Food Labeling for GMO foods - Know what you are really buying

There is growing debate about the safety of GMO foods.

If you have not heard this term before:  GMO foods are foods or organisms in which the dna has somehow been genetically changed.  

Plants or animals that have had their genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs. 
-From the glossary on the Monsanto website.

Organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. 
-World Health Organization

“Genetically Engineered Foods”, “Genetically modified organisms,” or GMOs, are organisms that have been created through application of transgenic, gene-splicing techniques that are part of biotechnology. These transgenic methods for moving genes around are also called “genetic engineering,” or GE.

This relatively new science allows DNA (genetic material) from one species to be transferred into another species, creating transgenic organisms with combinations of genes from plants, animals, bacteria, and even viral gene pools. The mixing of genes from different species that have never shared genes in the past is what makes GMOs and GE crops so unique.

You may be asking why are they altering our food and/or animals:

the reason has too do with reducing costs, making the food more resistant to disease or pests (so less pesticides needed), increasing shelf life to name a few.

But there is growing concern about how healthy this is for our bodies when we ingest food that is not in its natural state but has been genetically altered and what are the long term affects of this.

Some countries have gone so far as to completely outlaw GMO from their food system.  But in the US, we have GMO food and we don't know which foods they are are because there is no labeling requirements.

If you feel that we have a right to know and make our own choices whether to purchase GMO foods, then you can write the FDA urging them to require labeling requirements that will tell us if a food has been genetically altered.  You can do it easily through LabelIt.org, an organization committed to educating the public about GMO and leading a campaign to get GMOs listed on food labels.