Extraordinary Health Magazine Extraordinary Health Vol 22 | Page 32

GMOs May Be Especially Hazardous
to Kids’ Health—No Kidding
Kids can be especially vulnerable to GMOs, so make sure their foods and products are Non-GMO Project Verified.
We all want the best for our kids.
That’s why you may want to take a good
hard look at the foods they eat and avoid
foods with genetically modified organisms,
or GMOs, because kids can be especially
vulnerable to GMO effects. In fact, GMOs
can wreak havoc even while a child is in
the womb.
For example, a 2011 study found Bt-toxin
in the blood of 93 percent of pregnant
women who were tested and also in 80
percent of their unborn babies. Bt-toxin is
a poison produced by genetically modified
(GM) corn, which often constitutes a large
portion of our diets. It can be especially
dangerous for infants whose blood-brain
barrier—designed to keep toxins out—isn’t
mature enough to keep Bt-toxin at bay.
Once out of the womb, children still face
the greatest risks from GM foods and
products. Since kids have fast-growing
and developing bodies, GM effects can
occur rapidly. In GM feeding studies,
young rats showed significant health
damage to their immune systems
and digestive function as well
as smaller brains, livers
and cellular changes in their
intestines in only 10 days,
according to the Institute
of Responsible Technology

(IRT), a world leader in educating
about GM foods and crops.
Likewise, children are also more
susceptible to allergies—three to
four times more so than adults are—
and GM foods can boost allergic
responses, since GM foods introduce
foreign DNA. Children under the age
of two are especially at risk to new
allergens in the diet. Michael Meacher,
the former minister of the environment
for the United Kingdom, says, “Any baby
food containing GM products could
lead to a dramatic rise in allergies.”
Avoid them.
Then there’s milk and recombinant
bovine growth hormone, or rBGH,
a genetically engineered hormone used
to increase milk production in cows.
Milk and other dairy products from
cows treated with rBGH contain a larger
amount of the hormone IGF-1, one
of the highest risk factors associated
with breast and prostate cancer.

But that’s not all. Sam Epstein, M.D.,
Chairman of the Cancer Prevention
Coalition, writes, “rBGH and its digested
products could be absorbed from
milk into blood, particularly in infants,
and produce hormonal and allergic
effects.” He points out that rBGH’s
“cell-stimulating growth factors could
induce premature growth and breast
stimulation in infants.” He also states
that genetically engineered hormones
in cows could promote the production
of “steroids and adrenaline-type stressor
chemicals likely to contaminate milk
and may be harmful, particularly to
infants and young children.”
As if that weren’t enough, the antibiotic
resistant genes in GM food can leave
kids wide open for antibiotic resistance.
Some of the most common GM foods
are soy, corn, milk, sugar, zucchini, yellow
squash and papaya. But GMOs are
everywhere—in at least 80 percent of
packaged goods found in grocery stores.
However, you can avoid them by choosing
Non-GMO Project Verified foods and
goods—for your kids and for yourself.
The Non-GMO Project is North
America’s only third-party verification
program for Non-GMO, so look
for their seal before buying.

Choose Non-GMO nutrition for your kids—right down to their multivitamin.
NON
GMO

VER

Project
I FI E D

no ngmoproject.org

Everything your kids eat counts toward the state of their health, so be sure the
foods they eat—as well as their multivitamin—are Non-GMO Project Verified. And the
best children’s multi on the market today that is Non-GMO Project Verified—Vitamin
Code® Kids—is a chewable whole food multi in a great taste that kids love!