Every study I have found, done by Monsanto, states that genetically modified food is not a problem. Understandably, none of their studies have found any health issues. For that reason, I am not including any Monsanto studies here. I am focusing on U.S. and foreign governmental and non-profit organizations that have contributed to or performed their own studies on genetically modified foods.
What is genetically modified organisms
Terminology is not always understood by everyone and definitions may be different person-to-person, so the definition of genetically modified organism (GMO) means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination, according to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
Risks of genetically modified organisms
According to the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of California, there are three reasons for uncertainty in GMO risk analysis:
- Body's Past Exposures - A person's health history does not take into account their exposure to environmental toxins and household chemicals.
- Dose-Response Relationships - Thresholds and levels of exposure are difficult to accurately assess in terms of health and safety, because the relationship between dosage and response or probability of harm is almost never linear.
- Synergistic Effects, and Etiological and Diagnostic Uncertainties - It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to document conclusively that a specific disease is caused by exposure to specific environmental toxins—an issue referred to in the literature as “etiological uncertainty.”
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been conducting a worldwide inventory of agricultural biotechnology applications and products, with special reference to developing countries. Preliminary findings indicate that the total area cultivated with GMO crops stands at about 44.2 million hectares, up from 11 million hectares just three years ago. About 75% of this area is in industrialized countries.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses the term agroecology as the study of the relation of agricultural crops and environment. Agroecologists study a variety of agroecosystems, and the field of agroecology is not associated with any one particular method of farming, whether it be:
- organic - relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biological pest control
- integrated - is a whole farm management system which aims to deliver more sustainable agriculture. It is a dynamic approach which can be applied to any farming system around the world
- intensive - is characterized by a low fallow ratio and higher use of inputs such as capital and labor per unit land area.
- extensive - is the study of ecological processes that operate in agricultural production systems
One of the largest-ever studies of commercial rice growing, researchers found that thousands of Chinese farmers using agroecologic techniques saw yield increases of 89% while completely eliminating some of their most common pesticides, according to a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization, called the Center for Food Safety in California.
No illnesses or injuries reported for genetically modified organisms
The Philadelphia VA Medical Center and American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (URAC), both state that there are no reports of illness or injury due to genetically engineered foods, as noted in U.S. National Library of Medicine. The URAC, formerly known as the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission, is a nonprofit organization promoting healthcare quality by accrediting healthcare organizations an independent, nonprofit organization, is a well-known leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation, education, and measurement programs.
We should take into account that other countries need and use GMO crops. The European Commission (EC) is responsible for making Europe's citizens healthier, safer, and more confident and it is the European International Program of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The Directorate-General Research under the EC has spent €200 million during the past decade on such research, and several member states have initiated national research programmes specifically targeting the potential impact of the very same crops and traits that are in the European approval system, according to the European Commission after a decade of EU-funded GMO research from 2001–2010.
There was no evidence of cry1Ab gene or Bt toxin translocation to organs or blood following long-term feeding, according to the Pig Development Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre in Ireland.
All genetically modified organisms are considered safe
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment or the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung in Germany states that All genetically modified plants and derived food products, which have been evaluated by Europian Food Safety Authority (EFSA) so far, were considered to be as safe as products derived from the respective conventional plants. The EFSA is an independent European agency funded by the EU budget that operates separately from the European Commission, European Parliament and EU Member States.
A study done, in France, by the Committee for Independent Information and Research on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), found that male rats lost 3.3% in weight and the female rats gained 3.7% in weight after consuming MON 863, and they stated that longer experiments are essential in order to indicate the real nature and extent of the possible pathology; with the present data it cannot be concluded that GM corn MON863 is a safe product. The Institute for Responsible Technology, however, is adamant that the MON 863 study should have been rejected because nutritional data and methodology is missing, as well as, inappropriate and missing controls. This MON863 study is documented on the National Center for Biotechnology. There are numerous other studies explained on the "Institute for Responsible Technology" website noting the hazards of GMO, but I was not able to find any information of those studies in the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
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