Let me explain something that sometimes seems overwhelmingly hard to understand and is a cause usually championed by "hippies and the tin hat wearers." It's not complicated though. And it's super important. Here's a summary of the problem:
So Monsanto creates these genetically modified crops (GMOs). They alter them so they can withstand Round Up - you know, that stuff you squirt on your lawn to kill weeds. One of the primary ingredients in RU is something called glyphosate which basically makes it so these weeds can't absorb micronutrients like calcium and zinc and they just die off. These "roundup ready" crops can survive without absorbing as much of these micronutrients, so they survive and initially, the yield per acre is enhanced. However, this stuff also means that beneficials like soil organisms and worms and lady bugs and stuff, when they are exposed to this stuff also can't absorb micronutrients and they die off.
Meanwhile, it's like taking too many antibiotics, it eventually takes more and more RU to kill off the more resistant weeds that nature invariably creates to combat this effect. So now the saturation of RU is hitting record highs in the soil and this stuff is absorbed by the crops we eat. Here's the kicker. Glyphosate accumulates in the gut of whatever eats the crops that have absorbed in it. So this piece of corn that already doesn't have much in it from a nutrient perspective is also delivering a giant dose of this chemical that means what little is left in that food is harder to absorb by you!
And if that's not bad enough, there are indications that there may be problems with birth defects and reduced birth rates... but that needs more study.
Anyway, this is a kind of preachy article, but the video (while its long) is extraordinarily informative and is an interview with a Dr. that has been doing this research for a very long time. I recommend that if this concerns you that you not just read this summary, but that you at least watch this video.
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Safety/gmo/gmo_0131121210.html
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My friend Curt asked what the alternative is. And guess what! Mother Nature has already provided that answer if we would only listen. The UN calls it "agroecology." Those that have been in the know for the last many decades have called it permaculture. :) Enjoy!
http://www.alternet.org/food/150158/new_un_report_on_how_to_feed_the_world%27s_hungry%3A_ditch_corporate-controlled_agriculture
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