Genetically modified organisms

This week’s chapter about GMO’s was an eye opener. In Elaine Ingham’s chapter points out the drastic effects of the use of klebsiella planticola on farmers fields and the toll it takes by spreading into different plants, trees and ecosystems. It’s scary to think about the effects this might have on your yard if you lived next door or close to a farm. Or even worst yet, what if it washed into our water supply.
Both Ingham and Suzuki bring up very good points about GMO’s spreading out of control without a known outcome. In Ingham chapter she points out that Rhizobium bacteriaum was being released in Louisiana in the nineties and how it has spread across the North American continent. Now I’m not a soil scientist and I don’t know what exactly rhizobium is, but I do know that having a bacteriaum that spreads and isn’t able to be controlled is not a good thing.
Likewise, Suzuki and Pollan bring up very good points about GMO’s being in our daily food without us as consumer knowing. It wasn’t very heartwarming to find out that I am currently taking part in an experiment by consuming GMO’s in my daily food. I don’t remember signing up for this. The fact is GMO foods should be labeled. We as consumers have the right to know not only where our food comes from, but what’s in it, and how it was processed and manufactured. I’m hoping that some day in the near future the FDA will require all GMO’s to be marked, just like BHG was in milk for a while. Until then I guess the safest things we can do as consumers is to buy locally, and inquire about everything that we eat and drink.