How Eating Organic Saves Animals

There has been a lot of debate in recent years about the effect that GMOs and pesticide-laden foods have on human health, but what is rarely discussed is the environmental impact of the use of these chemicals and the harm they cause to animals.

It’s clear that food manufacturers are going through great lengths to prevent these chemicals from being labelled on foods. What’s most concerning, from an environmental point of view, is that the vast majority of chemical pesticides sprayed on crops actually gets washed off before foods end up in the supermarkets. When the pesticides run off into top soil and waterways, it is entering a vast network of ecosystems, and these delicate systems are not equipped to deal with hazardous toxic chemicals.

To avoid these types of destruction and to help ensure ecosystems are healthy, it is best to opt for organically-grown foods. The following are just four ways going organic can save the lives of animals and subsequently save our environment.

Organic Crops Offer Bees Perfect Pollinating Grounds

There is a growing honey bee crisis across the globe as huge numbers of bee colonies are dying off each year, a problem which could ultimately cause catastrophe for all our food supplies. Scientists have linked “colony collapse disorder” with the chemicals used in non-organic food production and have warned that, if we continue the widespread use of chemicals on our crops, there will be almost no bees left to pollinate them in a decade. Although the chemicals are used in levels which are not considered deadly to the individual bees, hoards of pollen are collected and taken back to the hives, where the overall toxicity is enough to cause damage to the entire colony. Organic food crops are beneficial for the bees and support their existence by providing safe plants to collect pollen from.

Organic Crops Provide Bird-Friendly Seeds

While the plight of the honey bee is widely known, there are plenty more animals who suffer the effects of consuming and transporting chemical containing plants. Birds love to eat seeds, and they are unknowingly eating GMO and pesticide covered seeds that are causing illness and death. The American Bird Conservancy conducted a thorough investigation on the issue in 2013 and discovered that a single non-organic seed kernel can be very dangerous to birds, killing small ones, and making larger ones ill. Many seeds that are sown do not get covered properly and seed spillage is also commonplace, meaning birds are accessing these toxic seeds all the time.

Organic Crops Nearly Eliminate Chemical Run Off

One of the largest problems caused by chemical use in the agriculture industry is the toxic run off which occurs after rainfall. Chemical pesticides are sprayed indiscriminately over huge areas of cropland, much of which lands directly onto the ground. When rain falls, this is washed off into the topsoil and soaks down into the subsoil, making it very dangerous for any animals who inhabit the soils. Insects and small mammals are particularly at risk from the soil contamination as their habitat is turned into a highly potent toxic layer. In many cases, this is the desired effect of the pesticide, as it is these insects which are the intended targets of the chemical poisoning.

Organic Crops Help Prevent Water Contamination

Once the chemical run off has made it through the top and subsoil layers, it finds its way into the water system. Arguably, this is where the chemicals do the most widespread damage to the environment and the delicate ecosystems which the planet relies on. Streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes in the areas surrounding non-organic monocultures are becoming increasingly toxic, to the detriment of the aquatic species that live there. The problem is becoming so bad that the chemical run off is creating ‘dead zones’ in which barely any animals are able to survive as the water has become too polluted. The chemical fertilizers used on farms also create huge algae blooms in the water, and this kills off other species trying to survive in the same water.

These four issues are enough reason alone to support eating organic. The world’s ecosystems have taken millions of years to form and they work on a very precise and delicate balance. Although large corporations may want to make us believe that their chemicals are perfectly safe for us to use, the signs are clear for us to see, and they’re certainly not safe for the animals coming into contact with them.

[via One Green Planet]

GMOs Are Not Just In Food Products

GMOs have known to mainly be in our food and beverages in the grocery store. Many well known victims to genetic modification are squash, corn, soy and many other similar fruits and vegetables. Well the last thing you would think about it GMOs in your home products, you don't ingest them, just use them. According to Natural Cures Not Medicine, this may be the case after all.

Beauty Care Products

Many beauty care products like deodorant sprays, lotions, and facial cleansers, contain GMO derivatives. Look out for denatured alcohol which is simply ethanol made from BT corn. Also be weary of creams made with soy protein isolates, or dehydrogenated soy ingredients as these are also likely GMO.

Cotton

Is that shirt that you have on right now Organic? GM cotton covers more than 15 million hectares on the planet is accounts for more than 70 percent of all cotton grown. Chances are that your cotton swabs and balls are also GM Cotton.

Ink

While soy ink is marketed as an alternative to petroleum based products it is made from GM soy beans. Soy ink is printed on a variety of items from newspapers to magazines. It is also readily absorbed through the skin.

Hand Sanitizer

Not only do hand sanitizers fuel the creation of antibiotic resistant super bugs but they also contain ethanol made from GM corn.

Gasoline

When you go to the pump and see those little stickers that are appearing everywhere that say “May Contain up to 10% ethanol” you can rest assured that it is not ethanol derived from organically grown corn. The idiotic government subsidies shoved into the horribly inefficient process of ethanol production are ending up as fumes in traffic that you and I are breathing in.

