GMO's: A Growing Concern-Part 3

**So I just basically copy and pasted this final segment from the article, because its late and the baby is teething and I want to hurry and sleep while she is. But seriously read through this latest groundbreaking study out of Russia. Its totally freaky, and it casts a shadow on the future of our world if we keep consuming GM foods. Your kids' kids could be sterile. Oh yeah, with hair growing around their teeth. Really.
Happy reading!

Russian Scientists Find Third Generation of Hamsters Sterilized by GM Soy

The release of this new information provides yet another health risk, and confirmation on earlier problems related to fertility, birth weight of offspring, and infant mortality.

In this feeding study they used hamsters, an animal which has not been previously featured in GM safety studies.

One group of hamsters was fed a normal diet without any soy whatsoever, a second group was fed non-GMO soy, a third ate GM soy, and a fourth group ate an even higher amount of GM soy than the third.

Using the same genetically modified (GM) soy that is produced on over 90 percent of the soy acreage in the US, the hamsters and their offspring were fed their respective diets over a period of two years, during which time the researchers evaluated three generations of hamsters.

First they took five pairs of hamsters from each group, each of which produced about seven to eight litters each, totaling about 140 animals.

At first all went well, but serious problems became apparent when they selected new pairs from the offspring.

The first problem was that this second generation had a slower growth rate and reached their sexual maturity later than normal.

However, this second generation eventually generated another 39 litters:

• The no-soy control group had 52 pups
• The non-GM soy had 78
• The GM soy had only 40, of which 25 percent died

So these second-generation GM soy-fed hamsters had a five-fold higher infant mortality rate, compared to the 5 percent normal death rate that was happening in the controls.

Nearly All of the Third-Generation GMO Babies Were Sterile!

But then an even bigger problem became apparent, because nearly all of the third generation hamsters lost the ability to have babies altogether.

Only a single third-generation female hamster gave birth to 16 pups, and of those, one fifth died.

In short, nearly the entire third generation of GM soy eaters were sterile!

But it doesn’t end there.

In the GM soy-fed groups they also found an unusually high prevalence of an otherwise extremely rare phenomenon – hair growing inside the animals’ mouths. (You can see the images here.)

Says Smith:

“… it’s a very rare phenomenon but he [study author, Dr. Surov] had never in his life seen more hair in mouths of hamsters than with these GM soy-fed, third generation hamsters.”

As you may know, genetically modified crops weren’t released until 1996, starting with GM soy, corn and cotton. Modified canola came about a year later.

Please remember humans have MUCH longer life spans than rats and that GMO foods were only introduced in 1996. This is LESS than one generation.

So we’re still nowhere near seeing the full effects of these potential ramifications in humans, as we’re only about 15 years into it. But if the effects are anything like the effects on numerous types of animals, we could be looking at sterility on a grand scale as our great-grandchildren grow up and begin to try to procreate...

The fact that the US is completely unwilling to implement the precautionary principle with regards to GM foods is incomprehensible in light of the findings we already have from animal studies.

Additionally, some 800 genetically engineered food applications have been submitted to the USDA, but not one single environmental impact statement has been prepared. So not only are human health ramifications ignored, but the entire eco system is being jeopardized.

It’s Time to Save Yourself and Your Family Because White Knights Don’t Exist in Government

It’s important to realize that the key to ending the ongoing atrocity of GM foods lies not with government, but with you and me.

Consumers are going to have to drive GM foods out, and we CAN do it.

Through educating yourself, your family, friends and community about GMOs, and most importantly of all, through the food purchases you make, you can stop this unregulated science experiment.

Once we reach the tipping point, which is probably as little as five percent of the US population, the market WILL respond. They can’t afford not to!

Once enough people refuse to buy GM food products, it won’t be long before food manufacturers start switching their ingredients.

Taken from Mercola.com

GMO's: A Growing Concern-Part 2

Lets continue on in the discussion on the dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms.

How to Avoid GMO's

Avoid the "Big Four", which has now become five. The top GM crops are Soy, Corn, Canola, Cotton and Sugar Beets. You might be thinking, "Ok, that's not so hard. So I just avoid those 5 things?" Only it's not that simple, because you would be surprised to find out that soy, for instance, is in nearly every processed food on the supermarket shelves. Crackers, cookies, chips, power bars, frozen dinners, dairy products, etc., all have soy, and it will never be labeled as GMO. Your best bet is to buy organic whenever possible.

Most corn is GMO, and corn based products, corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup also appear on the ingredients labels of most processed foods. Fast food is filled with corn products. Just rent "King Corn" on your netflix and you will see it for yourself.

Of course GMO corn is fed to cattle and other livestock. If you eat beef, pork or fowl, you are a second hand consumer of GM corn. Buy grass fed beef or organic chicken.

Use pure extra-virgin olive oil, since most blended oils contain canola or cottonseed oil.

Stop buying regular sugar and avoid sugary products, especially soda! As if soda couldn't get any worse...it is now. Between the high fructose corn syrup and sugar, that pepsi is sure to destroy your health. All major supermarkets carry organic sugar for a reasonable price.

The sure way to avoid ending up with GM foods in your shopping cart is to download the free non-GMO shopping guide, available at www.NonGMOshoppingGuide.com.

There is also a free iPhone or ipod application that is available in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.

Vote with Your Dollars!

