The Link Between GMOs and Pesticides

One of the reasons I am in favor of GMO labeling is that GMO technology is often used to increase a food product's hardiness to increased pesticide application. In other words, a GM crop can doused in greater amounts of pesticide. Below are some GMO crops that can take increased applications of the pesticide Roundup. Roundup is a particularly worrisome pesticide.

Roundup is the world's most popular herbicide and is sprayed over millions of acres of crops each year.  The active ingredient in Roundup is glysophate. Glysophate residues have been found in food. Recent research has linked the chemical to infertility, cancers, and Parkinson's Disease.

Those residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, according to the report, authored by Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant from Arthur D. Little, Inc. Samsel is a former private environmental government contractor as well as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," the study says.

In 2015, the EPA will determine if the use of glysophate should be limited, after a standard registration review. All pesticides are registered with the EPA.