The rise of the organic food industry

The organic food industry is growing rapidly and there is good reason for this.  Many people are concerned about the use of pesticides that are being used on conventionally grown food crops.  There is a realization that heavy pesticide use has depleted soil nutrients and also the food grown in that soil.  In an effort to eat more nutritious food that has not been heavily sprayed, people are turning more and more to organically produced foods.

GMOs or genetically modified organisms

GMOs or genetically modified organisms

It occurred to me that maybe people have heard about GMOs, but maybe they don't really know what they are.  A genetically modified organism is the term that science uses to describe a process of altering the DNA of a plant.  GMOs are ONLY created in a science laboratory. They never occur naturally in nature.

Example: say you have a fish that you want to grow bigger and faster so that it can be marketed earlier, which can help to make more profit for the food company selling it,  because it costs less to produce.

Enter: genetically modified salmon.

Genetically modified salmon has the salmon DNA fused with an eel's DNA, which causes the salmon to develop quickly.

At present, the FDA is ready to allow GMO salmon for sale in food markets without labeling it.  So, if people would prefer NOT to eat this fish (I'm one of those people)---they can NOT be certain that they are not, because it is not labeled.

There have been NO long-term safety studies conducted with GMO foods, so I prefer not to eat them until this testing has been done and my concerns are satisfied.