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Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Dangers Associated With Eating Genetically Engineered Corn and Pesticides

I came across an article from Dr. Mercola's newsletter that I want to pass along to you. We are all aware of the dangers of HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP and that it seems no matter how many label ingredient stickers we read, we are still consuming more if it that we think. Apparently the VAST MAJORITY of store bought corn and products containing high fructose corn syrup were grown on fields of GE (Genetically Engineered Corn). I knew it wasn't good for you however  I did not know about the pesticides used to cause bug's STOMACHS TO EXPLODE IS THEN CONSUMED BY YOU (see BT TOXIN).

There is a lot of information I bet most of us were not aware of concerning corn and the use of high fructose corn syrup.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39 KJV


Here is the LINK:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/07/king-corn-documentary.aspx?e_cid=20130907Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130907Z1

EXCERPT:

By Dr. Mercola
The United States is the number one per capita consumer of corn in the world. As expounded in books like The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, high-fructose corn syrup and other corn-derivatives work their way into nearly every kind of processed food on the market.
In the US, corn is one of the top four most heavily subsidized food crops, so farmers have every reason to plant plenty of it.
Unfortunately, since corn is a grain, it breaks down to sugar very rapidly and typically increases your insulin resistance if regularly consumed. Elevated insulin levels in turn are linked to most chronic degenerative diseases, including everything from obesity and diabetes to premature aging.
Making matters worse, the vast majority of American-grown corn is also genetically engineered (GE) to produce Bt toxin (a pesticide that kills bugs by making their stomachs explode), which is then consumed by you.
Studies now show that, contrary to industry assurances, this built-in Bt toxin survives the journey through your digestive system, and can make you allergic to a wide range of substances. This is in stark contrast to naturally produced Bt toxin which is rapidly broken down in the environment and never makes it to your stomach.

As Corn Became King, a Fast-Food Nation Was Born

The featured documentary, King Corn1, follows two college buddies, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, as they set out to learn more about corn—how it’s grown, and how it ends up in so many of our foods. As stated in the film’s synopsis:
“With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm.”
Far from providing us with critical nutrition, US agricultural policies contribute to the declining health of Americans and worsens the out-of-control obesity epidemic. Current farm subsidies bring you high-fructose corn syrup, fast food, junk food, corn-fed beef raised in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), monoculture, and a host of other contributors to our unhealthful contemporary diet.
And as stated in the film, were you to grow corn without these government assistance payments, you’d be virtually guaranteed to lose money. The farm subsidies are what’s keeping the wheel of this cheap food ingredient rolling. In short, as stated in a recent research paper2:
“Government-issued payments have skewed agricultural markets toward the overproduction of commodities that are the basic ingredients of processed, energy-dense foods.”

Do You Know How Much Corn You’re Eating Every Day?

A conservative estimate3 of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) consumption suggests Americans over the age of two consume an average of 132 calories a day from HFCS, with the top 20 percent of consumers ingesting an average of 316 calories from HFCS daily. This is bound to have significant health consequences.
For an excellent scientific analysis on fructose, I suggest reading the report titled: "Fructose, Weight Gain, and the Insulin Resistance Syndrome,4" published in one of my favorite nutritional journals, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It will open your eyes to some of the major problems associated with this sweetener. Other statistics included in the film include the following:
  • Over the past 15 years, taxpayers have paid corn farmers more than $77 billion in subsidies; yes that is billion with a “b”
  • More than 75 percent of farm subsidies are paid to a mere 10 percent of America’s farmers
  • Since the late 1970s, the real price of fruits and vegetables have risen by 30 percent, while the price for soda has decreased by 34 percent
According to a 2011 report5 by the non-profit U.S. PIRG called “Apples to Twinkies,” each year, your tax dollars (in the form of agricultural subsidies) would allow you to buy 19 Twinkies, but less than a quarter of one red delicious apple!
So far, public health officials have had little to say about any of this, yet it seems quite clear that they should. The US farm subsidy program is completely upside down, subsidizing junk food in one federal office, while across the hall another department is funding an anti-obesity campaign. This hypocrisy shows just how broken and wasteful our regulatory system really is.
Worst of all, the farm bill creates a negative feedback loop that perpetuates the highly profitable standard American diet, so the US government is, in essence, subsidizing obesity and chronic disease. With the 2013 Farm Bill set to be finalized by the end of September 2013, this could be a key time to implement important policy changes in the near future.

Redesigning the System Could Help Fight Obesity and Protect the Environment


(Please read the entire article for more details) Dan

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