If all you saw about GMOs were the sort of sensational headlines that often dominate the media coverage, who wouldn’t be concerned? But if you ask experts with firsthand experience, you’ll hear that the evidence is in: GMO Farming produces crops that are as safe as any alternatives. They provide exactly the same nutrient value,²https://www.nap.edu/read/23395/chapter/1 often at a fraction of the cost — a non-GMO label can add up to 62% to your price tag, while organics can hike prices up to 90% higher.³https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919218301131 And they can even allow fewer pesticides, reduce naturally occurring toxins and protect against mold.⁴http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PDIS.1999.83.2.130

That isn’t opinion. We now have decades of research. Thousands of studies, from hundreds of independent research groups.⁵http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/52/download/isaaa-brief-52-2016.pdf Billions of people and animals have eaten food grown with GMO Farming methods for years — with no ill effects. It’s fact.⁶https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/well/eat/are-gmo-foods-safe.html

But according to whom? It’s a fair question. Most people don’t have time to personally verify the evidence. Luckily, the European government did it for us. They studied a decade’s worth of independent research from all over the world and came to the same conclusion.⁷https://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/pdf/a_decade_of_eu-funded_gmo_research.pdf And they’re not alone.⁸https://www.nap.edu/read/23395/chapter/8

As one of the top meat-eating nations in the world, there’s just as much debate around where we get our meat, milk and eggs — and just as much confusion. Is grass-fed the same as pasture-raised? What about cage- and hormone-free? There are valid questions to explore here. But when it comes to crops grown with GMO Farming methods that feed animals, the questions are pretty simple: Are animals raised on this feed healthy, and is the food they produce safe?

The answer here is just as clear and the research just as compelling: Yes on both counts.

How do we know? From studying more than 100 billion livestock to find out if eating crops grown using GMO Farming has any negative impacts on health. After nearly 30 years of observation, researchers could not find a single instance.²⁰https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25184846

Today, more than 95 percent of all farm animals, on all kinds of farms, eat this feed.²¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25184846 And despite what some pretty good marketing would have you believe, you’ll gain no food safety or nutritional benefits from avoiding their meat, eggs or dairy.²²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25184846

The way we grow our food affects more than our own health and that of our farm animals — it has a direct impact on our environment. So what do we know about the impact of GMO Farming on the planet we’ll leave our kids?

Once again, the best available evidence all points in the same direction — GMO Farming is opening up better ways to grow more food with less energy, less water and less pollution.  

GMO Farming is even leading the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.²⁴http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk/pdf/2017globalimpactstudy.pdf
And because farmers using these techniques can control weeds with fewer, safer pesticides, they’re reducing the impact of agriculture on our natural ecosystems, protecting our water sources and promoting biodiversity.²⁵http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/gmcr.20061