GMOs

Introduction
It's safe to say most people want to live a healthy lifestyle, stay away from anything that could cause potential diseases, and increase their life in years. Most people take extra time to determine the calories, sugar and fat content in the food they are serving themselves and their families. There are a lot of things to look out for when choosing the food you will consume and GMO's are one of them. Not to many people are aware of GMO's and their effects and there is no way to tell if the food you are consuming contains GMO's because the FDA has not made it necessary to label them.
What are GMO's?
GMO = Genetically Modified Organisms
(From the NON GMO Project) Plants and animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria and/or viruses from other plants and animals
Jessica Moore broke down the definition in easier terms in her article 'What They're Not Telling Us About GMO's" as genes from one species are taken and inserted into others to transfer a desired trait or character.
Top foods containing GMO's: corn, soy, sugar, papayas, canola, dairy, zucchini, and yellow squash. (Elizabeth Renter in the article 'Top 10 Worst GMO Foods For Your GMO Foods List)

Why are GMO's used?
Dr. M. J. Wegmann says that foods are genetically modified because it makes them better suited to stand environmental forces.
By making foods able to withstand weather conditions, the idea is that more amounts of foods would be produced because they would not become damaged or destroyed by droughts, bugs or anything else of the sort.
How does the cycle work?
A farmer buys seeds that were altered to resists pest and weeds.
The farmer sprays RoundUp (a weed killer) on their field, because the crops are resistant to the weed killer, only the weeds will die.
Farmers realize that this is a problem, but the only seeds available to farmers are the altered ones.
Why should we care? Why label GMO's?
EFFECTS:
The Food & Drug Administration do not require studies on the effects of GMO's on humans so a lot of it is done by scientists on their own will based on the effects on animals.
Tom Philpott's article "Longest Running GMO Study Finds Tumors in Rats" featured in the Global Gazett, talks about a specific study.
200 rats were looked at over 2 years, which was their life expectancy. These rats were fed RoundUp Ready Corn.
The rats developed severe health affects such as mammary tumors, kidney damage and liver damage which all led to premature death.
The book 'Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods' by Jeffrey Smith lists all health effects found in animals given GMO's.
Stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomachs, abnormal and cancerous cell growth, impaired blood cell development, liver and kidney lesions, partially atrophied livers, inflamed kidneys, less developed brain and testicles, enlarged livers, high blood sugar, inflamed lung tissue, allergies, and increased death rates.
Safety assessors in the article 'GMO: Harmful Effects' published by the University of Minnesota are becoming more and more concerned that the increase of allergies, increase toxicity, decreased nutrition and resistance to antibiotics in humans is all stemming from GMO's.
This makes sense because all of these affects were also seen in the animals that were fed GMO's.
Dr. Don Epstein in his report, 'Why Genetically Engineered Food Should Be Labeled" gave information on the problems, aside from the health concerns, Americans encounter by not having food be labeled that they include GMO's.
There are religious issues with the lack of GMO labels.
Buddhists need to be able to avoid fruits and vegetables with insect, animal and human genes in them.
Jews who practice the kosher food laws need to be able to make sure that genetically engineered foods do not violate these restrictions.
If GMO's were labeled on food products we would be able to see what we eat on a daily basis and decrease the intake of GMO's for the sake of our health.

Why is it such a fight to get GMO's labeled?
The Right to Know GMO Organization says 62 countries label GMO's including Europe, Russia, China and South Africa. American's have been denied this right to know what exactly they are consuming for 20 years.
Why is American being denied this right? Micheal Taylor who is Monsanto's (company that creates RoundUp & other products of the type) executive now serves on the FDA or Food & Drug Administration as the chief advisor. (Natural News)
If GMO's were labeled and people had a choice between say, corn containing GMO's and all natural corn, I think it's safe to say they would choose the natural corn. This would cause the GMO farmers to go out of business along with Micheal Taylor's Monsanto company.
Conclusion
Quote from Dr. Ron Epstein
"Lack of labeling of genetically engineered foods shows a blatant disregard for the rights of citizens in a free society. The is a overwhelming number of people who naturally want to know what is in the food they are buying. Labeling for all kinds of ingredients is already required… Free chose in the food we want to buy is dependent on the information on the content of the food. You cannot identify genetically engineered food just by looking at it. Without labeling in citizens are denied what should be their fundamental right…"