Yet more evidence that our government has no concern for our health whatsoever.  The U.S. is one of only a few countries that allows beef and dairy cows to be treated with growth hormones which, aside from probably being harmful to your health, means our “tainted” beef can’t be exported.  Other countries recognize the dangers of treating “food” with hormones, but ours thinks it’s okay.  Unless you buy organic or a package specifically marked as not coming from cows treated with BGH, you can be sure that you’re getting a nice dose of hormones and who-knows-what-else with every steak, every yogurt (yes, Yopait!) and every slice of cheese you eat.  Gross!

Now, not even corn is safe.  In addition to putting or spraying weird things on food, our government is content with letting companies manipulate the genes of crops.  And even though genetically modified corn is banned in most of the world, our government doesn’t have a problem letting us eat it.  Recent research concludes:

1) A new long term study by the Austrian government confirms previous findings that consumption of GM (genetically modified) corn, for as little as 20 weeks, can damage the reproductive system, lower fertility rates and increase illness and death rates in offspring.
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2) Researchers in Mexico reported in December that some popular varieties of GM corn negatively affect the learning response of bees. Scientists say this may be an indicator of the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a recent catastrophic and mysterious die-off of as much as 30% of the world’s honey bee population in the past couple of years.
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3) In Italy, scientists published a study that put the biotech industry in a public relations tailspin. In the study, laboratory tests showed a direct connection between consumption of GM corn and a damaged immune system.
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See, the only person looking out for you is YOU. This stuff is scary. GM products aren’t even safety tested. Need an explanation for why people get cancer like crazy? Well, it probably has something to do with these weird things in our food supply. Not to worry, if you don’t want to eat this stuff, here are some tips for avoiding genetically modified produce (keep in mind that food made with GM ingredients doesn’t have to be labeled as such):

1) Look for products that voluntarily label themselves as GMO or GE-free.

2) Buy Organic:  Products certified as “Organic” are not allowed to contain genetically modified ingredients.

3) Avoid non-organic products that contain the most common genetically engineered ingredients: corn (corn syrup, corn meal, corn oil, etc.), fructose, dextrose, glucose, modified food starch, ingredients including the word “soy” (soy flour, soy lecithin, etc.), vegetable oil, vegetable protein, canola oil (also called rapeseed oil), cottonseed oil, and sugar from sugar beets.

It really is important to buy organic everything these days, if you care as much as I do about what you put into your body.  AND, you can’t just stop there– you can bet your life that farm animals are being fed GM corn, soy, etc.  Best just to avoid meat altogether, if you ask me.  For more info, check out this great site.