GMORG Let ’s talk abWout what we swallow
Issue 01
What is GMO? What is Organic food? Can Organic food be GMO? How can I know if my food is GMO? Is GMO good or bad for health?
Introduction GMORG project aim to inform and bring up aspects of the discussion around the present and future of the food industry, conseq uently the human alimentation and health. In this zine I tried to open ththis discussion in order to put a question mark in the reader’s mind, arousing the desire to get more information over the topic, on the way to clarifying the new obscure methods of food production worldwide. My main path on this project is to analyze the positive and negative aspects of GMO food(Genetically Modified Organisms) , as well as Organic food. The questions that I tryed to answer in this zine, have aways been in my mind and I went as deep as I could to find the answers and to share with you. I hope this zine will help you to be more informed about what you swallows and make you search even more about the topic. My name is Francisco Casaroti, I’m student of the first year on Graphic and Media Design at London College of Communication.
January 2014
Organic “food produced using environmentally and animal friendly farming methods” The above statement is how the the Soil Association, one of the six organisations that can license organic products in Britain, describes the so called organic food. It is generally agreed that this discription is a little vague, looking a bit deeper on their web site they also mention. “it should avoid the usage of fertilisers, pesticides, animal drugs and food additives” Yes, you read right, it says avoid and not obliterate the usage of this substances in our
food. Well the next question that come straight to our minds is that can organic producers use GMO crops? The Soil Association and the UK goverment says NO, both mention in their websites that no GMO food are produced here,
but can be imported to feed non organic animals, as result of this gap on the law, 40 per cent of organic food sold in British supermarkets are contaminated with GMO as its been shown on research led by Professor Denis Murphy of the University of Glamorgan.
GMO Genetically Modified Organisms GMO are no more no less than a living beings created in laboratory. The scientists take a section of DNA from an animal, bacteria or plant that has an useful chararcteristc and insert it into another living being DNA. The classic and problably the most famous example is the tomato called Flavr Savr created in 1994 by Monsanto.
Flavr Savr r e c i e v e d DNA collected from cold resistent fish, the Arctic Flounder, in order to create a new species of tomato resitent to very low temperatures. Discovery this as a profitable prosess, Monsanto decided to carry on and create many other “franksteins” like corn,soya, tabacco,cotton, canola and many more.
Scary isn’t it?
LABELlINg More than 64 countries has created laws to ban or label GMO food. Only 4 of them officially banned the GMO importation and cultivation. They are Benin, Zambia, Peru and Serbia. All others 60 nations have restrictions and labeling system in order to identify GMOs. But these laws are still far from making it really clear for consumers and there are many gaps where GMO food is consumed by human beings without knowing. Countries like the United States and Canada have no labelling laws or
restrictions. They don’t just avoid labelling systems but also allow GMO to be produced and consumed freely.
This missed control put the USA as the biggest GMO producer and consumer in the world. The problem gets even bigger as
& BANS organic farmers complained that their organic plants have been pollinated with GMO pollen which creates a new type
of GMO and gives less chance to alternative producers to succeed in this area.
Another point that comes up around this discussion is the fact that reproducing this contaminated crops is then infringing Monsanto Corporation’s patent, so what we see is a very big reversal of values and the weight of this corporations hand on top of the small farms and producers. Until now most governments have not shown very effective efforts to control or ban GMO whiches became a profitable business for some and dangerous way of feeding for the big worldwide majority. So the job is ours to try finding the most safe food to eat.
Buterflys, Bees Since the 90’s GMOs have been grown to feed humans and animals but not much studis and research has been made to define what effects it may have on our health. Just a few years ago independent laboratorie are began to research and discover that many contemporary health problems are related to the usage of GMO for humans consumption.
rats and as a result, investigations were embargoed. “GMO foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health and are without benefit”
The real effects are still not really clear as many researchs have been stopped in very strange ways.
The quotation above comes from The American Academy of Environmental Medicine ,v an organization devoted to study the human being and the effects of the environment in our health.
For instance the Seralini and Other Researchers published in 2012 a study that stated that GMO corn diet led to cancer in
Not only humans or animals fed with GMO can have their health badly affected by the GMO, but also insects pollinators such as
, me and you bees and butterflys. Scientists strongly believe that the problem of decreasing populations like the Monarch butterflies and Bees is based on the indiscriminate usage of pesticides on GMO plantation. In June 2013 50,000 bumblebees were killed by Neonics, the most widely used insecticide. Scientists also mention that the bees may not resist more than 5 years if no serious actions been taken. Recently an new report shows that 44% of Monarch butterfly declined in just the past year. So we need to be informed and take part in this before it’s to late.