Here’s a quick primer on what a GMO is:

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes. This DNA is then transferred into an organism, giving it modified or novel genes. Transgenic organisms, a subset of GMOs, are organisms which have inserted DNA that originated in a different species. What this means in practical terms is that scientists can now splice genes together that would never be combined through the natural order of things, thereby interfering with with nature at its most basic level. Here’s one example of a misguided attempt to “improve” on nature. Scientists altered a carrot so that it would produce calcium and become a possible cure for osteoporosis; however, people would need to eat 1.5 kilograms of carrots per day to reach the required amount of calcium.

Here is a quote from the Monsanto website:

“Organic foods, conventional foods and GMO food all share the same observable physical characteristics. The difference between these foods is in the production or the practices farmers use when growing the crop.”

Sounds pretty harmless, that is until you read the growing mountain of information challenging the safety of GMOs and the unknown, long-term global effects. And now, we have proof that GMO varieties of corn produced by Monsanto are toxic and harmful. The information stems from data supplied by none other than Monsanto. You can find the full article here. In this study, it was found that 3 different GMO corns adversely affected the kidneys and liver.

The state of GMO affairs in the US is discouraging at best, especially since President Obama appointed pro-agribusiness, FOM (friend of Monsanto), Tom Vilsack, to be USDA secretary. Obama sank even farther into Frankenfood hell by appointing biotech cheerleader Rajiv Shah, who worked for the Gates Foundation (a nonprofit partner of Monsanto), to be the USDA’s Under Secretary for Research, and has put Roger Beachy, Director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, directly under Shah in charge of the new National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Now Shah is going to lead the US Agency for International Development (USAID), handing over in effect billions of dollars in taxpayer money to Food Inc., and companies like Monsanto.

So far I don’t see a happy ending to this nightmare that could literally bring the whole planet down, especially when the leader of the highest office in the land is fist-bumping those behemoth biotech corporations. Maybe our new prez doesn’t understand what GMO is and how it’s commingling uninvited with neighboring fields and contaminating once-pure crops. Maybe he doesn’t realize that once you release a GMO into the wild you can never call it back. Ever. And perhaps he doesn’t get that organic agriculture is in fact superior to GMO agriculture and is the only thing that will save our planet. Maybe this all sounds melodramatic but it’s not so far from the truth.

But I applaud all the small, organic farmers who thumb their noses at biotech propaganda and grow food the way it was meant to be grown, sustainably, using environmentally sound techniques such as crop rotation, natural pest management, fertilization with compost, and other practices that work in harmony with nature. Just a few (of many) local certified organic farms that come to mind: Jim Moses and Linda Grigg, Meadow Lark, Ware Farm…Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! What would we do without you? (And a quick thanks to Maple Creek Farm in Yale, Michigan, the CSA I belonged to downstate. They have 100 acres and supply metro Detroit with organic veggies galore.)