Masters of Health Magazine March 2021 | Page 25

moms across america

Here is what I have learned, in summary:

1.Conventional food - This is the food that you find at every gas station, mini-mart, grocery stores in boxes and bags, or non-organic produce, dairy, and meat. At one time, all food was grown organically. Only in the past 50 years have agrochemicals been regularly used in our food supply. During the earlier part of that time, conventional food simply contained non-GMO food that was grown with agrochemicals. Today, 75% of America’s processed food contains GMOs. 85-100% of these main commodity crops grown in America are now GMO. GMOs are genetically modified organisms that withstand toxic herbicides like glyphosate, have the pesticide built right in, are a combination of those two, or have a “desired” trait.

An example is a non-browning potato (actually the browning/rotting is still happening, it is just masked). 80% of GMOs are engineered to withstand glyphosate (a known carcinogen, neurotoxin, and reproductive effector that can cause liver disease), hence my obsession with glyphosate. These GMOs, mostly soy, corn, sugar, or canola, can be grown on thousands to tens of thousands of acres with large machinery that one farmer can operate. These farms are devoid of life. Barely a worm, bird, insect, or critter is found on these farms.

When the soil is sprayed with toxic chemicals or tilled, the microbiota and organic matter are destroyed or reduced. This in turn reduces carbon sequestration. This process is called mono-crop farming. Mono-crop farming may bring labor costs down, but studies show that it increases depression and suicide rates in farmers due to the heavy use of neurotoxic chemicals. GMO-based mono-crop farming heavily relies upon agrochemicals, which deplete the living nutrients in the soil, contribute to climate change, reduce water retention, increase chemical pollution of waterways, and harm the environment, including endangered species and humans.