Genetic modification and food irradiation sound like something fromt he movies but are very real.
I always preach to our clients that I think our food quality is terrible and getting worse. The more books, columns and journals I read the more shocked and disgusted I am at the state of even the unprocessed items in the grocery store. It’s not really surprising that one of the biggest health and weight loss trends of the last couple years is cleansing and detoxification because with all the unwanted elements we are unknowingly consuming our bodies are undoubtedly overloaded.
Today’s post will make a strong case for taking the time, effort and attributing dollars from your budget to consider switching to as many organic products as possible for the health and safety of your family. What follows is discussion of three common practices currently in place in North America used in the growth and production of fruits, vegetables and our commercial meats.
Genetic Modification – Likely not shocking or a surprise that genetic modification is being used to produce “better” or perhaps just more food for a growing world population. However this science is so new scientists still don’t fully understand the implications of genetic modification. Scientists are splicing genes from bacteria and even insects into different plants to produce crops that are more resistant to certain pesticides or common pests plaguing optimal harvest. As of now genetically modified organisms (GMOs) do not have to be identified on food labels. There is no specific amount of research that has been completed to identify the safety of these new food items. In some cases violent allergic reactions have been reported. An example from “How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy” is a soy bean that was modified from genes from a brazil nut to make it tastier. This may cause an adverse reaction in someone with nut allergies but would not be identified on the label. A study by Arpad Pusztai on potatoes showed that GM potatoes contained less protein, starch and were associated with abnormal organ development in the rats used in the study.
Food Irradiation – This item was fairly new to me, I think I had heard it mentioned at a prior time but never paid much mind. I must say now I am astonished that this even happens and with a quick google search you will find the specifics and endorsement of this practice on the Canadian government website. Food irradiation was developed or first promoted decades ago as a necessary means of destroying bacteria such as salmonella, listeria, and E coli. As referenced from “The Ecologist’s Report” June 2001, food irradiation has been heavily promoted by the US Department of Energy(DOE). The DOE feels food irradiation to be a good means of producing a commercial market for spent military and civilian nuclear waste, thereby reducing disposal costs. The radiation dose approved by the US FDA for meat products is nearly 150 million times more than a standard chest x-ray, 150million! If this doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable maybe the icing on the cake will be a study performed by India’s Institute of Nutrition in the 1970s. The results of this study indicated that feeding rodents freshly irradiated wheat produced chromosomal abnormalities and mutational damage. To top it all off I can’t even tell you how to accurately determine which foods have been irradiated other than that the broad list includes: most meats, most fruits and vegetables, wheat and flours, eggs, herbs, and spices. It makes a strong case for incorporating more organic products into your lifestyle.
Consume Organic Items Where Possible – If the above wasn’t enough to convince you a study conducted on children in Washington state showed that out of the test group only one child did not have significant amounts of pesticide present in his or her urine. That child happened to be on an all organic diet. So between genetic modification, irradiation and harsh chemicals it’s not hard to see why toxicity is becoming the norm and sickness and disease is on the rise. Unfortunately just making the decision to switch to an organic lifestyle isn’t clear cut and easy without a little extra education. An organic product is produced without many of the means of modern farming: pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, hormones etc. But there is a grey area in identifying organic products. For something to be truly labelled as organic it must be grown under conditions that have not been subject to any of the above mentioned practices for a period of four or more years. However the new organic farmer within this four year period can label their product as organically grown even though it may still suffer some of the residual effects of the prior methods. So even shopping for organic products can be tricky, a little education and a keen eye can go a long way. What is great to see is there are more businesses catering to these growing concerns making an organic lifestyle more practical and accessible to the typical consumer, and though these products may cost a bit more, so does health care. You really can’t put a price on a long healthy life.
