GMO products aren’t as remarkable as biotech companies would have you believe:
- Biotech companies Monsanto and DuPont sell “trans fat-free” soybeans, an entirely superfluous invention with a “healthy” veneer.
- GMO Golden Rice is genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, and is marketed as a way to save malnourished children in developing countries. However, beta-carotene needs to be converted into vitamin A by the body—and up to 45% of the population are unable to efficiently do so. Ways to do without GMO (biofortification does same thing without danger of GMO)
Monsanto and DuPont’s soybeans and the oils derived from them (DuPont makes a competing product called Plenish High Oleic Soybean Oil) are meant to appeal to consumers by giving them a “healthy” veneer since they are trans fat free. This move ignores the fact that since many processed foods and most whole foods are already free of trans fats, the new GMO soybeans are a superfluous “innovation.”
The biotech giants also fail to tell the public that conventional soybean oil, due both to its overuse in American foods and the way it is created, can be incredibly unhealthy. This is because the way nonorganic soybean oil—hydrogenated or not—is produced is inherently toxic:
The biotech giants also fail to tell the public that conventional soybean oil, due both to its overuse in American foods and the way it is created, can be incredibly unhealthy. This is because the way nonorganic soybean oil—hydrogenated or not—is produced is inherently toxic:
- Soybean, canola, corn, sunflower, and cottonseed oils are processed with hexane, a known neurotoxin. It’s the same substance that’s used to make gasoline.
- It’s likely that trace amounts of hexane remain in the final oil, yet the FDA does not require testing and has not set a maximum residue level for hexane.
- Soybean oil is also treated with sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid; it’s then bleached with hydrochloric acid, which removes all vitamin A from the oil.
- The “deodorizing” process (in its natural state, soybean oil can be smelly) strips the oil of vitamin E and phytosterols, completing its transition to “nutritionally void.”