So now you know whether you are consuming or using, GM products should never be trusted and can come into your life without even knowing it at all.  Exposure to these products can leave a after effect. Remember to go organic, the safest route of all, as it doesn't contain harmful chemicals or GM product.

What You (and Your Customers) Should Know About GMOs

In recent years, people worldwide have grown increasingly attuned to genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Nearly 2 million people participated in a global non-GMO “March against Monsanto” last May. More than 20 states now have GMO labeling legislation in the works. And in a game-changing move, in March 2013, Whole Foods Market announced that by 2018 all items sold in its stores must include GMO labeling. “We are putting a stake in the ground on GMO labeling to support the consumer’s right to know,” said co-CEO Walter Robb.

But for many of us, GMOs are still a mystery. What are they? How do they impact our health and environment? And what’s being done to label them? Here’s a quick overview of GMOs from seed to plate.

Made in a lab

There’s little argument over what genetic modification is: Scientists remove a gene from one organism and transfer that gene to a different organism. Unlike traditional methods, where farmers might breed plants from the same species to make a stronger plant, GM technology makes it possible to transfer any gene from any organism into a different one.

For example, Bt corn, developed in 1996, contains a gene from soil bacteria that’s toxic to insects. Scientists first isolate the desired bacterium DNA. “They then use a ‘gene gun’ to shoot [the bacteria] genes into a Petri dish full of corn embryos,” explains Gregory Jaffe, director of biotechnology projects at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “They hope a bit of DNA randomly gets through the corn cell membrane. If it does, scientists take that embryo and grow a plant from it.” The resulting plant expresses the gene—in Bt’s case, an insecticide—in every one of its cells, enabling the corn itself to kill bugs. Needless to say, this scenario would never occur in nature—but as of 2012, Bt corn makes up 67 percent of all American corn acreage.

Spread in a field

Even more widespread than Bt corn are herbicide-tolerant crops that survive glyphosate, the weed killer known as Roundup. (Fittingly, these crops are called Roundup Ready.) Companies that manufacture Roundup Ready corn, cotton, and soybeans claim these crops are the solution to the world’s food problems, insisting that the GMO versions have higher yields, benefit farmers and the environment, and reduce herbicide use.

Anti-GMO activists disagree. “When [Roundup Ready] technology first came onto the market in 1996, most farmers had excellent weed control with only one herbicide application per crop,” says Chuck Benbrook, a research professor at Washington State University who studies genetically engineered crops. “But by 2000, the first Roundup tolerant weeds started to emerge in fields and were surviving a low application rate.” Fighting these progressively more resilient weeds is a snowballing struggle because farmers must incrementally up herbicide use. Since GMOs were adopted, farmers have increased herbicide use by 7 percent.

This worries Benbrook. “The sheer volume of glyphosate has led to soil changes that reduce a plant’s ability to draw up various mineral micronutrients [like zinc, chromium, and manganese],” he says. This also renders plants vulnerable to bacterial and fungal attacks. The downside? Lower crop yields, less nutrition, and more fungicide spraying.

Plus, a whole host of negative effects result from massive Roundup use. Most recently, a study published in the scientific journal Entropy suggests that long-term exposure to glyphosate residues could be linked to a suite of human health issues, including gastrointestinal disorders, Alzheimer’s, and certain cancers. As weeds continue to become even more resistant, heavier glyphosate use and more precarious herbicides (such as 2,4-D, an ingredient in Agent Orange) lurk on the horizon. Frighteningly, these higher-risk chemicals have a nasty habit of drifting.

Just label them

The Grocery Manufacturers Association estimates that a whopping 75 percent to 80 percent of conventional processed foods now contain GMOs. Even foods that don’t list corn, soy, or canola as a main ingredient can still be GMO-laden because of sneaky additives like ascorbic acid, maltodextrin, sugar from beets or corn, lactic acid, and more.“Products with seemingly low risk ingredients often have ones that could contain GMOs,” says Courtney Pineau, assistant director for the Non-GMO Project, a certification organization. “It’s surprising where GMOs can pop up, and it’s changing all the time.” Translation: If you’re not buying USDA Organic (which, by definition, excludes GMO ingredients), you’re probably eating GMOs.

Non-GMO proponents insist that labeling foods containing GMOs is paramount. While nearly 60 countries, including Australia, Japan, and the EU mandate GMO labeling, the United States does not, so you have no way to know what you’re eating or feeding to your family.

That doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. Since Whole Foods announced its labeling initiative, the Non-GMO Project has fielded a surge of inquiries from natural manufacturers wishing to attain the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. “A lot of this interest has to do with the impacts of the Right to Know movement, efforts from the Just Label It campaign, state initiatives, and increased outreach and education from Non-GMO Project Verified companies,” says Pineau.

The FDA maintains its position that GMOs are harmless, claiming there’s no evidence to substantiate adverse health effects. But the opposite is also true: There’s inconclusive evidence to show that they’re safe. According to a growing base of scientists, food experts, and citizens, you have the right to know what’s in your food and to choose or avoid products based on that knowledge.

[via NewHope360, Delicious Living]