Genetically Modified Food
Just 3% of vegetable varieties grown in 1900 are planted today.
Originally engineered to help solve global hunger and poverty, genetically modified food has nonetheless long faced opposition. Despite its detractors, however, its use has spread quickly and widely: though commercially available only since 1996, genetically modified ingredients are now found in 70% of food in supermarkets, while more than 90% of U.S. soy crops and 71% of cotton are modified.
While the number of genetically modified types of crops continues to rise, the yield of those crops remains the same as in pre-modification years, leading many to question their benefit. In fact, one study concluded modified crops won’t help solve poverty, hunger, or climate change, but despite those findings, 13.3 million farmers plant modified seeds.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Demand to Know if Food Is Modified
Support the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act.
From the Blog
Genetically Modified Crops Won't Feed the…
"Proponents of genetically modified (GM) crops argue that the technology can help feed the world by producing higher yields at a lower cost, but a new study shows that yield improvements have actually…"
BY THE NUMBERS
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97 percent of vegetable varieties grown at the turn of the 20th century are now extinct http://bit.ly/tp0247 |
70 percent of processed foods at the grocery store are genetically modified http://bit.ly/tp0247 |
