Ashley Crook

English 2010
Professor Holloway
February 15, 2016

Immunity and Health Risks of GMO Foods

What are the harmful immunity risk of GMO foods for humans? GMO foods can
be very harmful to us. We need to know what gmo stands for, what health risks are there
for gmo foods, what immunity
problems they cause for livestock, and
why to avoid them. They have done
research on this topic and the results
may get you to worry more about what
you put in your mouth.

(google image)

Body: GMO foods stand for Genetically modified organisms. The

definition of gmo foods is any food product that has been altered at the gene
level (Worlds Healthiest Foods). For a while now farmers have been trying different
types of crossbreeds for plants. They are trying to get more tasty foods out of this test.
Through this technology, scientists have created tomatoes with a longer shelf life by

Crook
1
adding flounder genes, soybeans that are resistant to weed killers, potatoes that produce
their own pesticides, and potatoes with jellyfish genes that glow in the dark when they
need water. (World's Healthiest Foods) They are trying to come up with fruits
vegetables and grains that will be higher in vitamins.

(google images)
Since 1996, when the first large-scale commercial harvest of genetically
engineered crops occurred in the United States, the percentage of genetically engineered
crops grown in the United States has increased to 25%, including 35% of all corn, 55%
of all soybeans, and nearly half of all the cotton. (World's Healthiest Foods) With
everything in the world things have health risks. There are health risks that people are
concerned about with GMO foods. Farmers use considerably more herbicides on these
GMO crops and so the food has higher herbicide residues. About 68% of GMO crops are
herbicide tolerant. (Edwards, 2010)

Immunity and Health Risks: A health risk is defined as a disease precursor

associated with a higher than average morbidity or mortality rate. Disease precursors

Crook
2
include demographic variables, certain individual behaviors, familial and individual
histories, and certain physiological changes. (Ferlex) A health risk in more simple terms
is anything that can cause harm to people's health. In the 1980s, a contaminated brand
of a food supplement called L-tryptophan killed about 100 Americans and caused
sickness and disability in another 5,000-10,000 people. The source of contaminants was
almost certainly the genetic engineering process used in its production. (Edwards,
2010)
The health risks of GMO foods can cause major health problems. In the
Philippines at least five villages have have become sick from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
corn pollution. In the 1980s there was a contaminated food supply that killed about 100
Americans and left others disabled or sick. Doctors are trying to get people to eat nongmo foods because according to research some of the studies are showing it is a long
term delay of symptoms. BT-Toxin is found in corn and cotton.
Well what is a BT-Toxin? Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacteria that produces
proteins which are toxic to insects. Bts extreme toxicity comes at no surprise. Its in the
same family of bacteria as B. anthracis, which causes anthrax, and B. cereus, which
causes food poisoning. (Edwards, 2013) The BT-Toxin is dangerous it makes an insect's
stomach burst open, by burning holes in the intestines. It has also showed that is can
cause problems to the lungs and may cause blindness. This toxin is found in raw fruits
and even if you wash it will still be there. It is also found in pasteurized milk, ice cream,
juices and green teas.

Crook
3
In 1992 the Food and Drug administration (FDA) said that they had no evidence
that GMO foods were any different from regularly natural grown foods. Recently they
have been found guilty for hiding that GMO foods can be toxic.
Soy has been linked to allergies. In the United kingdom soy allergies have
jumped to 50%. Cooked GMO soy has can contain seven times the amount of soy
allergies. GMO foods may lead you to be allergic to non-GMO foods. They did research
on mice that they fed bt-toxin
and they started to have
immune reactions to harmless
foods. Soy may reduce
digestive enzymes and impairs
your digestion. It may lead you
to be allergic to any types of
food.

(this graph is the death rate of rats that are being tested, google images)

GMOs may lead to liver problems. Rats that ate gmo potatoes showed a
declined effectiveness of their livers. The rats that were given gmo canola oil were 12%16% heavier than the rats that were not. GMO soy altered the mouse's liver cells.
GMOs can lead to reproductive problems and also infant mortality. In a test they did, a
rat had babies while she was eating gmo foods and the results were that she lost about
half of her babies within three weeks of birth. The embryos rats that ate gmo foods vs.

