Thursday, December 5, 2013

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.

1 comment:

  1. We are what we eat, so knowing the ingredients in the foods we eat and prepare for our families is super important. That's why labeling foods that contain GMO ingredients is important. A number of different states have tried to pass initiatives requiring this kind of labeling. California and just recently Washington had narrowly defeated labeling initiatives fall by the wayside. In California, concerned groups and people are getting together to work on the issue again and have it on the ballot again------possibly next November.

    ReplyDelete