GMOs Part 5: Despite the label, all your food is genetically modified

In part 4, we followed the history of a single food, the tomato, and how it was genetically modified while never being tested for long-term safety. Which begs the question...

Q: Does this apply to other foods?

A: Yes. Beginning 10,000 years ago, farmers across the planet started using the breed technique on every wild plant and animal they could get their hands on. This is the agricultural revolution.

Today, every food in your market (including tomatoes) is a product of this revolution. Even foods you typically wouldn’t consider as "genetically modified” were genetically modified. For example, the vegetables cabbage, broccoli, kale, and cauliflower are all mutated parts from a single plant, the Wild Mustard Plant (see below). In each case thousands of genes were modified.

Q: Are there any exceptions to this?

A: Yes. The only foods at your market NOT genetically modified by farmers are the ones labelled "wild". For example, “wild" rice, "wild" mushrooms, "wild" blueberries, and "wild" caught salmon.

Q: What about "organic" foods, have they been genetically modified?

A: Yes. Everything at your organic market (except those labelled “wild”) have been breed and genetically modified for thousands of years.

Q: What about “Ancient grains” and “Heirloom” varieties, have they been genetically modified?

A: Yes. Despite their name, even Ancient grains like quinoa, and Heirloom varieties like Heirloom tomatoes, are genetically modified from a wild type.

Q: Can all these foods wear the NON-GMO label?

A: Yes. Despite thousands of years of genetic modification all these food can label themselves "NON-GMO".

Q: What about foods subject to more modern techniques of breeding, like crossbreeding (mixing genes from different species), can they label themselves "NON-GMO"?

A: YES. Even products of crossbreeding can label themselves "NON-GMO". For example, both the Pluot (a plum mixed with an apricot), and the Tangelo (a tangerine mixed with a grapefruit), label themselves "NON-GMO".

Q: What about mutation breeding (accelerating mutations by exposing seeds to chemicals, enzymes, and radiation)? Can they label themselves "NON-GMO"?

A: YES, believe it or not, even foods modified with mutation breeding can label themselves "NON-GMO". The Ruby red grapefruit , for example, is a redder sweeter grapefruit created in the 1960's by exposing grapefruit seeds to gamma radiation. It can by found at your Whole Foods market proudly wearing the "NON-GMO" label.

Confused? You should be. If almost every food at your market, even those genetically modified with crossbreeding and mutation breeding, is considered a “NON-GMO”, what in the hell is a "GMO"? What kind of unspeakable acts do we have to do to a food before it's considered "genetically modified"?

This is what I meant before when I said, "every one of you is incorrect about even the basic definition of a GMO". So stay tuned, in my next post I will finally provide one...