Failure to Yield Any Benefit - The Truth About GMOs

I watched the movie Genetic Roulette online for about the third time. Each time I watch it, I see a new fact about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that I hadn’t really paid attention to quite as clearly before. This time, it was the statement about the chemical companies who promote GMOs have been promising that the use of GMOs would create higher yields of food and therefore feed the world. Except that hasn't panned out - in fact, just the opposite. If you want to read the study for yourself, you can read it at the Union of Concern Scientists’ in their Failure to Yield report. The truth about the use of GMOs is quite different. The fact is that without GMOs, there is still plenty of food in the world to feed everyone. The problem is not the production of food, but the distribution of food which is a whole other problem to solve. So, let’s put that misinformation to rest. Still, chemical companies would have you believe that we NEED GMOs in order to manage our production so we can all eat more at a lower cost. In most industrialized nations, the problem is not about having enough food and it’s become more a problem of having healthy food. According to the Union of Concern Scientists, the promises of increased production are false. According to the USC,

“Despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields.”

In fact, many farmers are beginning to see that their yields are lower after buying these GMO seeds and spraying chemical products on those seeds. One cotton farmer interviewed in Genetic Roulette said he began to really question his initial decision to use GMO seed when he began reading the dire health warnings on the seed bag itself. Don’t eat it, don’t touch it, don’t breath it, don’t let it touch your skin….sounds like the warning label on poison, doesn’t it? The bottom line is this - chemical companies like Monsanto have been promoting the use of chemicals under the promise of higher yields (i.e. more crops for the farmer as lower costs), and that has not been the case. As farmers see their crop yields drop and their animals suffer from eating GMO crops, they’re beginning to understand that their livelihood depends on them NOT using GMOs. The tide is turning, people are starting to understand the link between GMOs and human illnesses that seem to be on a steady increase. As these links between GMOs and human health, livestock health, crop yields and agricultural sustainability are made, informed people will vote with their dollars and buy foods that do not have GMOs. Our health as a nation, as a world and as a species literally depends on it.