GMO
GMO
Nothing is
completely safe
The genetically modified organisms debate is already bringing out the snake oil salesmen. A fine example is Robert Wager of Vancouver Island University.
He wrote the recent West Hawaii Today letter saying that the big health organizations in the world all swear GMOs are completely safe. A quick check of the health groups’ websites shows this to be totally false. He was counting on us just swallowing the snake oil.
Nothing is completely safe, and major, respected organizations would never claim that anything is completely safe. Making such a wild, blanket statement is the clearest example of propaganda. Trust me, no intelligent person or group agrees on one simple answer especially about altering the gene structure of organisms.
It is strange that conservative Christians are not speaking out about man interfering with God’s Plan. Messing with natural genes is right up there with stem cell research and other so-called unnatural sins. They are forced to side with the “godless” protesters. They must be very confused.
Whether you go with the ragtag hippies in the street protesting against GMOs or with the stodgy, mainstream folks who blindly trust the government and are for GMOs, you must concede that there are many hard questions to answer.
To refute Wagner, the World Health Organization does not say that genetically modified foods are completely safe at all.
The Academy of Science and the American Medical Association agree, check their websites.
On the Internet, please view the World Health Organization site “20 questions on GMOs.” Question eight states that “it is not possible to make general statements on the safety of GMOs.”
The chilling facts continue to roll off. Question seven reveals the problems of GMOs spreading to other planted areas with the possibility of permanently destroy what they call “nontarget organisms” like insects, including bees, so vital to our existence. The instability could disrupt the balance of the ecosystem all the way up the food chain, eventually eliminating larger animals we depend on for food.
The WHO article says, “it is capable of causing the reduction in the spectrum of other plants, loss of biodiversity, and the increased use of chemicals in agriculture.”
So, GMO’s can kill other plants and create the need for more harmful chemicals and the same article warned of the most terrifying aspect of all, causing immunity to certain medicines.
The main goal of experimenting with GM food is to make it resistant to pests and bacteria. Predictably, when we consume GM food it could cause us also to be resistant to antibiotics like Neosporin and penicillin. Many life-saving medicines would not work. A grave situation.
So, there are many real fears, not from kooks, but from respected doctors and scientists. With genetically modified food, it is time to cut through the politics and the quick papaya profits, the future of all mankind is a bit more important.
Dennis Gregory
Kona