Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
By Jeffrey M. Smith
On May 19th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.”
More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods.” Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”
World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.
The brouhaha over GM food is somewhat interesting, considering that a substantial portion of our food has been “genetically modified” for centuries, primarily the gluten cereal grains (http://snipurl.com/dangergrains). Modern corn did not even exist 5000 years ago; it was selectively bred over many generations. Pretty much all modern fruit has been selectively bred to increase its sugar content, and things like tomatoes have been selectively bred for ease of transportation.
GM in this case actually means trans-species modification, which may or may not be more dangerous than selective breeding or cross-breeding with related species to produce hybrids (typically sterile). What is clear is that the so-called “paleo diet” (http://snipurl.com/paleodiet) simply is no longer available except at very high cost. The human genome has not had enough time to completely adjust to things like the gluten cereal grains, much less the more rapid GM changes. That is the main problem with changing the food supply, and it has no easy solution.
This strikes a chord with me simply because I was able to improve my own health tremendously by elimination of all grain from my diet. I also eliminated some other items on Dr. Cordain’s list, but the elimination of grain cured my arthritis.