By Kevin Coleman

Fast food and junk food are obviously harmful to human health, but many of the foods we believe to be decent for us to eat are more often than not a product of a corporation that uses Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs. GMOs are crops that are altered with hormones and pesticides to produce more food with little effort. These lab-made crops are also inexpensive to produce, and as we all know in life, you get what you pay for.

The leading producer of GMOs on our planet is an American corporation that goes by the name of Monsanto. The name may not ring a bell, but you unknowingly eat their products all the time. Monsanto is an umbrella corporation that owns prominent food companies like Kellogg’s, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and many more. All of these companies own more companies with an array of products, so it is safe to say that GMOs are nearly everywhere.

Foods with GMOs may taste good and appear harmless, but they have been proven harmful to both the health of humans and the environment. Not only does their use alter the natural order, but also when it is altered, there is no telling what lies in the consequences. In 2012, a study conducted at the University of Caen tested the effects of lifetime GMO consumption on lab rats. The rats suffered massive tumors, premature death and severe liver and kidney damage. These results are horrifying, but even worse is the fact that this study is the first ever to examine the long-term effects of consuming GMOs. What purpose does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) serve if they blindly approve GMO food despite the harmful effects?

The answer may be collusion and the ties between Monsanto and the US government could even point to corruption. Clarence Thomas, a US Supreme Court Justice, previously worked as Monsanto’s lawyer and still has stakes in the company. The Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto’s Searle Pharmaceutical Company. The US Secretary of Agriculture, the US Secretary of Health, multiple congressmen and more all lead to conclude that the corporation in control of our food happens to pull the strings of the US government’s acceptance of GMOs.

Politicians in some states are currently pushing to pass legislation that requires GMO foods to be properly labeled. This will help with foods that appear to be healthy, like Nature Valley granola bars, but are actually riddled with GMOs. States like Vermont, North Dakota and Montana have passed legislation either banning genetically engineered crops or requiring them to be labeled. Meanwhile, countries like Saudi Arabia, Brazil and the majority of Europe have enforced total bans on GMO crops.

Whether you oppose unnatural organisms or see it as the future of farming, the health effects are a clear red flag to the incompetence of GMOs. The world is standing up to the wealth driven corporations that push their poisonous foods onto the unknowing public, and it’s about time the United States rejected GMOs as well. Eating healthy is increasingly difficult in America, and that can only change with an educated public concerned with their health.