GMO, or rather, a genetically modified organism is a plant, animal, microorganism or other organisms whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology at its barebone definition.
Ultimately, this creates a plethora of combinations of plants, animals, bacteria and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.
GMO’s are utilized to grow and create larger amounts of food than previous crops to decrease food production costs and increase overall crop size. This is partially done through placing pesticides on the crops to kill insects or rather pests from eating and infecting the food.
A commonly used widespread chemical that is used for this is Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) which kills pests that attempt to eat the food.
Non-GMO, as you could probably guess, are organisms that are not genetically modified. Furthermore, this refers to meat, poultry, dairy and eggs that are not fed a diet containing genetically engineered crops.
Products that are labeled with the non-GMO label means that the ingredients have been verified by the Non-GMO project not to contain genetically modified material.
Then we have organic. Is Organic different than Non-GMO? No. Is non-GMO different from organic, yes. Sounds confusing right? Here’s the thing:
Food that has been farmed and manufactured within the guidelines determined by the department of agriculture and prohibits the use of GMO’s. Organic farmers are not allowed to use synthetic pesticides or rather anything that has been genetically engineered. They are also not allowed to farm with petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers.
Meaning that food labeled as non-GMO can still be grown with pesticides also, non-GMO labeling is not regulated by the federal government it is rather operated through certifications with non-profits such as the Non-GMO Project.
And while the non-GMO foods can be grown with pesticides, the label is meant to show that the product is made up of .9 percent or fewer genetically-modified ingredients.
Nevertheless, the non-GMO channel is a way for people to become more informed about the food they intake on a regular basis. After all, you are what you eat and becoming knowledgeable about your diet be it organic, non-GMO or GMO based is never a bad thing.
How do GMO’s work?
GMO’s or rather, Genetically Modified Organisms, those three words stand for how food is grown throughout the United States and some other countries.
To break down the three words:
- Genetically: Typically means genes, which involves DNA. DNA is basically a set of instructions telling cells how to grow.
- Modified: Self-explanatory, but explains that something has been customized
- Organism: Any living thing from plants to fungi and so on.
Simply put, GMO’s are living organisms that have had their genetic code modified in some way. For centuries, conventional breeding, the method of mixing all of the genes from two different sources, has been the means to producing more food. GMOs are more targeted. Meaning, that a gene is injected into a cell to modify it.
The process starts very small as a scientist inserts a gene into a cell. It is so tiny that even high powered microscopes can not even see the change. Despite that a cell or gene is incredibly tiny there is a large amount of DNA that is a part of it.
To give perspective, if we took a single corn cell and take all the DNA to line each one up right next to the other one, it would come out to be 6 feet in length.
Once the single cell has been modified, the scientist will then provide the organism with the proper substance to ensure proper nutrients and growth are developed over time.
Genetically Modified Organisms are a means to generate growth in a food product. The means is to provide a greater amount of total food for the consumption of the world.
Is it not as safe to eat as non-GMO, perhaps or perhaps not? Science is research-based and to obtain accurate data, it takes time. After all, everything takes a process and the process has to start somewhere.