This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Frankenfood: It's Alive!

Questions about genetically modified foods were answered at the Hillside Public Library.

“What people don’t know is that about 80 percent of food in the U.S. has been genetically modified in some way," said Nutritional Consultant Gary Feldman during a recent program at the called The New Generation of Food.

The lecture, which addressed the differences between conventional, organic and GMO foods, was held at the library on Tuesday, Feb. 8, to a turnout of about 25 curious attendees.

A GMO or genetically modified organism is a plant, animal or microorganism whose genetic makeup has been scientifically manipulated; during this process, the genes from one organism are spliced with those of another to create something new with different and perhaps more desirable characteristics.

Find out what's happening in New Hyde Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What sounds like science fiction has become a jarring reality in the foods that all of us purchase and consume. Referred by some as “Frankenfood,” genetically modified groceries are made by major biotech corporations to produce crops with bigger food, higher yield and quality, extended shelf life, resistance to high levels of herbicides and pesticides and improved nutritional content. But have they created a monster?

According to Feldman, the live DNA that is injected into GMO foods comes from a number of interesting and shocking sources that include insects, fish, bacteria—and even humans. Feldman provided the example of slow-churned ice cream that has been injected with the genes from flounder. Since flounder is a cold-water fish resistant to low temperatures, it is used to maintain the dessert's smooth consistency after it has been frozen.

Find out what's happening in New Hyde Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the instance of flounder genes, attendees questioned the potential dangers -- it is a fish and not a toxic chemical, so what could be the real harm? The answer is simple. Although the DNA comes from two different natural sources, they are united in an unnatural bond. When mixed genes are consumed together, like milk, cream, and flounder genes, you can’t be sure of what it might be doing to your body. Not to mention they can pose a threat to those with certain allergies or religious beliefs.

Feldman described that when you eat genetically modified foods, some of it gets destroyed by digestion but most of it goes into your gut, which is the place where all of your nutrients get distributed into the blood.  GMO foods, “transgress all bacteria in your gut…altering the protein.”

Feldman elaborated on how humans have never consumed foods like this before. Since GMO technology is still so new, the safety of these foods and how they will affect our bodies and the environment in the long run still remains unanswered.

“It is considered the biggest experiment on human kind,” he said.

Ellen Sypowicz, who has been into learning about GMO for many years, took a half day off of work to attend the lecture.

“I’m very concerned…I feel many people are asleep in matters like this,” said Sypowicz.

What is perhaps most troubling about GMO foods is that many people are left in the dark about what exactly these three letters represent and especially, where they are lurking. The United States FDA does not require the labeling of GMO foods, meaning that we eat these products unknowingly.

“America is the only industrialized country in the world with no labeling,” Feldman said, describing how other countries in Europe and Asia fought hard to have all GMO foods marked, if not banned all together.

Feldman showed a few minutes of the award winning production, The Future of Food, by Lily Films. The film explained how agriculture in America first started to go through a major change in the twentieth century, quickly transforming from all organic to sprayed and modified.

According to the film, after World War I, chemical fertilizers were made from deadly toxins using nitrogen bomb technologies and some of the first insecticides were actually by-products of World War II nerve gasses.

America embraced these new farming methods because it led to greater availability of crops and cheaper products. The “gene revolution” then began in order to create plants that could withstand and thrive against the harsh sprays, and snowballed over time. Essentially, most of the foods sold today in this country are from crops that have been modified to either eat poison or produce it.

In one of the supplemental handouts provided for the lecture, the crops listed as most likely to contain GMO ingredients (unless otherwise stated as organic or non-GMO) are soybean, corn, canola, cotton, potatoes, and wheat.

Feldman stopped the film as the sentence, “whoever controls the seeds, controls the food,” silently displayed on the screen, leading into a discussion on exactly who it is that is controlling our seeds.

Large biotech corporations have a strong hold on the marketplace as they are putting patents on thousands of seeds.

“We are allowing the biotech industry to patent life itself,” Feldman said.

These companies genetically modify the seeds, declare exclusive ownership of them, and then distribute to farmers.

According to an article put out by the Organic Consumers Association in 2008, Monsanto, the world leader in industrial agriculture, owns and provides the seeds “for 90 percent of the world’s genetically modified crops.”As time goes by, more crops are becoming extinct, limiting production to the select few GMO varieties that biotech companies distribute.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“This is so vast, it is mind boggling,” Feldman stressed.

At this point, GMO foods have gotten so out of control in the United States that there are not many options for avoiding them.

“The only way to get out of it is to buy organic,” Feldman said, who closed the lecture by passing around labels of foods that clearly identify themselves as organic or non-GMO.

But even organic foods are no longer foolproof as GMO seeds can easily blow over from nearby fields.

“I’m very much interested [in GMO]” said attendee Mary Ann Montagna who talked about how becoming more informed on the subject is “not just for us, it’s for our future and grandchildren.”

Although GMO foods are not labeled, Feldman unveiled how numbers on the small round price lookup (PLU) stickers found on most fruit and produce, can provide clues for identifying the  source of a food item:

  • PLU stickers beginning with the number two, three, four, or five indicate conventional foods that are heavily spread with herbicides and insecticides. Feldman referred to them as, “conventional cancer.” These are not GMO foods but are often planted close to GMO fields which can blow seeds over.
  • When eight is the first digit, the product is 100% GMO. No label at all is almost guaranteed to be GMO.
  • When nine is the first digit, the food is organic. Feldman repeated the phrase, “nine is fine” to help attendees remember. He also noted that anything labeled as organic from China can still utilize 5% GMO.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?