Are GMO’s Dangerous? One Persons’ Observation Of The Possibility of GMO’s Being Dangerous

My search for nutritious and safe food started when I was cooking a vegetarian meal for a friend. I decided to use the firm tofu in a main dish served along with vegetables for dinner. A few hours later I was doubled over with stomach cramps. I knew it wasn’t food poisoning, I wasn’t nauseous. The only ingredient different from my normal chicken/fish diet was the tofu made from soybeans. I decided to do some research on soy protein.

One small piece of information that caught my eye was the information that

• 92 percent of soybeans in the US are grown from genetically modified seeds from Monsanto.
• 85 percent of corn grown here is also GMO.

The soybean is modified to resist Round-Up, a weed-killer manufactured by Monsanto. Both the seeds and Round-Up are sold by Monsanto to farmers in the United States. My research has led me to raise the question is GMO food dangerous?

I have a very cute cat named Spencer. He’s a tan and white Burmilla (part Burmese and part Chinchilla Persian). He’s seven years old and strictly an indoor cat. He only likes one type of wet cat food and I always have dry food available when he gets hungry in the middle of the night. Spencer has an affinity for throwing up, especially after he eats the dry food.

For the last year, I’ve noticed that when he goes in the litter box, there is a little blood on the stool. I’ve switched his dry cat food with grocery store brands over the year with no change. Spencer is on the very thin side and I want to plump him up a bit.

I was wondering if his lack of weight might be due to the dangers of GMO’s in pet food. After I started my research on soybeans, I started to do some research on GMO’s. There isn’t very much research to find. I did find a few accounts of rats, pigs and cows with intestinal distress and greater percentage of birth defects when fed solely GMO food, and that’s when I started to think. Maybe I should check the ingredients in the dry food I’ve been feeding my cat. Maybe our processed food made from GMO ingredients is dangerous?

I finally looked at the ingredients of the cat food I purchased from the grocery store. Within the top four ingredients, I found ground corn and soybean meal. I checked other top cat food brands and I found the same thing. Within the top four ingredients was either corn protein, soy protein or both. They are cheap sources of protein and both are certainly genetically modified within the last five years. Assuming these ingredients were the source of my cat’s intestinal problems, I went to a pet store that had more choices of dry cat food. I read through ingredient lists very carefully and I found several that are organic and did not contain soy or corn. I picked one that I thought my cat would like. He’s into seafood, especially tuna flavors. I threw out the old food and replaced it with the organic food.

Within a month Spencer has filled out and is eating better. He seems happier with fewer stomach problems and has lots of energy. I don’t have any definitive proof that GMO’s are dangerous, but my instincts tells me that there is some truth to GMO’s being dangerous. I feel like all of us are in this big experiment with our food supply. It is something every pet owner and parent should look into.

Since originally investigating material for this article, the state of California has rejected a proposition (37) to label foods containing GMO’s. Monsanto and other large food corporations put millions of dollars into a negative campaign to successfully defeat the proposition in California. Since becoming aware of the issues with the possible dangers of GMO’s in food and lack of enough scientific research to definitively say that genetically modified organisms are safe in the long run, I’m hoping that something changes to protect the individual.

Cynthia Simmons is a Weight Management Consultant. She recently found a wonderful solution to her long term weight problem. She has personally helped many people manage their weight loss safely without drugs or being hungry. Her long-term goal is to build a team of happy, healthy people to share this life-saving information with others suffering from the same weight problems she had.

To find out more about Cynthia, see GMO Dangers And Weight Loss