The Monterey County Herald column published in the Sun Journal April 22, “On Nutrition,” presented several arguments in favor of genetically modified foods, while arguments against GMOs were mentioned vaguely as “health concerns.”
Modern life exposes us to many new chemicals in the air and water, but mainly in food and other consumer products. Most processed foods are now sweetened with corn syrup, which is made from GMO corn.
No long-term studies (25 to 50 years) have been done on the effects of GMOs to human health. When supporters of GMOs say there is no evidence of harm, what they are really saying is that the government has not required meaningful studies.
The same was true of DDT. During the 1940s, I was taught that DDT was harmless to people and would enable farmers to feed millions more people. In 1975, it recognized that DDT was killing animals and people, to the extent that it was banned.
It is possible that some GMOs will turn out to be beneficial, but the human digestive system was developed to accommodate what is in nature. When the digestive system cannot break down or eliminate a novel chemical, or group of chemicals, they will be stored in body tissues.
Over decades, that may or may not lead to cancer and other chronic ailments.
The government should discover that before industry is permitted to put GMOs into our food. As things are now, people are being made into experimental animals.
Arthur Harvey, Hartford
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