What do GMOs Have to do With World Hunger?

The objective of this part of the 21 day World Hunger series has been to shed light on the dangers or potential health risks of genetically modified foods in our food supply.  Under the guise of mass production to feed the world's hungry, Big Agra has artificially and genetically altered staple crops like corn and soybeans.  And while this seems to be a noble cause, the introduction of genetically modified organisms or GMOs into our food supply may have far-reaching negative consequences.  Given the mounting research indicating that more testing and studying needs to be done before we unleash these foods into the global food chain, we need to start asking some very important questions.


1) Is it really fair to subject starving or undernourished people to possibly more health risks by feeding them GMOs?
2) Big Agra GMO crops decimate the soil and environment through the use of pesticides and should Big Agra companies like Monsanto be allowed to rape and pillage both the earth and its people?
3) Should Big Agra be given the green light to continue to corner the market on GM seeds?

How to Avoid the GMO Bad Nasties

Today is my third day of exploring GMO and world hunger, as part of Conducive Chronicle’s 21 days for Hunger.   GMO food has been used as a solution for world hunger, but I will discuss some of the problems of this approach.
With such a high percentage of foods containing GMOs in some way, shape or form, you may be asking yourself how you can possibly avoid what I'll call the GMO Bad Nasties.   And with over 70% of the food in grocery stores today containing some sort of GMO, admittedly this is a tough one.  Luckily, there is a way.  One of the best ways to avoid GMOs is to go organic.

The Generational Consequences of GMOs

Today is my second day of exploring GMO and world hunger, as part of Conducive Chronicle’s 21 days for Hunger.   GMO food has been used as a solution for world hunger, but I will discuss some of the problems of this approach.

When the DNA of a plant or organism has been changed, it has become genetically modified organism, or a GMO.  Small or even tiny changes in a plant's genetic structure can have a significant impact on its properties.  That may not seem like a big deal for plants, or even animals, but when it comes to humans, the stakes get a little higher.  Just the slightest change in our DNA can have can have disastrous effects and chromosomal anomalies like Down Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome.

The most common foods GMO foods consumed in North America are corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed oil. So what does it mean to us if we eat genetically modified food?  What does the altered DNA of a plant or animal do to our own DNA?  What are the long-term effects?

From GMO Chemistry Set to Table?

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First and foremost, I am very honored and humbled to be taking part in this worthy project of raising awareness and generating solutions to end world hunger.  For 21 Days 5 Conducive Chronicle writers will be eating a diet similar to the almost 1 million of the world's hungry and presenting research on the topic.  And a very special thanks goes out to Kenda Swartz Pepper, whose idea this was, and to the talented and motivated writers with whom I am collaborating.

I was inspired to join this project because the more I read and learn about the world's food supply, food politics and how food is produced and distributed, the more I am convinced that everyone should know where our food comes from and what's in it.  It is a very complex system and should not be taken at face value from what we see and buy at our supermarket or grocery store shelves.  As we go about our daily lives, many (if not most) of us are unaware of the choices made by large corporations that affect what and how we eat.  And essentially many of us are sleepwalking as we fill up our grocery carts.

World Hunger Project

As promised, I will be re-posting portions of the "21 Days for World Hunger" series from Conducive Chronicle.  I strongly encourage you to read, share and absorb all that it will has to offer.

Written on October 11, 2010 at 1:29 PM by Kenda Swartz Pepper

925 million people.  21 days.  5 writers.  Joining forces and uniting voices to help those living with hunger.  Together we embark on a journey to learn, share, explore, write and make whatever effort we can to help reduce the global catastrophic crisis of world hunger.
Welcome to day one of twenty-one days for world hunger.  We hope that you too, in your own way, will join us on this journey.
When I was a kid, my parents harped on me to eat everything on my plate, because children in Ethiopia were starving.  I must confess that even though I felt for all those kids, I didn’t really make the connection.  While I rarely had a problem finishing my plate, on liver and lima beans night I didn’t have much compassion for those starving kids.  That dinner was invariably and surreptitiously fed to the dog.  While I may have gone to bed with the slightest tinge of hunger on those particular nights, I always knew there would be a meal the next morning.  Now in 2010 I am a different person and the world is a different place.  Now it is well known there are children all over the world – even in our communities – who are living with hunger. Now the notion of wasting food feels nearly criminal to me.  Now I see how the food choices I make impact not only my own health and well-being but also the health and well-being of hungry children.

Read on here:   21 Days for World Hunger

Eco-Steps to End World Hunger

September has been a busy month.  The kids are back in school, Fall is in the air (in most places) and many people are getting into what I call "squirrel mode" of gathering food and prepping for the winter months ahead.  But what if you didn't have enough food?  Many people don't.  In fact, just shy of 1 billion people around the world do not have enough to eat.  The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme estimate that 925 million people go hungry every day.

925 million people is more than three times the population of the United States.  You might be thinking "That's a lotta people!  What could I possibly do to help?" 

Well, there are a lot of things you can do.  But perhaps the first and most important thing is to be aware that this problem exists. 

Next, you could pick one small thing, or take one eco-step up to and including the obvious choice of donating money to a charitable organization that fights hunger.  But it doesn't have to be money.  One person action adds up to one family, one group, one community, one city.  Many people doing many small things can add up to have a tremendous impact.


For example, earlier this year, Kenda Swartz Pepper and Natasha Burge conducted their own personal experiments and wrote about what is like to go hungry.  I strongly encourage you to check these stories out.  They are informative, compelling and give us a closer look into what it would really be like to go hungry and still try to have productive, "normal" daily lives.  Luckily, we will be hearing from Kenda and Natasha again, along with others, beginning in early October.  I will be joining these talented writers from Conducive Chronicle for a 21-day journey to look at the problem of world hunger from many different perspectives.  I will be keeping you up-to-date on the series and will be re-posting them or linking them here on Eco-Steps.


You can check out more at Conducive Chronicle's World Hunger -- Be the Solution.  Or you can become a fan on Facebook to learn more about what you can do to help fight it.

For additional reading: 
12 Myths About Hunger
Waste Not, Want Not
The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Go Hungry