Is Genetically Modified Food Killing Us?

Eric Fry, reporting from Laguna Beach, California...

“Is Genetically Modified Food Killing Us?” Alex Daley asks in today’s Daily Reckoning. “Probably not,” he confidently responds to his own question. But the worldwide scientific community is slightly less confident. The long-term effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are simply unknowable.

The idea that GMOs might kill us over the long term is not necessarily a deal-breaker. So does cholesterol, saturated fat and corn syrup. But that doesn’t stop Americans from spending $20 billion a year on ice cream.

No, the problem with GMOs is not that they might kill us; the problem is that we have no idea how they might kill us. We have no idea if they might harm us quickly, or slowly...or not at all.

More importantly, we have no idea if — down the road — they might catastrophically alter the genetic traits of various organisms — in particular, the human organism. Therefore, the entire GMO experiment promises feast or famine...literally.

If feast be the result, the companies that produce these genetic marvels stand to reap billions of dollars in profits. But if these marvels sow the seeds of biological self-destruction, the companies that produce them are likely to face a financial famine.

Time will tell, of course. But how much time is anyone’s guess. In the meanwhile, if the image you see in your mirror begins to look strangely like a laboratory rat, you’ll know the reason why. The producers of GMOs are conducting a grand experiment on the vast open air laboratory called Planet Earth.

Hopefully, this experiment produces bountiful benefits to mankind. However, several GMO experiments-to-date, conducted in much smaller labs around the world, have produced worrisome results, like the experiment Dr. Severine Kirchner highlighted in the October 9, 2012 edition of The Daily Reckoning, Gambling with the Genome.

“A team of French scientists linked one of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn to elevated risks of cancer,” Dr. Kirchner reported. “[The] research team fed rats for two years a diet containing Monsanto’s genetically modified corn. Results: the rats on the GMO diet died earlier than those on a standard diet. The animals on the GMO diet also suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage.”

The Daily Reckoning