Below in non-bold type is a section of editorial from Dr. McDougall's website (below) - then afterwards is my response in bold ~ ModifiedVegan
"Current epidemics of obesity, and related diseases, like type-2 diabetes, were on the rise long before the introduction of GMO foods fewer than two decades ago. For example, the rate of obesity in the US has steadily increased from 15% before the 1980s to over 35% currently. This shift has been accurately attributed to the dramatic increase in the consumption of sugars and oils, as well as, meat and dairy foods, during this time period.
Fear-mongering over GMO foods with inflammatory statements like “It is the most dangerous thing facing human beings in our generation” are distracting the public, and our political attention, away from the most important food-related threat to human health: livestock (chickens, cows, pigs, etc.).
Livestock act as vectors for the transfer of many harmful substances to people. Sensational food scares, such as Mad Cow, foot and mouth, E. Coli, Listeria, and bird flu infections, and dioxin and melamine poisonings, have dominated the news over the past two decades. Important to note is that, in contrast to plant food-based GMO products, all of these (animal-food-delivered) agents have caused real human diseases, albeit only a few cases for each.
Lurking in the background behind sensational headlines, like the elephant in the room, are the epidemics of obesity and illness caused by eating too many animals and insufficient plants. Major medical organizations, including the World Health Organization and the US Burden of Disease Collaborators, have identified consumption of meat and dairy products as the leading cause of illness and death in Western countries. Heart disease and stroke top the list of diet-induced illnesses worldwide.
Cut GMO Production by at Least Half, Now
Switching people from an animal food-centered diet to one based on starches (rice, corn, wheat, potatoes, beans, etc.) would dramatically, and almost overnight, reduce the farming of GMO foods. This shrinkage would be a direct consequence of eliminating animal feed, used to make bacon, beefsteak, and Brie. Worldwide the number one use of GMO foods is to provide feed for livestock! Approximately 80 percent of all corn and 70 percent of soybeans grown in the United States are consumed by cows, pigs, and chickens destined for people’s dinner tables.
With this long-overdue change in people’s diets (from animal-sources to starches), a glut of corn and soybeans would flood world markets and the need for GMO food production would be more than halved. Over the next few months, pastureland could be replaced by farmland, further escalating food safety and accessibility for planet Earth. (Consider that one acre of land will produce 17 times more calories growing potatoes than growing beef cattle.)
There is no denying that the current epidemics of obesity and sickness in Western civilizations are not caused by GMO foods. Our future depends upon us taking actions based upon today’s facts and not upon tomorrow’s fantasies. Efforts refocused off of the GMO distraction and on to reducing livestock production have the potential to save billions of lives from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer—long before the first case of “human GMO disease” is ever reported."
Below is my response to this ~ MV
"We should still be very wary of GMO food items and work to make sure they are eradicated and made to be the inferior choice for consumption - we don't know the inherent danger that they possess & that is the problem. For over 20 years we have watched health decline in this country, and I think it can be directly related to the combination of the huge rise in GMO's, big boom of unhealthy livestock production (factory farming), and overall lack of care for our own health by eating worse, depending on pharmaceuticals over healthy foods, and lack of care for our environment and the life within it.
We are in a society that is heavy on meat and dairy, and it's very unhealthy for our human bodies because the meat and dairy of today is not like it was 20-30-40 years ago. Now, much of it is laden with hormones, pesticides and antibiotics that have no business being in our meat, dairy, fish or eggs for human or even animal consumption.
While I agree that it's a mixture of problems that have brought us to the state we are in now, I don't necessarily agree with everything stated in this section of the editorial from Dr. McDougall's website. I do believe much of the GMO movement is NOT a distraction and GMOs ARE an inherent problem, especially when you mix them with antibiotic-laden factory farming rampant in this country.
I believe both are big problems, but one without the other can still be a huge issue - there have been many many people in many groups that have said simply by cutting out the GMO's from their diet, that their health improved, skin conditions improved, stomach conditions improved, many different things improved physically - and in many of the cases, just by switching to organic foods. They didn't even cut the meat or dairy out of their diet, they just switched to completely organic and many grew their own vegetables as well.
Is this the result of a scientific study with lots and lots of data? No. This is simply by talking to many different people with many different health problems about their habits and food intake, all who subsequently agreed to adopt a completely organic diet and see what happened over time.
Others I talked to also agreed to go off meat and dairy and adopt a plant-based vegan diet saw even more positive beneficial results.
Myself? I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I was then told by my doctor to go on a plant-based vegan diet with no nuts, no oils, no high-fat vegetables, and no refined sugars or flours.
I did this and within five months my Type 2 completely disappeared.
Yes, gone.
My A-1C was lower than a normal healthy person's A-1 C. My blood sugars were fantastic, my cholesterol decreased, and my weight started to come off naturally.
No meds. No daily blood sugar testing.
That was over a year ago. Today, I am still living an organic plant-based vegan lifestyle. And I will continue to help educate people on the benefits of diet and lifestyle over pharmaceuticals and costly treatments that do nothing but exacerbate situations.
I honestly believe that kicking the meat and dairy is what saved my life, in addition to going completely organic and as GMO free as possible - it has also helped other elements of my body: my eyesight has improved, my skin, my hair, my fingernails have all improved and my aches and pains have all decreased. And I have not changed my physical fitness level other than instituting a daily walk. I plan to do more, like light yoga or Pilates as soon as my knee pain decreases enough to do the bends.
I honestly believe that all these things work together to cause our health to deteriorate, and the more we can go back to a natural lifestyle - truly natural lifestyle - the healthier this country will become, WITHOUT Big Pharm.
I will continue to fight to get GMO's labeled and to educate society on the dangers of genetically modified organisms. The fact that we have no idea what they will do is even more complicated by the fact that we essentially don't even know how they are made and what the future impact on our bodies and the development of our maturing childrens bodies will be.
Example? BT corn. In order to make this corn, it's inserted with a bacteria and an insecticide so when bugs and insects eat it, their stomach essentially explodes. Now, do you think enough of that eaten by humans is safe? I'm sorry, I wouldn't want to be a guinea pig for that sort of test on my body - nor would I knowingly do it to my children. Essentially, we have no idea what it would do to a developing child whose body still hasn't matured yet. Why have the rates of child gluten allergies skyrocketed in recent years? Why is it that a child can eat a non-organic meal and start to feel inflamed itchiness in their mouth and lips, or have stomach pains...yet then eat that same type of meal another day made only with organic foods and have no reaction? This needs further research, without bias.
This is why GMO labeling is so important.
These are genetically modified organisms that we are talking about - this does not occur naturally in nature, nor do I feel that nature would want it to occur to begin with. It should be labeled on our foods so we can make our OWN decision on whether we want to ingest them or not, not be FORCED to do so because we "just don't know" that they are in our foods.
You're putting this in a child's body and that body is still maturing and developing - eating genetically modified foods is going to change the make up of their body, no matter what scientists want to say of how safe it should be. There's no "definitive scientific true studies" that can positively say that they are completely 100% safe. No one can speak for 100% of the world's population because every body is different - we all react differently to different things.
Allergies are another big barometer - allergies develop when the body's histamine responses go haywire with foreign bodies invading our systems. And allergies are skyrocketing all over. To what, you might ask? To anything, and it's random these days. And I honestly feel that messing with nature and genetics has caused a lot of allergies to rise in numbers.
Let's face it, screwing with nature is a really bad idea."
