People opposed to or afraid of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) complain that GMOs are unsafe and unnatural. What do those words mean? Is something inherently safe just because it is natural? Does choosing natural food or organic food guarantee safer or healthier food?
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Are GMOs natural? A knee-jerk reaction may be, “Of course not! They were produced in a lab!” But consider these comments. GM crops are grown in fields just like conventional and organic crops. They use similar production and management systems, except organic is restricted to mostly naturally derived chemicals …. Agrobacterium, the primary vector used to insert genes in GM crops, was chosen for that task because it regularly transfers its own bacterial DNA into plants in nature.
In fact, Agrobacterium genetically modified the sweet potato by transferring its own bacterial DNA into the crop during early domestication in the Americas several thousand years ago. (Read more at bit.ly/2NnbQpB.) Sweet potatoes are naturally transgenic!
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Organic and natural do not guarantee health or safety benefits. There may be benefits to buying organic foods, but buzzwords used in marketing those foods may lead you astray from the science. Two decades of research has demonstrated that foods produced from GM crops are just as safe and nutritious as foods from non-GM crops.
Read full, original article: NAICC: IS NATURAL FOOD SAFE FOOD?
