Are GMOs Safe To Eat?

Coming up on this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy.

We know that since GMOs have been in mass cultivation and since we've been consuming more and more glyphosate, food allergy rates have been skyrocketing. Hospitalizations for kids in the last generation have tripled for food allergies. This isn't just some overprotective mom freaking.

Out because her kid gets a bruise. Hospitalizations here we're talking about. Hi, I'm Kaya Perowich, one of the producers of the Doctor's Pharmacy podcast. The initial allure of GMOs was that they would lead to an abundance of food and would solve our world hunger problems. We were told that genetically modifying crops would make them immune to weed killers and pests. We were also told that these crops would require fewer pesticides and herbicides. But is this true? Did genetically modified crops live up to their promise? Last year, Dr. Hyman sat down with CEO and co-founder of the Food Revolution Network, Ocean Robbins. In their conversation, they discussed some of the science and concerns about GMOs and.

Why organic foods are a safer option. I want to dig into some of these controversial issues. One of them is GMOs because there's just so much polarization. You listen to the government, that's fine. There's no problem with GMOs. You listen to, obviously, industry, they're like, this is going to save the world. We can't live without it. You listen to extremists on the other side, they say, this is going to kill you. We're all going to die. GMOs. In Europe, they really restricted GMOs and banned them in many cases. In this country, it's a free-for-all. You don't want labeling. I mean, it goes so far as the, In Washington, I don't know if you've probably heard about this, where the grocery manufacturers of America got together with the big food companies, which they represent, and said, let's do a campaign to subvert the GMO labeling, which they wanted to do in Washington. Sure. Well, they did, and they were founded to be inclusion, did it illegally, which is violating campaign finance laws.

They were fined $17 million, I think. Yeah, it's pretty much closed down the GMA.

I mean, it's falling apart now. Yeah, right. Right.

Which is actually a good thing, because these food companies, wait a minute, I don't want to be part of that. Yeah, it was the largest campaign finance violation in US history.

Yeah, and so this is a big issue when they're fighting just to prevent us from being even aware of, don't you wanna know what's in your food? You can't say GMO or not. So what's your view on GMOs? Are they that bad? Are people overstating the case?

Yeah, first of all, what's a GMO? Some people think it means God move over. It doesn't, it's genetically modified organism. You know- God move over. Monsanto, now Bayer, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, the big agrochemical companies behind this technology, promised the world that it would bring us bigger yields, more drought-resistant crops, better nutrition, better flavor, and lower pesticide consumption. But 25 years plus into the mass cultivation of GMO crops, we haven't got any of that. The studies show a Union of Concerned Scientists ran a study, they found that it hadn't brought bigger yields.

Yes.

We know that it hasn't saved water, it hasn't bought us any improvement in flavor or nutrition, and it's actually brought a net increase of about 200 million pounds a year of added pesticides. So what are we getting from GMO crops?

So the promise has failed.

The promise has failed. What we are getting is crops that have one or both of two traits. Number one, they're pesticide producers. They produce the insecticide BT in every cell of the plant. And now BT is generally considered safe for humans. It's been used in organic agriculture for a long time, but that's sprayed on the outside. Now it's in every cell of the plant. And certain bugs, they take a bite, their stomach splits open and they die. Oh gosh. And we're eating that now and you can't wash it off, right? And then the other trait is that they are herbicide tolerant. So they can be sprayed with glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, or with 2,4-D, which is one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange. and these are weed killers and they'll kill the weeds but not the crop. So now we're eating essentially crops that have been sprayed with weed killer. Now what is the impact of consuming glyphosate, for example, on human health? Well we don't exactly know but we do know it's a probable carcinogen. We know that it's an endocrine- this is not your opinion, this is- no, this is the World Health Organization. It's an endocrine disruptor.

We know that it's been patented as.

An antibiotic so it can kill bacteria.

Yeah, it screws up your microbiome.

Right, right, so we're now eating large amounts of this stuff. We need to detoxify things.

Anyway.

Yeah, so what is the impact? Well, we know that since GMOs have been in mass cultivation and since we've been consuming more and more glyphosate, food allergy rates have been skyrocketing. Hospitalizations for kids in the last generation have tripled for food allergies. This isn't just some overprotective mom freaking out because her kid gets a bruise. Hospitalizations here we're talking about. So it seems that we are in a time when more and more people are having digestive problems. and it could be that there is a connection between the Bt and the glyphosate that we're consuming and those problems. Now correlation isn't causation. There are a lot of other things that have happened that have made our food supply more contaminated during those same years. But when you see a correlation this strong, I think it's worth considering the possibility that there's a-: It's everywhere.

Like if you look at your Cheerios, people feed their kids as a healthy breakfast.

It's full of glyphosate. Yeah, absolutely.

And there's, yeah, there have been studies showing just that. So, I-- I'll tell you something. I just, you know, I'm always sort of biohacking myself and trying to figure out what's going on. And I recently just tested a whole series of environmental chemicals. See, you know, I'm somebody who's pretty conscious, filter my water, have an air purifier, eat organic most of the time, and I travel so I'm not always perfect. And I try to do a good job of eating real food and not processed food. I don't eat packaged food. I mean, I just really do a good job. And I got my glyphosate level back. And I was like, whoa. And it wasn't like at the 90th percentile, but it was like at the 40th percentile, meaning it was still up there.

