Finding real food
“I only want to eat real food!” I proclaimed, as I marched down the supermarket aisle with my husband, “No processed foods for us.” I felt good about myself as I picked up items such as fresh vegetables for our consumption.
Then, I saw a television documentary about how almost all of our foods are genetically engineered – from seemingly innocuous vegetables such as corn to protein-rich soy beans to the cattle of cows. These scientific advances were touted to help farmers reduce crop loss from insects, enable foods to stay fresh longer and even boost the levels of valued vitamins and minerals in these foods.
All of this technology sounds pretty good, and the FDA says that the food remains “substantially” the same. If there's one take-away I've learned from my Chemistry class at school way-back-when, it's that it only takes an atom or different combination of the same atoms to change the entire nature of a molecule. Plus, the FDA has been known to make mistakes (after all, humans are not infallible) and it does remain to be seen what kind of consequences we will see decades down the road from ingesting these effectively artificial “biotech” foods for long periods of time.
It is virtually impossible for consumers to find any information in the aisle displays that the corn they are buying by the dozen during the summer for a BBQ is genetically-engineered. These disclaimers and notices are not seen anywhere in the fresh food section or even on the boxes of processed foods. It would be nice if there is at least a disclaimer somewhere so that consumers are more aware and can make their own choices.
Speaking of choices, do we have any? Where is one to look for “real, non-Franken food”? A trip to the farmer’s market or growing this from scratch yourself is not a sure-fire way at all – this stuff can be engineered in the seed itself! Here’s a link I found that could help:
http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Foods
But this means having food that perishes faster, has less nutrients, and are higher in cost as these farmers may see crop loss and price accordingly. Is it worth it to try to avoid genetically-modified foods? After all, I'm not looking to live till I'm 120! But I'd like to live well enough to enjoy my life and not be burdened by poor health.
I suppose it’s too soon to tell, but my suspicion is that the health consequences could be even most costly from long-term consumption of such non-natural products. History seems to show that humans, though highly innovative and ingenious, have a knack of making technological advances that changes the balance of our planet and our bodies. And we never seem to realize the gravity of these consequences till it’s much later down the road. Hopefully, these consequences are reversible.
Then, I saw a television documentary about how almost all of our foods are genetically engineered – from seemingly innocuous vegetables such as corn to protein-rich soy beans to the cattle of cows. These scientific advances were touted to help farmers reduce crop loss from insects, enable foods to stay fresh longer and even boost the levels of valued vitamins and minerals in these foods.
All of this technology sounds pretty good, and the FDA says that the food remains “substantially” the same. If there's one take-away I've learned from my Chemistry class at school way-back-when, it's that it only takes an atom or different combination of the same atoms to change the entire nature of a molecule. Plus, the FDA has been known to make mistakes (after all, humans are not infallible) and it does remain to be seen what kind of consequences we will see decades down the road from ingesting these effectively artificial “biotech” foods for long periods of time.
It is virtually impossible for consumers to find any information in the aisle displays that the corn they are buying by the dozen during the summer for a BBQ is genetically-engineered. These disclaimers and notices are not seen anywhere in the fresh food section or even on the boxes of processed foods. It would be nice if there is at least a disclaimer somewhere so that consumers are more aware and can make their own choices.
Speaking of choices, do we have any? Where is one to look for “real, non-Franken food”? A trip to the farmer’s market or growing this from scratch yourself is not a sure-fire way at all – this stuff can be engineered in the seed itself! Here’s a link I found that could help:
http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Foods
But this means having food that perishes faster, has less nutrients, and are higher in cost as these farmers may see crop loss and price accordingly. Is it worth it to try to avoid genetically-modified foods? After all, I'm not looking to live till I'm 120! But I'd like to live well enough to enjoy my life and not be burdened by poor health.
I suppose it’s too soon to tell, but my suspicion is that the health consequences could be even most costly from long-term consumption of such non-natural products. History seems to show that humans, though highly innovative and ingenious, have a knack of making technological advances that changes the balance of our planet and our bodies. And we never seem to realize the gravity of these consequences till it’s much later down the road. Hopefully, these consequences are reversible.
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