More About GM Foods and How to Prevent Your Intake of Them
This is a long post, but I only chose to pick out the most important parts that got to the point and will be useful to you as a reader. Make sure to read through it entirely, but if you can't, at least scroll down to the bottom, print out the printable shopper's guide and post this on your fridge or in your coupon books.
This is a long post, but I only chose to pick out the most important parts that got to the point and will be useful to you as a reader. Make sure to read through it entirely, but if you can't, at least scroll down to the bottom, print out the printable shopper's guide and post this on your fridge or in your coupon books.
I got an e-mail today (coinsidence, huh?) about GMO foods and I just wanted to touch a little more on yesterday's post for those who don't have time to sit down and do the research. Don't you love that about certain blogs? I just love it when someone does the research for me and when I have free time, I can double check it myself to see if it's accurate. So, I picked through two articles today from HERE and HERE and you're welcome to research for yourself.
(Article #1)
Dr. Mercola's Opinion and Facts Collected
"I believe genetically modified plants and foods are one of the most significant threats against humanity and life on this planet, for a number of reasons.
Biotechnology has changed the face of farming as we know it, and with each passing year, we move further away from the ancient farming practice of saving the best seeds for replanting the following season – a method that is both inexpensive and proven successful for optimal crop quality.
Now, the increased use of genetically modified seeds that must be purchased anew each year are starting to take its toll. A mere 15 years into commercial GM seed use, we’re now seeing GM crops contaminating conventional and organic crops (Freaky!); different GM varieties combining with each other in the wild, creating unintended GM hybrids; and farmers driven to desperate acts due to financial devastation.
Consider this: Monsanto’s “suicide gene” has not only been inserted into certain food crops, rendering them sterile in order to force farmers to buy new seeds. This technology is now spreading to other industries, such as forestry.
Scientific American reported on this in January. Two paper industry giants are planning to replace the native pine in the forests of southwestern US with genetically engineered, sterile, eucalyptus. By making the trees unable to reproduce naturally, they propose there’s no need to worry about the GM eucalyptus turning into an invasive species…
Really?
Earlier this week I wrote about two GM varieties of canola spreading into the wild, and cross-breeding with each other (those of you using Canola/Vegetable oils for baking and cooking...throw those sucker OUT!), creating a third hybrid that is resistant to not one but two herbicides. Science has already discovered that the genome is more “intelligent” than previously thought, and by planting non-native trees that have been gene spliced to reduce proliferation does NOT make me rest easy.
On the contrary. I believe there are plenty of indications that the introduction of sterile plants of various kinds may allow this genetic ability to “turn off” reproductive capability to spread into other parts of nature, in ways that none of us can predict.
For an eye opening look at the genetic engineering now overtaking the forestry industry, I highly recommend watching the documentary film “A Silent Forest,” available in full on MEFEEDiA.com.
How are GM Crops Provoking Farmers to Commit Suicide?
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, more than 182,900 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers commit suicide every day. That equates to roughly one suicide every 30 minutes!
Some will argue that natural events are to blame, such as lack of rain, but crop failures have occurred before, and it didn’t push thousands of farmers to end their lives by drinking pesticide.
No, the increased desperation can be traced directly back to the use of patented, and therefore expensive, seeds, and the unconscionable tactics of Monsanto.
Monsanto has been ruthless in their drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops. Over the past decade, millions of Indian farmers have been promised radically increased harvests and income if they switch from their traditional age tested farming methods to genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds.
So, they borrow money to buy GM seeds, which need certain pesticides that were previously unnecessary, which requires even more money. When rain fall is sparse, the GM crops actually fare far worse than traditional crops – a fact that these farmers oftentimes don’t learn until it’s too late and they’re standing there with failed crops, spiraling debts, and no income.
And by next season, they have to do it all over again because the GM seeds cannot be saved and replanted. They must be purchased again.
In addition, GM crops have spawned:
•Bt resistant pests
•New pests
•Superweeds
For example, the evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented, and what used to be minor pests are now becoming major problems – such as mirid bugs, which have increased 12-fold since 1997 in China, and can be directly linked to the scale of China’s Bt cotton cultivation.
In addition, the promise that GM crops would reduce pesticide/herbicide use has turned out to be entirely false.
The use of Roundup herbicide has increased dramatically since the GM Roundup Ready crops were introduced. In the first 13 years, American farmers sprayed an additional 383 million pounds of herbicide due to these herbicide-tolerant crops. And now the repeated exposures have given Mother Nature all she needs to stage her comeback in the form of devastating superweeds.
Since 1996, when GM crops were first introduced, at least nine species of U.S. weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, which means farmers must use additional herbicides, some of them even more toxic than Roundup.
