Majority of the food in the USA contains products made with GMO ingredients. The scary truth about g

"In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale"

- Non - GMO Project

The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century is the time when the first genetically modified food product was introduced to the public in the USA. Even though the delay - ripening GMO tomato did not succeed in sales and soon was removed from shelves in stores, it became clear that the era of bio genetic food had begun. Since that time, the bio tech laboratories have worked very hard, creating more GMO products. Canola, Corn, Papaya, Soy, Sugar Beet and Yellow Summer Squash are the most successful and widely used genetically modified crops in the USA.

It all sounded like the distant future: genetic engineering, cloning, biotechnology, but here we are - living in a society which uses up to 90% of genetically modified corn in different ways. The switch from old and traditional crop growing methods to the new ones, with a usage of bio genetic technologies, did not happen in one day, of course. Analysts were preparing for the introduction of GMO to consumers for years, studying its advantages and disadvantages, analyzing the food market and, most importantly, awaiting for the law to be approved by the government. After all the calculations, predictions and approvals, products using GMO were introduced to the general mass and very soon took over the majority of the shelves in the supermarkets.

To understand how widely GMO products influenced the food market and to measure the scope of the situation today, let us first define

What GMO is?

According to the most recognizable nonprofit organization against GMO in the USA, Non - GMO Project, a genetically modified organism or GMO is a plant, animal or other organisms whose genetic make up has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. In other words, it is a creation of something that does not exist in nature.

Initial implementation of GMO in agriculture had a concrete reason. Farmers were looking for a long - term solution against insects, who were damaging and reducing the amount of "ready - to sell" crops. GMO technologies promised to eliminate this inconvenience! Debates around the use of GMO technologies in agriculture split farmers into two groups: one group supported the GMO application and the other was against it. The "GMO supporter" group's point of view was on enhancing the crop productivity and improving environmental sustainability in agriculture. The "non GMO supporter" group argued that GMO technologies in agriculture will have a negative effect on the crops, which subsequently will impact human's health and the environment.

As we can see today, the "GMO supporter" group, with the government's help and the market's demand, have been successfully using the GMO technologies for years, supplying manufacturers with GMO crops in enormous amounts. With the official "blessing" from the government, the food factories are not required to notify consumers about GMO in their products. Though a few bona fide producers decided to voluntarily disclose such information and included a "produced with genetic engineering" line on the label.

How can we protect our family from the greedy food suppliers that use GMO ingredients in their products and poison our society with the plastic food?

The government is obviously on the side of GMO production, therefore to look for protection from the official entity is a waste of time. The rule of "deep pocket" is what regulated the decision to approve usage of GMO and as a result, bring millions of dollars to the federal and state's treasuries. The only State that raised their voice against the law not requiring to disclose information about GMO on the label is Vermont. The state proposed the GMO labeling law, requiring certain products to disclose information about the usage of genetically modified ingredients. The proposal was approved, but only for a short time. The influence of deep - pocketed senators and agricultural corporations pressured the US President to overturn this state law and quietly forget about "this inconvenient law."

The only way to avoid GMO products today is to carefully read the label.

A non profit organization "Non - GMO project" independently tests and verifies non GMO products in their laboratories. When the product passes the verification, they issue a distinctive verification mark, proving that the product is made with non - GMO ingredients. Look for the distinctive mark (picture on the right) on packages!

Another way to verify that the product is non GMO is to look for the label "USDA Organic" (on the left). By their nature, organic ingredients are non - GMO. Everything involving GMO technologies simply can not be organic! At the same time, a non GMO product can be not organic! For example, the producer used non GMO corn, but the corn is not organic. This combination is absolutely acceptable.

Products in the USA, containing corn, corn starch, corn syrup, soy lecithin and canola oil without the "Non GMO Project Verified" label have GMO ingredients. Exceptions here can be foreign products, but only the ones that are made not in the USA. For example, the fine Swiss chocolate "Lindt" does not need the "Non GMO Project Verified" label on their chocolate sold in USA supermarkets, because all their ingredients are from Switzerland. Switzerland is one of the many countries in Europe that banned the manufacture and usage of GMO in any of their products. This is though different when an American corporation purchases a licence from a foreign company and produces the product under the USA law. The example here can be Nestle S.A. company from Switzerland. Since the USA took the ownership of the brand in the territory of USA they freely can, and as a matter of fact, openly use GMO ingredients.

Anything produced in laboratory facilities has its pros and cons. While tech companies strongly believe that they have a positive impact on our society, bio laboratories take advantage and sneakily push their GMO products to ignorant "on the go" consumers. To avoid food with GMO, carefully read labels, search for the "Non GMO Project" or "USDA Organic" label. Pick companies you trust and purchase products only from them. Lastly, do not hesitate to contact food companies and inquire whether or not they use GMO in their products!

More information about GMO:

https://www.nongmoproject.org/about/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3639326/

https://www.nestleusa.com/about-us/gmo