OMG, are GMOs altering our bodies?

Oh, for the innocent days of old, when one could lick ice cream cones or eat cupcakes with pink icing without thinking anything except "Do I get seconds?" Nowadays, no eating experience can be defined by such blissful ignorance, unless you want to get in the fast lane to the land of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, hormonal disorders and more.

Films about yummy treats, such as "Ratatouille" and "Chef," are taking a back seat as food-scare stories swagger onto center stage. "Our Daily Bread," "Fed Up," "Killer at Large" and "Food, Inc." are all recent films addressing the problems with the modern food system, specifically in the U.S. Now, one young father is joining in the fight, or so goes the tune of "GMO OMG."

Directed by documentarian Jeremy Seifert, "GMO OMG" often comes off like a home movie — with a twist. Seifert brings in his whole family into the picture: two young sons, wife Jennifer and their infant daughter. And he doesn't mind making things personal, sometimes excessively so, to discuss an issue that has ruffled a lot of feathers in the higher ranks of food manufacturing.

But does the ploy work? On the whole, it probably does. More powerful than a hundred statistics is the voice of a concerned dad, wondering aloud whether it's OK to feed his kids burgers and ice cream without jeopardizing their — and the planet's — future. On the other hand, the cuteness of the film's tone often clashes with the seriousness of the topic, leaving the viewer feeling confused as to Seifert's intentions.

Seifert clearly reveres Morgan Spurlock (director of "Super Size Me"), whose nemesis was McDonald's. Seifert's enemy is Monsanto — the allegedly evil manufacturer of genetically modified organisms and the infamous weedkiller Roundup. Studies in the EU have shown mice growing tumors after 12 months or more of consuming GMOs.

One entire segment is dedicated to how Haitian farmers burned nearly 500 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds that Monsanto had gifted them as aid following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Seifert goes to Haiti to discover the reason, and the revelation is plenty scary. You also recognize the nobility of a people who would rather go hungry than contaminate their soil.

Seifert tries to interview someone at Monsanto, but is turned way in a scene where he says, with a self-deprecating smile, "She said, 'You have to leave right now.' " The same thing happened when Spurlock tried to talk to someone at McDonald's. But consider that when Spurlock came out with "Super Size Me," the Golden Arches didn't even blink, and now that same company is issuing public statements about its food that border on being apologies, and making promises that they're going to change. If history is going to repeat itself, 10 years down the line we could be looking at Monsanto executives saying they're sorry for vandalizing the food system and poisoning precious soil, and now they want to make amends.

In Japan, we're fortunate to have strict labeling on products with GMOs, which is something unavailable to U.S. consumers. That said, according to Seifert's documentary, 85 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified and much of that is exported as animal feed, which ends up in the bellies of Japan's livestock.

With big business controlling most of the global food supply, and the worldwide sales for pesticides such as Roundup soaring to $52 billion in 2014, it seems there's no getting away from GMOs unless we decide to revive the Tokugawa Shogunate and close off the nation.

After watching "GMO OMG," though, that doesn't seem like such a bad idea.