GMO Basics by Jeffrey Smith

The leading consumer advocate for non-GMO choices, Jeffrey M. Smith, is the author of the world's best selling books on the dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Jeffrey exposes how biotech companies mislead consumers, legislators and safety officials to put everyone's health in peril. Jeffrey founded the Institute for Responsible Technology in 2003.

A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Because this involves the transfer of genes, GMOs are also known as "transgenic" organisms. This process may be called either Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM); they are one and the same.

Where are GMO's? In most of your food! First introduced into the food supply in the mid-1990s, GMOs are now present in the vast majority of processed foods in the U.S. While they are banned as food ingredients in Europe and elsewhere, the FDA
does not even require the labeling of GMOs in food ingredient lists. Although there have been attempts to increase nutritional benefits or productivity, the two main traits that have been added to date are herbicide tolerance and the ability of the plant to produce its own pesticide. These results have no health benefit, only economic benefit.

Currently commercialized GM crops in the U.S. include soy (93%), cotton (93%), canola (90%), corn (87%), sugar beets (95%), Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%), zucchini and yellow squash (small amount), and tobacco (Quest brand). Products derived from the above, including oils from all four, soy protein, soy lecithin, cornstarch, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup among others. There are also many "invisible ingredients," derived from GM crops that are not obviously from corn or soy.

Genetically modified foods have been linked to toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals. The effects on humans of consuming these new combinations of proteins produced in GMOs are unknown and have not been studied.

Crops such as Bt cotton produce pesticides inside the plant. This kills or deters insects.... The plants themselves are toxic, and not just to insects. Farmers in India, who let their sheep graze on Bt cotton after the harvest saw thousands of sheep die! Comparative studies on the toxic residues in foods from such crops have not yet been done. Pollen from GM crops can contaminate nearby crops of the same type.... In fact, virtually all heritage varieties of corn in Mexico... have been found to have some contamination. The long-term effects on the environment could be disastrous.

Watch the latest video interview with Jeffrey Smith

Also watch this film where Smith documents how consumption of genetically modified foods has been directly linked with reproductive problems, immune system deficiencies, accelerated ageing, organ damage and gastrointestinal problems. The immune system problem has been seen consistently in mice and rats who are fed GMO food, explains Smith, and now since humans have started consuming genetically modified foods, auto-immune diseases and allergies have increased.

Source: http://www.rawfoodlife.com/jeffsmithintro.html