Genetically Modified Organisms – Are we being nice to Mother Nature?
I’m sure that you’ve heard this Acronym before, GMO. What does it really mean? The first time I heard about it, I had to look it up too. Read this article and we’ll give you a little bit about what it is and why opinions are so high about it.
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms.
What are they? To get to the heart of it, we have to throw out a few more acronyms. One you’ve probably heard before that has transformed the criminal justice system. DNA evidence ring a bell? DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid. If it’s a living thing, it has this and another one called RNA. (Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)) These two acids tell each organism who and what they are as well as how to behave. They are unique signatures which is why the criminal justice system has been able to use this tidbit of science.
DNA and mRNA are part of “genetic code“. Genetic modifications to this code can change the “how to behave” part of a plant that we use for food. Desirable characteristics of food as plants are designed or “genetically engineered” into the genetically modified plants for food. Some of these are drought tolerance, pesticide resistance, disease resistance, and cold tolerance to extend the season. If we stop right there, this doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all now does it? We get stronger plants and better food right? Not so fast…
Good intentions, but the trouble is that we’ve messed with the whole balanced, or mostly balanced ecosystem. Now the bugs and/or microorganisms that live with these plants don’t have enough to eat, they start changing their habits. Perhaps this causes them to swarm or do some other things that further change the ecosystem. What we start to see is a domino effect of changes that could come right back to this plant that we’ve messed with in the first place. The other plants around these modified plants start acting differently too. Some differences we know, MANY we don’t know. We don’t know enough about how the ecosystem behaves as a system to understand how we’ve shifted the balance. Is what we’ve changed bad for us as humans in the end?
We know that healthy ecosystems have diversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity defines an “ecosystem” as a “dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit”.
Genetically Modified Organisms do not live and play well with others in the ecosystem sandbox. They want to be the only ones. This in itself, does not promote diversity which long term, will destroy the ecosystem and us in it. One of the ways these organisms behave that is already known is that they spread like wild fire. Gene transfer to other plants is mostly done with a mix of windblown pollen. The most common plants discussed in regard to GMO is Corn, Soybeans and now Alfalfa. In a closed controlled scientific system or on paper, GMOs may work. In the messiness of anything can happen natural life, they have the potential to destroy the very thing they were made for, us! There have been discussions of a buffer area between GMO crops and regular crops. What has been found is that the buffer is not enough. The regular crops are coming up with GMO code. Even certified organic food could eventually be tainted with GMO crops with cross-pollination.
Only to make that worse, the companies that “own” the GMO crops are legally pursuing farmers of regular crops that did NOTHING wrong. Tragedy all around. It’s a shame these farmers are not able with time and funds to turn back around and sue these companies for messing with their regular crops instead!
How do these changes directly effect us? Is there a connection between GMO food and say cancer? How about obesity?
How can we shift the tide? Promote awareness! Use our big green purses to say NO to food with GMO crops. Easy! Let’s go!
Problem: If you live in the US, labels don’t tell you it’s GMO… Other countries have outlawed them. Fair labeling?
We first have to fight for labels to tell us that it’s GMO. Anything non organic at this point is suspect until label laws are enforced. That means ANYTHING our kids eat in their school lunch is suspect. Concerned?
The most recent push by these companies is GMO alfalfa. The pollen from this plant is very invasive and could easily wipe out Organically grown with the blink of an eye. Let’s start with making sure this bill does NOT pass! There is a petition and more information on what you can do to help here at Food Democracy Now.
Happy Washing!
~Regina