Can you believe that Europe is GMO-free? If Europe did it, the US can too. If enough shoppers continually avoid buying GM food products, then it will have an impact. So take this one step! Download the shopping guide, and make note of which brands to buy and which ones to avoid. Europe reached their boiling point 11 years ago in April of 1999, from a single week of negative media which swayed enough consumers for food companies to commit to stop using GM ingredients. You have tremendous power!

Here is a great video all about GMO's if you are eager to learn more.

Stay tuned for the last part 3!

GMO's: A Growing Concern-Part 1

Do you know about GMO's, or Genetically Modified Organisms?

If you don't, you should know. You are after all consuming them everyday, several times a day. And they are a major threat to our future health.

Of course the FDA and food industry claim that genetically modified foods are safe, properly tested, and necessary to feed a hungry world. TOTALLY FALSE! Genetically modified organisms are one of the most dangerous and radical changes to our food supply. These mostly unregulated ingredients are found in 60-70% of the foods in the US. It takes some education and effort, but trust me, it is worth it to avoid them at all costs, for you and especially for your children (more on that in a future post).

A Quick Rundown of GMO's

Many of our most important crops are being injected by either shooting genes from a gene gun into a plate of cells or by using bacteria to invade the cell with foreign DNA. The altered cell is then cloned into a plant. This process create major damage, causing mutations in hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the plant's DNA. The main reason companies genetically engineer plants is to make them tolerant to their brand of herbicide and pesticide. The "Big Four" major GM plants, soy, corn, canola, and cotton (and now sugar beets) are designed to survive an otherwise deadly dose of weed killer.

(If you are interested in the politics, just google Monsanto and Michael Taylor. It gets bad, but I won't go into that now.)

Why Avoid GM Foods?

A very obvious sign of the danger of GM foods, is that animals offered a choice of GM food or non-GM food will always choose the non-GM food. Even to the point of starvation. Shouldn't we learn something from that??

World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava states that after reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, it can be concluded that GMOs are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans. Genetic engineering alters genetic codes of the DNA in organisms, creating mutant organisms and dangerously mutating genes. Children are particularly vulnerable because of their rapidly developing systems, and essentially have become the true experimental animals in all this.

Studies were recently finished in Russian on hamsters fed GM soy and the results are truly chilling. By the third generation, those hamsters fed the GM diet were mostly sterile AND had hair growing in their mouth! Disgusting right? Here are the pictures to give you a lovely visual.
I'm sorry, but I really don't want hair growing in my mouth. Creepy!! And this stuff is real. More on this study in Part 3.

So clearly GM foods are unregulated by the government, untested and unapproved. Yet, nearly every mainstream cereal at your local grocery store is made with GM corn and soy. The list goes on and on, and you would never know what you are truly consuming, because it is not required at this time to label a product that is genetically modified. There are a limited amount of organic companies that do label their products as GMO-free, thankfully. But how do we avoid the rest? Find out in the next post.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

The Bees Knees

I love taking walks. Call me childlike, but every time I see a dying bumblebee stumbling along the sidewalk, I want to save it. If there was an tiny little syringe with a lifesaving agent in it, I would inject the bee. Why? Well, for one thing I have a soft spot for all creatures and have since I was a little girl. But the main reason is that we NEED bees! They are so important to keep our world working and beautiful. Why was this bee dying? Most likely, he was flying along, pollinating, and simply doing what he was created to do. However, day after day, he is losing the fight.

Bees, you see, are declining in number, and have been since the 1950's. There are a combination of factors that have caused this. One is varroa and tracheal mites, parasites that destroy honeybees and wipe out colonies. Another is Colony Collapse Disorder, which kills a bunch of bees quickly and in large number. The cause of this disorder is being narrowed down to mainly pesticides, but also nutritional deficiencies, viruses, weather, and just the simple fact that bees are not as strong as they were 30 years ago.

I think this is really sad and equally troublesome. I mean, those of you that have seen the kids movie Bee Movie can see how important bees are to the world. Even many beekeepers across the U.S. are quitting, saying they just aren't able to make a living anymore.

How you can help honeybees:

-Use pesticides wisely, if you must at all. Choose products that are less likely to harm bees, and follow the directions carefully. Don't apply pesticides to flowers that bees will visit or water they'll drink. Or look up and learn to try natural pesticides, like neem.

-Add pollinator-friendly plants to your yard. Check out the "Pollinator Friendly Planting Guide" for your region at http://www.pollinator.org.

-Don't be afraid to leave part of your yard a bit messy. Honeybees feed on weed flowers like dandelions, too.

-Buy local honey. It helps keep beekeepers in business. If you can't find a source of local honey, this is a great buy: Organic Bee Farms Raw Honey

-Befriend bees. Stay calm when you see them; don't swat them or move around when they are near. For the most part, if you don't bother them, they'll leave you alone.

-Welcome beekeepers to your neighborhood. Bee experts advocate repealing laws that bar beekeepers.

These Make Me Want to Get Pregnant Just to Take Them

Okay Happy Mothers Day to me, because this is such an incredible price for these New Chapter Prenatals!!! I dont know how long they will be this cheap, but retail price is normally $82 and they are $28.68 today on sale on Vitacost (the best healthy product website by the way, $5 shipping).

If you dont know about New Chapter, they are the absolute top line of quality vitamins across the board. The quality is so high that you can take them on an empty stomach without getting nauseated, and they are made with organic whole foods products. I can't say enough good about this company. Just read all the raving reviews on the Vitacost page for yourself. It may only be this price today. Take advantage!