What are the concerns about GMOs?

[Anonymous]

I keep seeing a ton of FB posts about how terrible it is to eat anything GM. But I don't understand why. Can someone please explain this? Is there actual evidence of harm or is it all speculative? Links appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I have a ton of non-fatal food allergies. When I went to a highly well-regarded allergies at a pretty prestigious unnamed medical facility, he did say that the rise and widespread creation of genetically modified foods is one of the leading theories in the rise of food allergies (especially my particular type of food allergy).

[Anonymous]

I think many GMO foods are "created" to be more disease/pest/drought resistant, better able to handle packing and shipping, faster growing, etc. All of which contributes to vast monocultures (think corn and soy) which has negative impacts on the environment.
GMO food grown in monocultures has been shown to have lower nutrient levels

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think many GMO foods are "created" to be more disease/pest/drought resistant, better able to handle packing and shipping, faster growing, etc. All of which contributes to vast monocultures (think corn and soy) which has negative impacts on the environment.
GMO food grown in monocultures has been shown to have lower nutrient levels

Many of them were created to be pesticide-resistant (so the ag industry can dowse them in pesticides and instead of the killing the plant, they can still harvest it for human consumption).

[Anonymous]

OP here. I'm aware of why GMOs have been created and potential effects on the environment. I love Michael Pollan and saw Food Inc. But I got the impression from the stuff I've seen that people now believe that GMOs cause cancer. Is there any support for that belief? My whole response has been, well, I'd rather have people eating GMO vegetables than not eating vegetables at all, but maybe I have missed something.

[Anonymous]

Our nutritionist also reported that GMO foods are a leading suspect for the recent rise in food allergies. She said there have been instances (I don't remember if she said studies, or just reported instances) where someone will be tolerant of a particular non-GMO food, but the GMO version causes an allergic or inflammatory reaction. She also said the bigger concern is that many inflammatory reactions are asymptomatic, but may cause seemingly unrelated autoimmune disorders like asthma, eczema, or vitiligo.

It's also true that GMO plants can propagate by cross-pollinating with nearby non-GMO crops of the same food. Pollen can travel quite a way on the wind, and GMO and non-GMO crops are often planted nearby one another, within that range. She said GMO contamination in corn and soybeans is already sufficiently widespread that it's difficult to assure yourself that any corn or soybeans you buy in the mainstream food system are non-GMO. You should assume the corn and soy contained in processed foods are GMO.

[Anonymous]

I think the crops that are genetically spliced with animal DNA (such as insect DNA to make them repulsive to other insects or pests) are particularly scary.

The main scary thing about GMO's is the untested vast implementation of them in the food supply.