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On Your Table Blog

October 22, 2019

Naturally GMO

Naturally GMO

Well here's some food for thought.

Turns out that many plants are naturally gentically modified organisms (GMOs).

In fact, the key message in a new study is, and we quote: "Naturally transgenic plant species occur on an unexpectedly large scale."

We first heard the news in 2015 that sweet potatoes are naturally transgenic. In fact, researchers indicated that all of the 291 tested sweet potato cultivars had naturally transferred genes in a process called horizontal gene transfer or HGT.

According to Wikipedia, HGT can be defined as: (T)he movement of gentic material between unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring."

What does that mean? Cornell Alliance for Science put it this way: "Dozens of plants, including bananas, peanuts, Surinam cherries,  hops, cranberries and tea, contain the Agrobacterium microbe — the very same bacterium that scientists typically use to create GM crops."

So all those people who have tried to scare you into thinking that modern GMOs are insidious or a danger to your health? It just isn't true.