Tom Carey: GMO? No!

I was recently asked if I grow any crops that are not GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms). Beyond feeling great umbrage at the necessity to deny this negative connotation, I realized how grossly uninformed people are about an issue that intrudes on our daily lives in a matter as important and personal as the food we feed our bodies. And the answer to any GMOs is a resounding NO!

GMO crops are grown from seeds that have genetic (DNA) materials taken from completely different and incompatible species compounded together using high tech laboratory equipment. A common example is to take an herbicide resistant gene from one plant and splice it into corn so that large quantities of weed killer can be sprayed on fields leaving the now-resistant corn free to grow without weed competition. Another common amalgamation would be to take the genetics from a natural soil bacterium, (bT: Bacillus Thuringiensis) which kills caterpillars, and splice it into the corn, giving every aspect of that corn insecticidal properties, including every kernel we eat.

Most crops grown as GMOs are commodity crops planted in large farm fields that rely on mass production of industrial scaled tractors, harvesting combines and aerial spraying. While in development, vegetables we grow in our gardens for quality fresh nutrients are not yet modified. My biggest concern is whether the seed catalogs note when a variety is unnaturally bred.

The Frankenstein aspect of loosed genetics freely drifting around our planet in the wind and on the wings of pollinating bees and butterflies is already provoking unintended consequences. Weeds are emerging that have herbicide resistance, requiring ‘stacked’ or multiple modified genetics to endure spraying from a spectrum of poisons. Corn, a type of grass, having the bT gene, could pollinate with a larvae food crop, decimating butterfly populations.

The corporate seed developers patent their inventions, confiscating the work of unauthorized growers. If an adjacent farm grows GMO, and pollen drifts and pollutes their neighbor’s crops, the victim of the pollen poison is now considered a thief for possessing the GMO genetics. With a GMO developer’s previous legal counsel now sitting on the Supreme Court of the U.S., the unsuspecting victim farmers have won no cases.

The research was never adequately performed to see if GMOs are harmful to humans. Many countries ban growing or import of these tainted crops, with numerous large markets closed to U.S. growers. Since we are in one of the few countries that do not require labeling, the only way to avoid eating GMO foodstuff is to seek out certified and labeled ‘organic,’ or know your local farmer.

Tom Carey is the owner of Sundew Gardens, a you-pick gardening business in Oviedo. Visit the Sundew Gardens Facebook page and e-mail him at [email protected]