GMO's What do you think?

Love 'em or hate 'em, consumers deserve to know whether or not their food contains them. Over 60 countries in the world label thir GMO food but the US and Canada do not.
Coming through the back door a growing number of companies are labeling their products "Non GMO Project Verified". To find out who is on there go to their website:
www.nongmoproject.org

What is GMO? I never heard of it before.

First of all what is a GMO not?
It is NOT a hybrid, a hybrid is obtained by selection of the best traits in something and working at improving those traits, drought resistance, shorter growth period etc.
GMO stands for genetically modified organism, also called genetic engineering. This is done when something completely foreign is spliced into a gene such as a bacteria, virus or combinations of plants or animals. This creates something that would never occur in nature, or even through traditional crossbreeding that results in hybrids.
Australia, Japan and the European Union have either banned or placed severe restrictions on foods containing GMOs.
In the US it is estimated about 70% of the food in the grocery store contains GMOs.
There has been little independent testing so they have not been proven safe or unsafe.
It is thought that because of lack of knowledge by the consumer about what is spliced into some of these foods that people can have an allergic reaction to a food they think is safe.
The EU pretty much eradicated GMO food because of consumer demand.
Because the US refuses to label these foods, there is a project where companies have established a GMO free label that should be in use before the end of this year.
It is all about choice.
The consumer is the ultimate chooser of what they choose to consume.
But first they need the information.

I did not know that before. So why do they put it in our food in the first place?
How do they think we are supposed to benefit by having it in our food?

We do not benefit directly, it is the agribuisnesses that benefit.
They own the patent on the seeds so you cannot 'save' soybean seeds to replant for example because you are breaking the patent.
Some people worry that this will result in super bugs and super weeds. Though at present it MIGHT mean using fewer herbicides and pesticides, because they are built in to the seed.
Organic people cannot have bt products and other GMOs planted too close to their fields for fear of cross pollination.
I think bt potatoes have been removed from production due to consumer complaints.
I worry about our seed supply being owned completely by a few giant companies.