By now, you have probably at least heard of GMO foods, but you may not really understand what that is all about or why 
there is controversy. Or you may not think that GMO’s are a particularly relevant issue for you. But if you eat any processed foods, any kind of corn product, corn fed beef, non-organic milk, soy products, or zucchini, you are likely being exposed to Genetically Modified foods (Organisms). That also might include yellow squash (crook neck) and Hawaiian papaya, which are the other foods in the U.S. that can be GMO.
So … what’s the problem?
Well, the reasons are several. One of them is that food is INFORMATION to the your body, and not just fuel and nutrients. We’re talking about information on a genetic level.
Your body INTERACTS with the food you eat. So eating GMO food might mean that you are giving your body some wrong genetic information. And one of our mottos in our practice is “If God didn’t make it, don’t eat it.” God does not make GMO food. Monsanto and some other companies do. And they don’t do it by just making hybrids 
with other disease resistant plants. They use genetic material from things like viruses and bacteria and insert them into the plant-food genes to make them more resistant to disease, pests, and herbicides.
On the surface that sounds like a good idea because then less pesticides might be used, and crops are less likely to fail. And it might help countries battle starvation by making crops more disease resistant. But the problem is that we don’t know if they are really safe for human consumption. The effects of GMO’s may not be seen or felt for decades down the road. So the debate rages on. It’s a debate too complicated to go into detail here.
But here’s what I suggest. To be on the safe side, avoid GMO foods as best you can. You can do that by avoiding processed foods that have corn or soy in them unless it’s ORGANIC or it says NON-GMO. Drink only organic milk products. Avoid eating animals that have been fed GMO feed, which is most of them unless the label says otherwise. www.MarysChickens.com is just one example of many sites you can obtain non-GMO fed animal food.
You can’t always avoid all threats to your health, but at this present time, exercising a little caution and care in picking non-GMO foods when possible seems like a sensible thing to do.
Dr. William Epperly, Fellow American Academy of Family Practice
Fellow American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy
Member of Christian Medical and Dental Society.