Crook
4
natural foods functioned differently. Male and female rats had changes in their
reproductive systems. By the

(google images)

third generation's most rats were unable to have babies. GMOs can be very
dangerous to us and livestock.

Immunity in livestock: There have been reports from India that thousand of
sheep, goats, and buffalo that have died from eating Bt cotton plants. The ones that
survived have suffered from poor health and reproductive problems. Farmers in Europe
say their cows, chickens, and horses have died from eating bt corn. There are some
major reasons to avoid gmo based foods and switch to non-gmo foods.

Why avoid gmo foods: I have found some reasons why to avoid gmo foods. I
am sure there are more than these ten. The first reason is they are unhealthy, why? since
1996 people with three or more chronic illness has increased from 7% to 13% in nine
years. Food allergies have also gone up in the last few years. It has made an increase in
autism, reproductive disorders, digestive disorders and many other things. Genes

Crook
5
inserted into GM soy, for example, can transfer into the DNA of bacteria living inside
us, and that the toxic insecticide produced by GM corn was found in the blood of
pregnant women and their unborn fetuses. (Smith, 2011)
GMO foods contaminate the body not just for a little while but it lasts forever.
The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO
contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who
often struggle to keep their crops pure. (Smith, 2011) Genetic engineering causes
dangerous side effects. The gm plants are making toxins, carcinogens, nutritional
deficiencies, and allergies.
The government is very laxed about gmos. The gmo risks are getting ignored by
our government. Also the FDA does not require any safety studies. They say they have
no information that gmo foods are harmful. Yet the FDA scientist are conscious that they
create the unpredictable, and hard to detect side effects.
Just like the tobacco companies are saying that tobacco is safe the same
researchers are skewing their test to show that gmos are considered safe. Independent
scientists, have caught the spin-masters red-handed, demonstrating without doubt how
industry-funded research is designed to avoid finding problems, and how adverse
findings are distorted or denied. (Smith, 2011)
Independent research is being attacked and suppressed, the scientist who have
found problems with gmos are being attacked, threatened, fired, gagged, and denied
funding. Attempts by the media to expose the problem have been edited.
GMOs harm the environment, the crops that have the gmo altered foods can be
harmful to birds, animals and insects that eat this food. This has been eliminating the

Crook
6
monarch butterflies it has gone down about 50%. It has been causing a bunch of
different types of health problems in animals. GMOs work against fighting hunger, nongmo foods in developing countries have increased by about 79%. Foods with gmos is
less than this, it just shows that we are not helping with the world hunger problem by
using gmos. They also say using gmos on food have diverted money that could have
been spent on safe foods. By avoiding gmo foods you can help by getting rid of the gmo
in our food. If no one eats food with gmos then they will not make any money, and more
in likely change to non-gmo foods. Even if there is just a small amount of people that do
this, it will cause a marketing liability. America is on its way to becoming a non-gmo
food country.

Conclusion: I know that gmos are very unhealthy. I am going to work on eating
foods with no gmos. If even a few more people decide to go to non-gmo foods it will
help convince them to take the gmo out of our foods. I do not want the people that are
close to me to suffer from any of the effects that gmo foods cause. I know this has really
impacted me on what I choose to put into my mouth and body. GMOs should be banned
from all of our foods. Lets all work on become more aware of the harmful effect of gmo
foods.

Crook
7

Work Cited
Edward, Dr. "Health Risks Dr Groups Natural Health Organic Living Blog. 2013. Web.
17 Feb. 2016.
Edward, Dr. "What Is the Bt Toxin?" Dr Groups Natural Health Organic Living Blog.
2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Ferlex. "Health Risks." The Free Dictionary. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

Smith, Jeffery. "10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs." Institute For Responsible Technology.
25 Aug.2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.

"What Does GMO Mean?" The World's Healthiest Foods. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.