The US wants Codex to make our policy of allowing the unlabeled use of Genetically Modified Organisms (known as “GMOs” or “Frankenfoods”) worldwide. Let’s take a quick look at the dangers of supposedly safe Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for us and explore GMOs a little further and how to protect yourself and your loved ones from GMO’s insidious and emerging dangers.
Let me be clear right up front: to me as a doctor and a scientist, the scientific evidence is nowhere near compelling that GMOs are safe. They are tested only inside the confines of the companies that create and market them who can suppress whatever evidence they don’t like. Scientists who question the official dogma of their safety (despite the facts) are punished by loss of career and reputation even if they are right — especially if they are right!
Dr. Alpad Pusztai has a hard name to pronounce but an easy message to remember: GMOs cause damage to every organ in the body when eaten either by the animals we eat or by us directly. He is one of the most respected scientists in the EU and, although corporate forces have risen up in wrath because of his brave and bold willingness to speak freely about what others are eager to hide, Dr. Pusztai’s science is impeccable.
He has shown that genetically-manipulated foods, when fed to animals in reasonable amounts, causes very gradual total body organ and immune system damage.
But wait, there’s more! Do a Google search on “GMO Dangers” and you will meet up with respected scientists from genetics, medicine, epidemiology, bioethics, ecology, sociology, agronomy and just about every other relevant science telling you why GMO foods are a really, really dangerous technology if you want to live a long and healthy life.
In the US, GMOs may be released into the environment without any identification or proof of their safety whatsoever. While enthusiastic advocates of GMOs abound, scientists who are not tied to industry have a great many serious problems with genetically modified plants, animals, insects, trees, flowers, etc. It is important to remember that GMOs are not tested for safety before marketing in the US. Regulation by the FDA involves only a voluntary certification program which says that the GMO in question exhibits “substantial equivalence” (it looks like, tastes like, smells like, cooks like the unmodified organism).
That’s it. That’s the full extent of our government’s involvement with GMO plants and crops. Fish, herd animals and other organisms (including GMOs modified to produce vaccines and drugs) are regulated just a bit more but human health (to say nothing at all of environmental health) appears to not be a government concern.
It needs to be your concern, though. In the US (and the rest of the world if the US has its way with the Codex Committee on Biotechnology), unless you buy organic produce, foods and grass fed, free range meat, you WILL be eating GMOs since the US is the world leader in GMO crops (63% of the world’s GMO crops are gown here).
If your diet includes corn, soy products, canola oil, wheat, potatoes, beets, papayas, sweet potatoes and a host of other foods you are eating unstable genetic material which can, despite industry assurance, make its way into your body and brain with unknown consequences.
Why should you care?
Because if the food you eat exhibits “substantial equivalence” you cannot tell if it is real food or GMO food. And there is every reason to believe that this transgenic food may seriously harm you and your family over time. We know it harms the environment.
Dr. Terje Traavik (Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology), investigating mysterious lethal syndromes where GMO crops were being grown, said blood tests showed the villagers had developed antibodies to the genetically inserted pesticide [in the crops]. Traavik’s studies show that a virus promoter—which controls the genetic message—was unexpectedly found intact in human cells.
Dr. Traavik’s team also found that genetically engineered viruses used in the GM process combined with natural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable characteristics, and that these hybrid viruses could cause new diseases.
Don’t you think it is prudent to avoid these unstable, untested and unsafe foods? So do I.
Suppose you could find out what foods had GMOs in them and which ones didn’t. Wouldn’t you want to avoid eating the ones that might be dangerous? Food should not have life-threatening consequences!
Here are the basic rules for avoiding GMO foods:
1. Eat organic whenever possible. It’s worth the extra money because you probably will save it in co-pays on hospital bills and drugs later: healthy people don’t need drugs.
2. Buy products from GMO free companies (there are a lot of them).
3. Avoid products from companies using GMOs (like Lumen Foods and Boca Burgers)
4. Ask companies whose foods you eat about their GMO policy. Go to their corporate sites and send them an email. Let me know what they say and we will share the information. (Email me at info@healthfreedomusa.org)
5. Avoid anything with canola oil. Nearly all of it is genetically modified and treated with toxic chemicals
6. Avoid soy, corn and wheat (and things made from them) unless they are organic
7. Purchase only free range, organically fed animal protein i.e., beef, milk, veal, ostrich, turkey, chicken, eggs, etc.)
8. Limit your fish to wild-caught, never farmed, sources.
Does this sound like a boycott? Close. I call it a “buy-cott”, a positive action by consumers to protect their health and support the market for health foods so farmers and producers will have an incentive to keep producing wholesome food.
Please send me your ideas and strategies for this buy-cott. Buying what you know is good for you and your family is another way for you to take your own power, authority and decision-making into your own hands.
Yours in health and freedom from dangerous foods,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