It had some residues showing.

Even though I am super aware and conscious, what if you're eating packaged food that's full of GMO corn? I mean, one of the greatest things in Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma was when he basically looked at where the carbon comes from, from the corn, which is this hybridized GMO corn. And we all have this carbon from corn in our bodies. It's more than our other sources of carbon, which is pretty interesting.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And so if you want to avoid GMOs, then the top thing to do is to go organic because organic foods, by definition, are non-GMO. Number two, you can go with certified non-GMO products, which has gone from nothing to a $25 billion sales industry in the US in the last seven years. And number three, you can look at where the major crops are. So they're corn, soy, canola, sugar beets, cotton, which is used in cottonseed oil, and then alfalfa. Most of us don't eat a lot of alfalfa.

But if you choose to eat- and don't forget wheat. Well wheat isn't a GMO food, but they spray it with glyphosate to exfoliate it just before harvest. That's right. Which probably is even worse because it.

Just gets on the plant right at the level of harvest, which then stays on the plant. So if you've noticed an uptick in gluten sensitivity, It is entirely possible that that's actually commercially grown wheat that's causing that issue and that the glyphosate has a big factor in that. It's used as a desiccant, some with oats and barley too, by the way, but most of all with wheat. So that's another reason if you're gonna eat wheat, go organic, 'cause that also is gonna avoid the glyphosate. And then, so yeah, but corn, soy, canola, cotton, and sugar beets are, which is half the sugar supply of sugar beets in the US. are typically genetically engineered. So those are crops to watch out for along with the wheat as you're mentioning and go organic and those, that can make a big difference.

So do we know for sure this harm or just sort of like, is it better to just have a precaution around it?

I don't think we know for sure. I don't think we know for sure. We do know pretty for sure that glyphosate isn't good for us and that it's widespread and GMO crops are glyphosate sponges. Functionally, right? But it's not the only source of glyphosate exposure. I think that pesticides in general are problematic. We know that farm workers are dying in droves of cancer, that life expectancy for farm workers in California is 49 years, according to one study.

It's the most dangerous occupation.

Yeah, that's right. Super high rates of parkinson's disease. And you know, they're out there in the fields spraying these pesticides and they're kind of like the canary in the coal mine. It doesn't take a coal miner to realize that if it's killing farm workers, probably not good for the rest of us to eat that stuff either. So I always say, if you're choosing between an organic donut and non-organic kale, go for the kale. There's a lot of studies telling us that we should be eating more vegetables and whether or not you can afford organic, you can put them to use and eat those vegetables. And if you can afford it, organically grown foods are probably safer for consumers and they're definitely safer for farm workers and the planet.

I think that's a good principle. When you think about things like trans fats that were in the food supply since 1911 when somebody figured out how to make Crisco. It took a hundred years for us to get it out of the food supply and it's still in the food supply and it was found later to be very dangerous and kill hundreds of thousands of people a year. And then it was everywhere in our food. Margarine, I grew up on that. You probably did Fleischmann's Margarine. Maybe you didn't because your dad was-.

I don't think I did.

Island in Vancouver. It was so prevalent and now the FDA says it's not safe to eat. Well, we have this habit in this country of, you know, put something in the system and then find out later if it's a problem. It should be the other way around. We should apply the precautionary principle, which is if there's a suggestion this may not be good, let's prove that it's safe. Let's check it out.

I think so. I mean, there are 1,400 chemicals in the US food supply. Flavorings, colorings, additives, preservatives, emulsifiers. I thought it was 3,000. Well, it might be. Maybe 1,400 that are widely used. Oh, that's widely used. And most of these have never been tested for their long-term health effects on human beings. Or their synergy. Or their interactions, that's right. Exactly. And, you know, Mother Nature is pretty darn smart. And what we keep learning is that every single life form comes with all kinds of microorganisms that interact with each other, co-factors. and together they create a symphony. You know, if you go out and play your trumpet, you'll have one sound, but if you play in orchestra, you have another sound. And I tend to think trumpets sound better in orchestras than solo. And that's true with most of these things. So when you extract a chemical, you may be able to patent it, but that doesn't mean just because you can make money off of patenting it that it's an improvement over what Mother Nature came up with.

As a general rule, Dr. Hyman recommends avoiding GMO foods as much as possible. One way to do this is to shop at non-GMO retailers. Our favorite is Thrive Market, an online retailer that sells natural, organic, and non-GMO foods at discounted prices. Another tip is to look out for the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal. The Non-GMO Project is a nonprofit that tests and verifies products to ensure that they don't contain GMOs. The USDA Organic Seal also certifies that products are free of GMOs. More and more companies are deciding to avoid GMOs entirely. They recognize that it's better for their products and for the environment. By voting with our dollars and supporting socially, environmentally, and nutritionally responsible companies, we can make a huge impact on our food system and overall health. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a comment below and sharing with a friend.

Until next time.