In 2011, Earth Justice, an environmental legal group, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for approving Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa seeds without properly assessing their environmental impacts. Those impacts included releasing 23 million pounds of toxic herbicide into the environment each year as a result of the genetically engineered crops, according to the Center for Food Safety.

The lawsuit gained some media attention, which, in turn, caused more Americans to ask questions about genetically modified foods in the United States.

Grocery stores across the U.S. are filled with genetically modified foods, or foods containing genetically modified organisms. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are organisms with altered genetic material.

The majority of them are made in two categories: those that resist pesticides and those that resist herbicides.

By 2012, 88 percent of corn and 94 percent of soy grown in the U.S. was genetically modified, as released by the USDA. Other GMOs used in America include cotton, sugar beets, rapeseed and alfalfa. Cows are also injected with a recombinant bovine growth hormone to increase milk production.

Up to 80 percent of all processed foods in the U.S. contain GMOs, according to the Center for Food Safety. With the majority of the food found on grocery shelves containing GMOs, why do few Americans know what they are?

This could be due to the fact that the U.S. does not require GMOs be labeled in grocery stores. Yes, despite several attempts to pass legislation requiring the GMO labeling, there is still no national law demanding this.

I believe it is a complete lack of oversight by the governmental administrations put into place for national food quality that labeling has not been put into place.  

Genetically engineered crops are usually doused with tons of herbicides and pesticides, leading to the creation of “super weeds,” weeds that resist chemicals used to kill them.  Since genetically engineered crops have been introduced, the Center for Food Safety has reported more than 200 episodes of contamination. So how safe are GMOs or genetically engineered crops?

Multiple studies have been conducted in other countries, testing effects of GMOs on rats, pigs, chickens, cows and other animals, compared to animals that were fed organic diets. The animals fed GMOs showed increases in liver and reproductive issues, diseases, sterility and death, according to published findings from The Institute for Responsible Technology.

Several countries around the world, including Italy, France and Germany, have banned GMOs or placed regulations on their growth and use.

We as American citizens must speak up and require that our government ensure we are provided with the highest quality crops and food available. No administration should be able to mass-produce and provide food products to an entire country without oversight.