is genetically modified food safe to eat?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Significant testing is done to ensure it is safe. That's what the FDA is for. But long term effects are hard to test for, and obviously take a long time. But there is little reason that it would not be safe, we have been altering our food crops and livestock for thousands of years through selective breeding and hybridization.

By the way for some answerers, no animal genes are spliced into plant crops. That is a myth.

Large agri-business companies will say they are, but I don't believe it. I've heard of studies where genetic code that was inserted in corn was found in breast cancers in a university study and the company that owned the genes (monsanto) said they weren't allowed to research their product (the cancer's genes). Also, a lot of the 'round-up ready' strains -could- be safe to eat, but even if they are, the whole reason they are modified is to allow you to spray the field with copious amounts of potent toxins to kill everything but the crop. This is not ecologically sound and the foods will have more pesticides in them than normal foods. Super weeds will result that do not respond to normal herbicides. Also, they are designed to not reproduce so the farmer becomes a slave to the company that sells the seeds. Plus they are aggressively attacking farmers who are unwittingly winding up with genetically modified crops on their farms and forcing them into contracts to buy seed because of the intellectual property rights.
Try not to eat GMO if you can. Unfortunately there is no labeling requirement.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/featu…

If you listen to the large corporations who produce them, we have nothing to worry about. While I laud their goals in making better food grown easier without leeching too much from the soil, no one really knows as there are no long term studies. Some of their goals I whole-heartedly disagree with. These corporations who make certain hybrid vegetables want the seeds to be sterile, so no one can grow them, you must buy seeds every year directly from them. Not only is this greedy but shows poor fore-sight. But I digress.
As there are no long-term studies, we know of no long-term effects. Also, let's say (hypothetically) a gene from a peanut is used to enhance tomatoes for some reason. Will someone with a peanut allergy be allergic to these modified tomatoes? I think this is reason enough for mandatory labeling.
Much or our meat supply has been fortified with antibiotics and hormones. Chickens who once took almost a year to fully grow, now only take a few months. I've heard that we can be affected by these hormones when we eat them. I've explored this with different chefs and on line and the truth is no one knows definitively yet. The jury is still out.
Are these foods safe to eat? I wouldn't be afraid to try them, but the information we have on them should not come solely from those corporations whose interests are to profit from them. We absolutely need 3rd party inspection and study. The people to lobby for this are our members of congress. More often than not, congress usually sides with the corporations (that's where all the money is). I think I might start my own garden.

I've had to research GM foods a few times during my studies. There isn't any evidence to indicate they are harmful to humans, but there is evidence that it is harmful to some animals which have been used in testing and also there is no doubt that there are potential environmental risks. As an ethical consumer I avoid them based on the use of animal testing and the potential environmental risks, but although animal models can be extremely unreliable I wouldn't be scared to eat them.

I agree that all products containing transgenes should be labelled but this is definitely not the case in every country. There have been lots of political pressures from the US and other big GM producing countries such as Canada, Brazil and Argentina who forced the European Union to start importing GM crops through the World Trade Organisation. Isn't it great that we live in a world where the World Trade Organisation has more power than our sovereign governments? In my country if a food contains a transgene it must be labelled, but not the non-food products nor anything made with components of GM crops which are unlikely to contain the transgene such as extracted oils.

vegan biologist

No one really knows for sure if GM food is dangerous or just fine. The US government is using the population as the guinea pigs to find out. I personally don't like putting things in or on my body that stray from nature. I eat organic, mostly home grown, produce because I'm not willing to take the risk to be the one to see if a tomato fused with flounder genes is going to give me cancer. And that's the honest truth, they fuse tomato genes with flounder genes sometimes to increase the tomatoes ability to withstand cold. Gross! That's the GMO product that sticks out most in my head, but they have all kinds of crazy things they mess with (most non organic berries are from genetically modified "perfect" plants that have been cloned millions of times over, so you may eat the very same berry twice in a sitting!).

And while I may not personally touch the stuff, I firmly believe what goes in ones body is a personal choice. If others want to be experimented on without compensation, go for it. But I think all GMO products need clear warning labels, like cigarettes, only it would read like- "WARNING: this product's safety for human consumption has not been determined. This product may have serious, unforeseeable, irreversible and/or fatal health risks associated with consumption" followed by "This product is genetically modified to (reason), and (list of genetic relatives, specify cloned if applicable). There, you've given people fair warning, now the choice is theirs. But they won't do that. Why? Because they already KNOW it's bad for you, but it's a cheaper way to get something passable as food to the masses and more money in big corporations pockets. If people saw a big warning label on GMO products, they probably wouldn't buy them, and may even take the time to research what this vegetable really is. So they they to keep it under the radar and minimize damages by posting false information on government run (trusted) websites on how it's not bad for you.

I believe that all products containing GM ingredients should be labeled. However, as it is, they are not required to tell you if they are or not. Thankfully, they've been unsuccessful at allowing GM in USDA organic items, and they have been unsuccessful at sue-ing companies who label their own products "free of GM ingredients".

After having read a few limited studies on GM foods, I do not trust their safety at all. One (I will see if I can find a link to it online, and add it in later) was very telling to me... two groups of rats (who have the most similar digestive systems to humans) were fed different diets of potatoes. One group received GM, conventionally-grown potatoes, and the other organic, non-GM potatoes. Within a week, there were ulcerations and growths within the digestive systems of the rats being given the GM foods (with none present in the other group). After a month, almost half of the rats eating GM potatoes had died, and upon necropsy, the lesions and growths had grown exponentially in that short amount of time. NONE of the rats being fed organic potatoes died during the test period, and later necropsy after euthanasia showed perfectly healthy and normal digestive tracts in ALL of those rats.

So, no, in short, I don't think that GM crops are healthy or safe. I do not and will not purchase them. Even without the studies I have seen... I do not trust eating something that has been genetically programmed to release chemicals meant to poison and kill those organisms who feed on the plant. Call me crazy. ;)

GM is a pretty wide term, taking cutlings & applying it to other stems could be considered GM though its pretty much a completely natural process. GM can also refer simply to natural chemicals a plant secretes being used to ripen fruits (auxin).

In terms of changing the dna of the plant & consuming it naturally it'd go through tests to try spot side-effects & potential threats, for the moment i;'d be much more worried about pesticides

NO! They insert chemicals in the seeds so the veg can react the way they want it to. For example they put flounder genes in tomatoes, So it won't freeze in cold weather, or put the pesticide roundup inside the seeds so they don't have to spray.

The people who hold these chemicals are dying of cancer, so if we eat it what do you think it's gonna do? They give cancer. Try organic. Veggies or even meat.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7758828/farm_to_table_the_sort_of_new_movement.html?cat=5

People say it is, and most people don't even know they are eating genetically modified food (GMF) However there aren't enough evidence to prove anything yet. I try to get GMF free food, because I rather not eat something that people have modified. You can look up more details online.
hope this helps :)

Supposedly it is, but we'll see. It's too soon to determine if there are any long-term or late-onset detrimental effects. If I'm not mistaken, I believe companies are already required to label GM foods as such.

asllong as its vegan

tryveg.com

No there is nothing safe about it.