MOST WIDE-SPREAD GMO CHANGE: ROUNDUP-READY PLANTS?
At a conference in Indianapolis in September 2012, Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue Universitygave the following description of Glyphosate, the active killer in Monsanto’s Roundup Pesticide which has been Genetically engineered into many/most GMO’d foods:
“Glyphosate is a strong organic phosphatechelator that immobilizes positively charged minerals such as manganese, cobalt, iron, zinc, copper, etc. that are essential for normal physiological functions in soils, plants and animals. It is this ability to shut down physiological functions and predispose plants to killer diseases that make it such an effective broad-spectrum weed killer. Glyphosate is also a very powerful selective antibiotic that kills beneficial, but not pathogenic, microorganisms in the soil and intestine at very low residual levels in food. Residue levels permitted in food are 40 to 800 times the antibiotic threshold and concentrations shown in clinical studies to damage mammalian tissues.”
Full article at: http://www.gmfreecymru.org/pivotal_papers/glyphosate_toxic_food.html
In the next issue of our GMO series, we’ll take a look at some of the Who’s Who of GMO: Bad Guys and Good Guys. Stay tuned. You may be surprised by what you’ll learn!
We hope these articles are enlightening and empowering and that you are paying more attention to what you eat as well as to the sources and processing of your foods. Dr. David and I eat organic and local as much as possible, and we stay mostly “fresh”. The GMO in our food supply is quite pervasive, so I am sure we consume some of it too. However, since Food is your Medicine, there are many benefits to eating in a way that nourishes and supports your body as much as you can!
By Deb Martín,
Lotus Blossom Clinic, www.LotusBlossomClinic.com serving Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral.
(239) 277-1399 July 21, 2013