Hellobee Boards

The truth is that nobody really knows yet.

I think there are a lot of suspicions because mega-corporations rule the science on this, but long term studies take, well, a long time.

We do know there is a real impact of monoculture and GMO on butterflies and probably contribute to colony collapse in bees. That was enough for me, but I definitely prioritize.

I suspect that the impact will be environmental. When all crops become too similar, bad things happen.
I doubt there is any impact on your health. I think those concerns have been overstated, and most people I've met who are against them for health reasons don't really have a lot of science to back it up.
I'd try to Prioritize local and seasonal foods above all else. In my family We also prioritize organic for environmental reasons.

My thinking is that in general, try to eat food as close the way it appears in nature. That is its healthiest form. Once things become process and changed; nutrient, vitamin and mineral content is altered. I have seen charts comparing GMO vegetable nutrient content to those of regular or organic vegetables, and usually normal/organic vegetables have higher vitamin and mineral contents.

I avoid GMO's at all costs. The way I see it, the big companies are controlling the market and so they want to say GMOs are fine - or else they lose money. Follow the money-trail. I think a lot of it is politics, unfortunately.

Like @Mrs. Jacks: - there is a real threat to bee colonies and other insets because of the contamination by GMOs, I think that is pretty telling.

As for grocery shopping - I attempt to stick to the dirty dozen for produce. Buy local eggs when possible, or else organic and free range, and local organic meat, when possible. I buy organic, grass fed butter from a coop so that the price is actually better than conventional. Sometimes the prices are cheaper when they are certified naturally grown/raised because they don't have the organic price tag.

For those of you who avoid GMOs- how do you know if a certain fruit / vegetable has been modified, or if a food contains modified ingredients?

@Mrs. Jacks: right? That's my concern :T we try our best not to buy modified foods, but it's so hard to find any information out there. Our state rejected an initiative that would require labeling modified foods. Ugh. Such a bummer.

To answer the OP - we try to eat and buy as organically as possible. We used to stick to just the dirty dozen but now if there's an organic option, we almost always choose that.

I don't think you can say a blanket yes or no. "Genetically modified" is such a broad term. Technically much of the produce we all eat today was genetically modified at some point. I recommend reading up on golden rice to see some of the pros of gmos. Of course there are cons too, but IMO much of the hysteria over gmos is due to not really understanding.

@pinkcupcake: Organic food cannot contain GMOs so you can look for organic certification. There aren't that many GMO crops commercially available. I think the list is limited to soy, wheat, corn, canola/rapeseed and papaya.

@Corduroy: sugar is a huge GMO crop. A very large percentage of sugar is GMO. Cereals like Cheerios also have GMO's, I think a lot more contain GMO's than you might think. Here is a list of the top ten most common: http://www.nationofchange.org/top-10-gmo-foods-avoid-1343568178

On the organic issue, I recently read a Slate piece on how we shouldn't be *so* concerned with organic produce: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2014/01/organic_vs_conventional_produce_for_kids_you_don_t_need_to_fear_pesticides.html

I still buy organic but that article made me a little less crazy about it. We do buy organic/local/humanely raised meat, eggs and dairy.

@Grace is spot on. If you think of it in terms of humans we are all genetically modified through breeding and environmental influences. That's not saying sometimes science doesn't go too far but I agree that the impact is more environmental.

@lamariniere: I was actually thinking about tbe EU on this! Sometimes it is very telling when other countries ban things, and we don't - you can see why when you see the money trail, unfortunately. I don't exactly trust that the FDA has Americans health at heart.

@Mrs. Pen: I totally agree about the money trail! As another example of differences with US/EU, I remember how in the US a lot of milk is labeled hormone free. The EU doesn't allow those hormones in milk in the first place, so none of the milk is labeled as hormone free.

@looch: I wish I could garden too! But that would require a garden and then a green thumb!