Okay people, listen up! It's the beginning of the school year and we are all trying to pack the perfect healthy lunches for ourselves, our kids, and/or our significant others. So I found out recently
that Dannon (yes, the company we have all gotten yogurt from at some point in
our life) has teamed up with an organization and has turned a section of their company completely against GMO’s. For
this segment of their business, Dannon is not even allowing the cows from which
their dairy comes from to be fed GMO corn. Hooray for the Non-GMO Project
right??
Wrong.
Fact: 142 types of
corn are Genetically Modified.
Fact: on the Non-GMO
Project website,they only mention good things about Genetically Engineered
(GE) corn.
The website lists that
GMO corn is more heat tolerant as well as drought stress resistant (anyone from Texas or California appreciate that?). Do you know what that means? It means that in a
drought we can use less water to
produce corn. We can continue feeding people in a drought. As an American I
feel like we take things such as having food even with a drought for granted.
This GE corn has increased ethanol production. Know what that means? Gas for
your car. Here's the best part though. This corn has an increased lysine
content. Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in many farm animals. A
limiting amino acid is basically one of the most important considerations when
it comes to formulating a nutritious diet. The better the lysine content, the
better we can feed our animals without supplement. The better we feed the
animals, the more production we receive from them. In Dannon's case, the more
yogurt they can produce, and the more money they make. But Dannon just gave
that up in order to please misinformed consumers. After reading this post, take
a second to look at the link to the Non-GMO Project website. Read their post on
corn and tell me that there is anything so horrible about it that we shouldn't
eat it or feed it to our animals. Seriously. Tell me. Comment below if there is
anything I missed.
By the way. Feeding
our animals GMOs does not make them a GMO.
You know what does
make them a GMO? Selective breeding. Anyone have a dog? Great Danes, Poodles,
Yorkies, Chihuahuas- all of those breeds were created by intense selective
breeding. According to Science Media Center "selective breeding is a form
of genetic modification…" It just doesn't involve the addition of any
foreign DNA. It cracks me up when people feed their special pure bred pooch
Non-GMO puppy chow. Kind of ironic.
If you want to find
out why we add foreign DNA to food plants read my previous post about GMO’s
that includes Simplot’s GE potato here.
Personally I just
don't understand the Non-GMO Project. The only hazard caused by GMO's that they
recognize is the increased use of pesticides and herbicides. The reason this increases is due to the fact that most GMOs are resistant to herbicides and pesticides. So they can tolerate more chemicals while being protected from pests and weeds. If we didn't have these resistant GMOs...well, would you
rather buy fruits with worm holes in them?
If you search their
website for reasons that GMOs are unsafe, it literally says "sorry, no
results. Try your search again." That's embarrassing. You can't tell me
why I shouldn't consume these??? What is your organization even about?! Call me
crazy but I need some facts against the case because all I'm finding is that
GMOs are beneficial to us living on the earth for 1000 more years.
Okay enough of that.
Back to Dannon’s plan. Dannon is setting aside approximately 80,000 acres to
grow Non-GMO crops.
Myth: This is good! By
not using GE plants they are going to help reduce pesticide usage!
Fact: 80,000 acres of
non-genetically modified plants is going to cost a significant amount! It’s
going to take more water, time and effort to grow these plants since they do
not tolerate drought or heat.
Fact: Dannon says
nothing about this new segment of business being organic. So they will still
use pesticides. And because the plants are Non-GMO, they’re not going to be
resistant to the pesticides. So everything that you people were scared of in
the first place (plants absorbing the pesticide and making you sick) is right
back where it started.
What I really like
about Dannon is that they didn’t give their whole company up to Non-GMO
consumers. They’re standing their ground and yet giving consumers a choice.
They can choose to buy specifically labeled GMO or Non-GMO products. The sad
thing is, more and more of our favorite brands are going Non-GMO without
scientific reason. And I just can't support that. Anytime I see the Non-GMO
Project label I immediately put the item down. I would rather trust in the Big
Agriculture that's been producing for years with GMOs since they're
scientifically proven to be better for the environment, prolonged human life on
earth, and even health (read my post on Golden Rice here) than rely on a
Non-GMO product that isn't resistant to pesticides or herbicides. If you choose to shop for Non-GMO products, then that's up to you. But please be a Savvy Shopper and do good, quality research about what you're buying. As in, research on Google Scholar or other credible fact and science based websites and then you can pack your lunch with what's best for you and your family!
Comments
Post a Comment