What Are GMO's?
A GMO isa genetically modified organism, meaning that you are altering its genes. Whenyou alter the gene, you alter the instructions for creating that organism; forexample if you were to alter the genes that create the color of your eyes, youwould end up with a different eye color.
Before welook at why this could be a problem to our health by eating GMO's, let us lookat how an organism is created.
CREATING YOU.
Theinstructions for creating an organism (defined as, any individual animal, orplant having diverse organs and parts that function together, as a whole, tomaintain life and its activities) are contained in a “manual” aka thegenome.
The“manual” begins with an alphabet (which is the letters of a languagearranged in a traditional fashion.) Just as the letters in our alphabet are combinedtogether to create a word and it is our understanding of that word whichcreates effective communication. The letters in the alphabet of an organism areencoded (converted) by the DNA into “words.”
Each wordplaced in a specific sequence creates a sentence; this sentence produces thefunction of more detailed communication. Each of theses sentences is called a gene.Each sentence or gene communicates a specific action. To build an entireorganism, for example, a human being, it requires a whole “manual.” The manualis the result of the combination of all the sentences, or genes. Thecombination of all of the genes is known as the Genome.
So we nowknow that the genes contain the information for making parts of the body, thattogether create the whole being. The information contained in most genesproduces proteins. Proteins are the fundamental (foundation) building blocks ofall living organisms.
Everycell of our body contains thousands of different kinds of proteins, all with aspecific function. In order for the cell to function correctly, each proteinmust perform their job at the right time, and at the right place.
Forexample: the protein that makes up blood cells is called Hemoglobin. A genewhose job it is to create Hemoglobin proteins will create correctly functioningHemoglobin proteins, if the gene (which is a sentence) is written accurately.Or transversely, if the sentence (gene) is corrupted (containsalterations or errors), the translation of the sentence will become corruptedand a poorly functioning or no protein at all may be created.
Thealtering or mutation of a gene, which results in the disruption in the functionof a protein, can disrupt normal development, or cause a medical condition.This is how genetic disorders occur.
So whyare GMO's potentially dangerous to our health?
Let's goback to the first paragraph and then re-read the last paragraph.
(1) A GMOis a genetically modified organism,meaning that you are altering itsgenes. When you alter the gene you alter the instructions for creating thatorganism.
(2) The altering or mutation of a gene, whichresults in the disruption in the function of a protein, can disrupt normal development or cause a medical condition.
The Unatural Creation of Food
Why is genetic engineering not a naturalway to create food? Scientists take genes from one species and force them intothe genes of other species, for example; scientists have inserted the genes ofa flounder fish into the genes of a tomato.
Why could this be a problem? Let’sgo back to our description of a gene as a sentence. The sentence, or gene,describes how to create a protein. Genetic modification is in fact, therewriting of the instruction manual for creatinga protein. While we may know how to combine genes of different species, we donot yet know exactly what proteinsthose new instructions will create, or what impact novel (new) proteins willhave on human health.
Remember that proteins are thebasic building blocks of LIFE, making up the majority of the cellularstructures and performing most life functions. Scientists have made great advances in understanding the humangenome, however, far less is understood and known about the “Proteome,” which isthe name is given to describe the collection of proteins in a cell.
“Unlike therelatively unchanging genome, the dynamic proteome changes from minute tominute in response to tens of thousands of intra- and extracellularenvironmental signals. A protein’s chemistry and behavior are specified by thegene sequence and by the number and identities of other proteins made in thesame cell at the same time and with which it associates and reacts. Studies toexplore protein structure and activities, known as proteomics, will be thefocus of much research for decades to come and will help elucidate themolecular basis of health and disease.”
The Human Genome Program ofthe U.S.Department of Energy Office of Science
I hope that I have been abletranslate some very complex subjects into useable information. With awarenessand education of how life is created (as our understanding allows us at thispoint in time), YOU will have the tools to create YOUR future health… I amdefining health as freedom from pain and disease created by what you eat, ordon’t eat.