Until consumers have the right to labeling is important to know which countries are growing GM crops and what foods are produced
.
Currently many countries have bans on GM crops. "Owing to concern about the dangers and risks posed by genetically engineered organisms, many governments have instituted total or partial bans on their cultivation, importation, and field-testing. A few years ago, there were sixteen countries that had total or partial bans on GMOs. Now there are at least twenty-six, including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia. Significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about sixty other countries." ("Twenty Six Countries have ban GMOs- Why Won't the U.S.? http://www.thenation.com) Four regions in Italy: Tuscany, Molise, Lazio and Marche around 25 provinces and cities have adopted bans on GE crops. Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand and Thailand have GE crop bans on at least one product- the BT corn. Other countries like France and Greece have bans on rapeseed, while still others like Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt have banned food that has been genetically engineered from being imported .The planting of GE seeds is prohibited by law in Brazil and Paraguay. Switzerland has banned all GM crops, animals and plants on all fields and farms. "Restraints on trade in GMOs based on phyto-sanitary grounds, which are allowed under the World Trade Organization, have increased. Already, American rice farmers face strict limitations on their exports to the European Union, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, and are banned altogether from Russia and Bulgaria because unapproved genetically engineered rice "escaped" during open-field trials on GMO rice. Certain Thai exports—particularly canned fruit salads containing papaya to Germany, and sardines in soy oil to Greece and the Netherlands—were recently banned due to threat of contamination by GMOs." ("Twenty Six Countries have ban GMOs- Why Won't the U.S.? http://www.thenation.com.) This is not an all-inclusive list and yet this information is eye-opening and begs the question, "Why?"
One of the top five arguments that support the ban on GMO's in the countries mentioned earlier is largely due to the fact that genetic engineering disrupts the sequence of a food's genetic code, therefore disturbing the functions of genes giving rise to potentially toxic or allergenic molecules. "The Bt toxin used in GMO corn, for example, was recently detected in the blood of pregnant women and their babies, with possibly harmful consequences." ("Twenty Six Countries have ban GMOs- Why Won't the U.S.? http://www.thenation.com.) The second most widely used argument suggests that once a GMO crop is released in the open it can reproduce during pollination causing genetic contamination. "According to a study published in Nature, one of the world's leading scientific journals, Bt corn has contaminated indigenous varieties of corn tested in Oaxaca, Mexico." ("Twenty Six Countries have ban GMOs- Why Won't the U.S.? www.thenation.com) Other arguments have shown proof that GMO's in natural surroundings can have a toxic effect of its habitat. It is known that the benefits of GMOs have been wrongly oversold when no substantial evidence has been shown that GM crops yield more, but rather result in an infestation of new superbugs given crops, insects and nearby wildlife developing resistance to BT. This then leads to a greater use of pesticides, harmful to humans and animals alike. "A fifth argument is that patented GMO seeds concentrate power in the hands of a few biotech corporations and marginalize small farmers. "While profitable to the few companies producing them, GMO seeds reinforce a model of farming that undermines sustainability of cash-poor farmers, who make up most of the world's hungry. GMO seeds continue farmers' dependency on purchased seed and chemical inputs. The most dramatic impact of such dependency is in India, where 270,000 farmers, many trapped in debt for buying seeds and chemicals, committed suicide between 1995 and 2012. Some studies have sought to counter these accusations against GMOs, but they have been discredited by revelations that they were funded by biotechnology firms or conducted by researchers close to them." ("Twenty Six Countries have ban GMOs- Why Won't the U.S.? http://www.thenation.com.)
This explains why other countries have banned the growth and sale of genetically modified crops, yet fuels the mystery as to why the United States hasn't fully adopted this plan. "The most authoritative evaluation of agriculture, the
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
, determined that the current GMO's have nothing to offer the goals of reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, health and rural livelihoods, and facilitating social and environmental sustainability" ("GMO Food Health Disaster" www.mindbodyhealth.com)
Hopefully due to spreading the word about this very heavy topic, more people will speak up and more legislatures will listen.