GMO Foods: Friend or Foe?  I Don't Know.  But I Still Avoid Them

Ever since my first learning of them, genetically engineered foods have frightened me, mainly because I thought that cross-breeding of highly specific agents, like bacteria, into a vegetable would somehow once consumed interrupt subtle hormonal processes of the human glands and would affect neurotransmitters and other subtle  endocrine  functions of human biology.  But outside my own fears, where was the evidence for this?  I didn't have any.  So I went looking.  

Some people point to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. as cause for concern of GMO products.  But is obesity a GMO issue or is it that the sugar monopolies in Cuba and other countries ensure that cheaper versions of their products are reserved for regular users of sugar like Ben and Jerry's, Coca-Cola, General Mills, and others?  Are GMOs responsible for obesity?  

Are GMOs responsible for thyroid problems?  Natural Endocrine Solutions asserts that plenty of health problems arise with GMOs:

But how can GMOs affect thyroid health?  Well, there does seem to be some evidence that eating genetically modified foods can potentially trigger an autoimmune response, thus leading to conditions such as Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.  But GMOs can lead to other autoimmune conditions as well, and other health issues such as autism, diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, and many other conditions.  Plus, getting back to thyroid health, in past articles I’ve spoken about the risks of unfermented soy on thyroid health, as this can potentially inhibit thyroid gland activity.  And of course having the soy genetically modified will only make things worse.  

Sounds pretty extreme.  Problem with those statements is that none of them are corroborated by any lab or scientist or nutritionist or medical researcher or expert, nor any personal experience.  So far, all that the Natural Endocrine Solutions' author offers is an opinion.  But the author does give examples:

For example, Bacillus thuringiensis is a toxin which kills insects by breaking open their stomachs.  A wonderful idea was proposed (note the sarcasm) to alter the crop’s DNA to produce the Bt-toxin, thus breaking open the stomach of insects, thereby killing them.  It sounded like a splendid idea, especially since this toxin wasn’t supposed to cause any harm to humans.  But even though we were told that only insects would be affected by the bt-toxin, apparently it can harm some of the cells of the human digestive system, perhaps contributing to a leaky gut and other digestive issues.  ". . . some of the cells of the human digestive system"?  

Which ones?  And ". . . perhaps contributing to a leaky gut and other digestive issues."  Hmm.  Are you convinced by "perhaps" and "some"? I'm not.  Nor am I convinced of the innocuous effects of GMOs either.  In other words, so far I have read nothing that sways me from my position of caution . . . and fear stirred up perhaps by the hype from the organic industry.  I like organic, I do.  But again I think that we need to test the virtues of organic as well as examine the detriments of GMOs, for the more I read on GMOs, I am finding that engineered foods are already well into the food supply.  And if they've been in the food supply for over 30 years and we're not seeing a definitive correlation and causation of GMOs to cancer, diabetes, and other diseases, I think we need to re-examine our fears and their source. 

Brad Plumer of Vox.com explains that:      

Humans have been selectively breeding plants and animals for tens of thousands of years to get certain desired traits. Over time, for example, farmers (and scientists) have bred corn to become larger, to hold more kernels on an ear, and to flourish in different climates. That process has certainly altered corn's genes. But it's not usually considered "genetic engineering."

Genetic engineering, by contrast, involves the direct manipulation of DNA, and only really became possible in the 1970s. It often takes two different forms:

There's "cisgenesis," which involves directly swapping genes between two organisms that could otherwise breed — say, from wheat to wheat. Or there's"transgenesis," which involves taking well-characterized genes from a different species (say, bacteria) and transplanting them into a crop (such as corn) to produce certain desired traits.

Ultimately, genetic engineering tries to accomplish the same goals as traditional breeding — create plants and animals with desired characteristics. But genetic engineering allows even more fine-tuning. It can be faster than traditional breeding, and it allows engineers to transfer specific genes from one species to another. In theory, that allows for a much greater array of traits.