There is currently quite a bit of internet chatter about a study that says that if you eat enough genetically modified corn it can cause organ damage. Interestingly they do not say what happens if you eat the same amount of unmodified corn.
Of course the folks who did the research had an agenda before they started the research. The agenda? Big business is bad. Big business controls our government. Big business only cares about profits, not the people who use their products. So they set up a test that show what they want it to. They used test methods that no respectable scientist would use. They also released their findings in a way that was sure to get an emotional reaction from their target audience.
You have to put their results into perspective. Think about this. We all take risks every day. The chance of being killed in a car accident is much greater than being killed in a terrorist attack yet we are very concerned about a terrorist attack and not about driving. Why is that?
In some of the studies I’ve seen the rates of use are greatly inflated. Studies to show that salt was bad for you had salt ingestion rates that no one would even consider. We all know we need water for life, but too much water can kill you. Why is no one warning us of the risks of ingesting too much water.
It comes down to this. We need to worry about the important stuff in life. Do you have a job, are your kids doing well in school, do the poor have enough to eat, do victims of abuse have help. These things and many others are worth worrying about. I’m not going to worry about the possibility that eating 1000 times more corn than I could possibly eat in a life time will cause organ damage. It’s not worth getting worked up about.
Right now there are people in this world who can get a meal, maybe not a well balanced meal, but a meal, because Monsanto figured out that when they manipulated the genetics of corn, you could grow more corn. The amount of food grown on an acre of land has grown rapidly in the past few years because folks have learned to manipulate the genetics of food crops. That feeds people, and that is important.
In case you are wondering, I’m a farmer. I do not work for any large company, I work for myself. Yes, I do use Monsanto’s products. I use them because they work. Currently they are the best products available to help me feed my family and the world. Feeding the world is important.
Michael
