Free Image Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net

It seems that buying organically produced food does’t provide all of the solutions that we are looking for.

Researchers at Stanford University help shed some light on this debate.

In this interview the most common questions are asked and answered to help you understand what you’re paying for and what you’re getting when you choose organic.

So if you ask people, they say that the two main reasons they eat organic food are because it’s nutritious, and because it’s good for the environment. But she also finds there are a whole bunch of emotional values that are tied up with eating organic food. So people who eat organic food tend to value altruism. They tend to value benevolence. They tend to value spirituality. And organic food has gotten wrapped up in all of these values that don’t necessarily have to do with the very specific things that science studies.

Genetically modified foods, or GMO’s, are at the center of much heated debate.

American’s are now demanding to know what exactly it is that they are eating.

Is our food safe? What, if any are the long term effects of consuming genetically modified foods and the chemicals with which they are sprayed?

Tens of millions of dollars are expected to be spent on the election showdown. It pits consumer groups and the organic food industry, both of which support mandatory labeling, against more conventional farmers, agricultural biotechnology companies like Monsanto and many of the nation’s best-known food brands like Kellogg’s and Kraft.

The heightened stakes have added fuel to a long-simmering debate over the merits of genetically engineered crops, which many scientists and farmers believe could be useful in meeting the world’s rapidly expanding food needs.

Supporters of labeling argue that consumers have a right to know when food has been modified with genes from another species, which they say is fundamentally different from the selective breeding process used in nearly all crops.

Producers fear that labeling will lead to consumer’s rejection of such genetically engineered products without knowing the whole story.

Genetically modified food may look like the answer to food shortages but the dangers might just outweigh the benefits.

But now the concern that these genetically manipulated foodstuffs are harming human health is growing. Inserting a gene into a plant’s genome is a random and haphazard process that allows no control over where the gene actually ends up in the plant’s otherwise carefully constructed DNA. Insertions can show up inside other genes, can delete natural genes or permanently turn them on or off, and can cause significant mutations near the insertion site. For instance, one study found that a gene known to be a corn allergen was turned on in GM corn, though it was turned off in its conventional parent.

“It’s genetic roulette,” says Smith. “You can create carcinogens, anti-nutrients, toxins. We don’t understand the language of DNA enough to predict what might happen. It’s an infant technology, and we’re making changes that are permanent in the gene pool of species.”

It is disappointing to learn that Whole Foods is unwilling to participate in the labeling of Genetically Modified Foods.

The one time leader of the “whole” food movement, organic and unadulterated food and humane and natural products has sold out to big corporations leaving the consumer in the dark to navigate the maze of agri-business on their own.

Making an informed choice about what goes into your body has just become a little bit more difficult and Whole Foods is complicit in the deception.

Whole Foods refuses to support GMO labeling.