Health Care

By Bolaji Alli

One of the greatest threats facing mankind today is the use of genetic modified (GM) crops in the food supply. Already the world is facing a catastrophe of diseases caused in part by GM foods. Unless something drastically happens to alter it, we will have degenerative diseases of epidemic proportions.

I have said many times in my writings that man, in all his knowledge and wisdom is not superior to nature. Some large corporations are playing God with the our food supply. Have you ever thought what happens when all the genetically modified, pesticide-compatible, laboratory-concocted Frankenfoods end up genetically contaminating the natural crops we depend on for a sustainable food ?

Currently, the use of genetically modified food is a subject of huge global controversy and debate. Environmental and consumer groups have demanded that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follow the lead of the European Union, Japan and other nations by requiring labels on GM foods to allow consumers to know what they are buying. The U.S. government claims that such mandatory food labels are not necessary because genetically modified food 'poses no inherent safety risk'

In the U.S Only 40% of people know that some of the foods they are buying and eating are genetically modified (GM), according to a survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), an industry group funded by food, beverage and agricultural industries. Additionally nearly 1 out of 4 people incorrectly believes that such foods are not being sold in the United States.

Are the potential dangers of genetically modified foods?

Those identified so far include:

• New toxins and allergens in foods

• Other damaging effects on health caused by unnatural foods

• The creation of herbicide-resistant weeds

• The spread of diseases across species barriers

• Loss of bio-diversity in crops

• The disturbance of ecological balance

• Artificially induced characteristics and inevitable side-effects will be passed on to all subsequent generations and to other related organisms. Once released, they can never be recalled or contained. The consequences of these are incalculable

Genetically engineered products clearly have the potential to be highly toxic and thus a threat to human health. In 1989, a genetically engineered brand of L-tryptophan, a common dietary supplement, killed 37 Americans and permanently disabled or afflicted more than 5,000 others with a painful and potentially fatal blood disorder, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS), before it was recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Many experts believe that the full impact of GM foods on our health and the environment will become apparent in the next few years. By then full blown diseases that medical science cannot understand thus cannot treat will add to the already overwhelming lists of illnesses that cannot ‘be cured’.

Playing God with seeds and the food supply for the purpose of extracting maximum corporate profits is to place the very future of mankind at an extreme risk. Suppose the terminator gene crops somehow cross-pollinate staple food crops that now feed the world... what happens then? Imagine all the wheat grown in the United States suddenly self-destructing after a single growing season. Mass starvation would quickly ensue, followed by economic collapse, military action and quite possibly the collapse of the nation itself. And the same is true for most parts of the developed world.

I cannot wait for the day when the people will rise up against the corruption and overbearing power of the corporations. In time, we will reclaim our right to a clean environment, food that is naturally produced and easy access to holistic health remedies. The power these bodies have over us will crumble, and governments that collude with the corporations to strip power, health and dollars from the people will pay the price.