GE And Animal Welfare

While the debates about genetically engineered crops typically center on consumer and farmer impacts, there are far more unwilling participants in this great experiment whose innocence and lives it is our duty to protect: animals. Because of the significant herbicide use associated with GE seeds such as Monsanto's Roundup Ready products, and the ease with which those herbicides spread far beyond their intended targets, it is really no surprise that animals are being impacted by these toxins.

A recent press release notes that, "In 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) stated, ' . . . studies indicate serious health risks associated with GMO food.' These risks include the chance of infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system." If these are the impacts of eating GMO (genetically modified organism) foods, such as those made with GE crops, it's truly no wonder that animals exposed to just the herbicides and seeds used in the production of these crops are demonstrating significant negative physical responses.

The Huffington Post recently reported that there is evidence to suggest, "…Monsanto's Roundup Ready genetically modified crops contain an organism, previously unknown to science, that can cause miscarriages in farm animals and can cause, "disease in both plants and animals." This claim, supported by Purdue University's Emeritus Professor Don M. Huber, further challenges the notion that GE crops are a good alternative to conventional or organic crops, demonstrating a serious threat to farm animals. Huber states, "450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers …experienced spontaneous abortions," and that, "Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting."

With such overwhelming evidence that our livestock is being sickened and killed by exposure to GE crops and the processes surrounding their growth, it seems a return to conventional and organic crops is the prudent move and the right thing, the moral thing, to do. Even from a financial standpoint, taking the emotional and even the common sense arguments out of the equation, a transition away from GE and back to organics makes sense. GE crops may be cheaper to grow in the short term, but if they're killing the nearby cattle and ultimately decimating crops and natural food supplies, where is the savings? Perhaps it is time to ask, the question: Who is actually reaping any benefits at all from GE crops…besides those who make the seeds?


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