Growers and Grocers

As a medical researcher and certified healthcare consultant, the last thing I used to think about when someone said genetics was food.  Dealing with rare disorders my entire life, having been born with one, I associated genetics with blood sampling and medical testing.  Times have changed, foods have changed and now genetics are in our food supply.  But what does it all really mean?

Genetically engineered foods, also called bioengineered foods, are foods that have had foreign genes inserted into their genetic codes. Genetic engineering can be done with plants, animals, or micro-organisms.  It’s a process of selective breeding to make animals or plants with certain desired genes more common or more pronounced. For example pest resistant produce.

Genetic engineering allows scientists to move the desired genes from one plant into another and, in some cases, from an animal to a plant.  Bioengineering food is also designed to increase the shelf life of items such as produce and even make potatoes that absorb less fat when fried.

Is bioengineering the creation of superhero plants that grow stronger and faster with less water and less loss or something more ominous?
Some people have raised concerns that the genes from one food that are inserted into another food may cause allergic reactions. For instance, if peanut genes are in tomatoes, could someone with a peanut allergy react to tomatoes?

Estimates are currently that 60-70% of foods on most grocery stores shelves are GE.  Should we be worried?  I am.  My son wheezes.  No one in my family has ever wheezed.  Allergic reaction to food, it seems.  How would we ever know which one?

Tomatoes crossed with peanuts, corn crossed with everything.
If it weren’t for organics and raising most of our own food on the farm, I don’t know what I’d feed him.

I am especially concerned, as are many real organic farmers, that the pressure being put on organic farmers to produce more food faster, combined with the increase in organic factory farming, will cause a devastating dilution of organics and we’ll be the last to learn what is faux and what is friend.

Will there be levels of organic?  Maybe “ Organic,” “ We Promise It’s Organic”  and “ Let’s just call it Organic”?  Sadly enough, that’s not far away.  Organics are still a matter of trust and the thought of having GE foods leaking into my diet to satisfy a super center demand for organic is horrifying.

When will enough be enough?  Half our children are obese, wheezing with asthma, suffering with diabetes, autism and horrific medical complications, many which can be linked to what we’re putting into their bodies- intentionally and for money.

While searching for GE food information, I’ve found these organisms that are combined together from various pieces called everything from “ Frankenfood”  to my own personal brand name, “ pseudo-foodo.”

In the European Union, particularly in Britain, and in some Asian countries, the public seems to be especially suspicious of GE foods.  Why is our Country the last to wake up?  Is it youth or greed?  I, for one, simply don’t want to eat a “ Cornato”  or a  “Peanato.”  I want my apples and tomatoes - not some amalgamate of commercial agriculture.