Why Eating Vegetables Should Bother You More than Eating GMOs'

 Are GMOs safe? Well, there is something else we all eat that should bother us more than GMOs.

Genetic modification, in the context it is being used today, refers to editing the organism’s genome by inserting foreign DNA molecules. In most cases, crop genetic modification is done for two purposes;

·         Make the plant pest resistant

·        Make the plant pesticide-resistant.

Many GMOs are not meant to increase yield per se, but yield increases automatically as resistance to pest and weeds is enhanced. In short, the losses that would have been caused by weed and pest is significantly reduced, thus, maximum production can be achieved if other growth factors such as irrigation, fertilizer application, and timely planting, are met.

The foreign genes used in many GMOs are harvested from soil-borne bacteria such as Bacillus thuringiensis which has natural toxicity against pests. The Bt in Bt Maize and Bt cotton stands for Bacillus thuringiensis and it means that that type of plant has been modified to include specific parts of Bacillus thuringiensis DNA to enhance inbuilt pesticide production-and in this case, the plant produces proteins namely Cry Proteins which acts as natural pesticides. Of importance is that Bacillus thuringiensis is naturally found in the soil.

For herbicide-resistant GMOs- herbicides are selective and geneticist exploits the same mechanism as for pest-resistant GMOs.

Genetic modification to increase food quality has also been successfully done-as it was the case with Golden Rice which was modified to biosynthesize beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Also, Tomato GMOs were the first GMO plants to ever be produced, with the aim of increasing shelf-life. This GMO tomato was called Flavr Savr but it is no longer produced because it was low yielding.

To that end, there is something else that should bother you more than GMOs, and that is the artificial application of pesticides on vegetables.

Many pesticides being used in Kenya today are not approved to be sold in any other market, and in context-they are banned in the countries they are being manufactured. There have been calls to  the government to withdraw some of these pesticides from Kenyan farms and there is even a motion being Championed by Uasin Gishu women rep Gladys Boss Shollei which has received little to no media attention because media has been reaping big in advertising these pesticides. Some media have even been publishing hyperbolic headlines about how Kenya will lose up to 150 billion annually if the ban on Pesticides is put into effect.

Many vegetables and fruits we are eating today are laced with pesticide residues. Studies have been conducted to show that vegetables such as tomatoes and carrots in the Kenyan Market have high levels of pesticide residues – which are worse toxins that should bother everyone. One recent study used tomato samples of Rambo variety mainly grown in open fields and greenhouses in the Irrigation Scheme were purposively sampled from thirty-five sampling sites in open fields, greenhouses, markets, and consumers where the samples were taken to Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) laboratory in Nairobi for analysis detected high levels of pesticide residues from the production level to consumption level.

So, eating fruits and vegetables may seem healthy, but in essence-it may be more dangerous than we all anticipate. There are no alternatives-and we have to eat these things. But, if possible, don’t select the greenest and most good-looking vegetables or the most appealing tomato you can find. If it is possible, buy from a farmer you know-and because this may not be practical either, wash your vegetables and fruits with running water. The good thing is, most of the pesticides are contact based-which means they remain on the outer part of the crop. They can be easily washed away. To effectively do this, use clean running water.

Disclaimer!!

I know food and eating habits should not be a topic I can pretend to know anything about, or to tell people what is, and what isn’t good for them, because clearly…