In the end, we’re left with all of the downsides and none of the intended benefits.
What Can You Do to Affect Change?
Did you know that genetically modified foods are so prevalent in the US that if you randomly pick an item off your grocery store's shelves, you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with GM ingredients? (Wowsers!!! 75%)
It’s true. At least seven out of every 10 food items have been genetically modified, and there’s more to come.
Dr. Mercola's Opinion and Facts Collected
"I believe genetically modified plants and foods are one of the most significant threats against humanity and life on this planet, for a number of reasons.
Biotechnology has changed the face of farming as we know it, and with each passing year, we move further away from the ancient farming practice of saving the best seeds for replanting the following season – a method that is both inexpensive and proven successful for optimal crop quality.
Now, the increased use of genetically modified seeds that must be purchased anew each year are starting to take its toll. A mere 15 years into commercial GM seed use, we’re now seeing GM crops contaminating conventional and organic crops (Freaky!); different GM varieties combining with each other in the wild, creating unintended GM hybrids; and farmers driven to desperate acts due to financial devastation.
Consider this: Monsanto’s “suicide gene” has not only been inserted into certain food crops, rendering them sterile in order to force farmers to buy new seeds. This technology is now spreading to other industries, such as forestry.
Scientific American reported on this in January. Two paper industry giants are planning to replace the native pine in the forests of southwestern US with genetically engineered, sterile, eucalyptus. By making the trees unable to reproduce naturally, they propose there’s no need to worry about the GM eucalyptus turning into an invasive species…
Really?
Earlier this week I wrote about two GM varieties of canola spreading into the wild, and cross-breeding with each other (those of you using Canola/Vegetable oils for baking and cooking...throw those sucker OUT!), creating a third hybrid that is resistant to not one but two herbicides. Science has already discovered that the genome is more “intelligent” than previously thought, and by planting non-native trees that have been gene spliced to reduce proliferation does NOT make me rest easy.
On the contrary. I believe there are plenty of indications that the introduction of sterile plants of various kinds may allow this genetic ability to “turn off” reproductive capability to spread into other parts of nature, in ways that none of us can predict.
For an eye opening look at the genetic engineering now overtaking the forestry industry, I highly recommend watching the documentary film “A Silent Forest,” available in full on MEFEEDiA.com.
How are GM Crops Provoking Farmers to Commit Suicide?
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, more than 182,900 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers commit suicide every day. That equates to roughly one suicide every 30 minutes!
Some will argue that natural events are to blame, such as lack of rain, but crop failures have occurred before, and it didn’t push thousands of farmers to end their lives by drinking pesticide.
No, the increased desperation can be traced directly back to the use of patented, and therefore expensive, seeds, and the unconscionable tactics of Monsanto.
Monsanto has been ruthless in their drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops. Over the past decade, millions of Indian farmers have been promised radically increased harvests and income if they switch from their traditional age tested farming methods to genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds.
So, they borrow money to buy GM seeds, which need certain pesticides that were previously unnecessary, which requires even more money. When rain fall is sparse, the GM crops actually fare far worse than traditional crops – a fact that these farmers oftentimes don’t learn until it’s too late and they’re standing there with failed crops, spiraling debts, and no income.
And by next season, they have to do it all over again because the GM seeds cannot be saved and replanted. They must be purchased again.
In addition, GM crops have spawned:
•Bt resistant pests
•New pests
•Superweeds
For example, the evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented, and what used to be minor pests are now becoming major problems – such as mirid bugs, which have increased 12-fold since 1997 in China, and can be directly linked to the scale of China’s Bt cotton cultivation.
In addition, the promise that GM crops would reduce pesticide/herbicide use has turned out to be entirely false.
The use of Roundup herbicide has increased dramatically since the GM Roundup Ready crops were introduced. In the first 13 years, American farmers sprayed an additional 383 million pounds of herbicide due to these herbicide-tolerant crops. And now the repeated exposures have given Mother Nature all she needs to stage her comeback in the form of devastating superweeds.
Since 1996, when GM crops were first introduced, at least nine species of U.S. weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, which means farmers must use additional herbicides, some of them even more toxic than Roundup.
In the end, we’re left with all of the downsides and none of the intended benefits.
What Can You Do to Affect Change?
Did you know that genetically modified foods are so prevalent in the US that if you randomly pick an item off your grocery store's shelves, you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with GM ingredients? (Wowsers!!! 75%)
It’s true. At least seven out of every 10 food items have been genetically modified, and there’s more to come.
(From yesterday's post, I think you know where this is going...beef, poultry, eggs, other animals we eat. At some point, we'll be able to genetically modify our own babies, creating them just how we'd like them to look, act, etc. I haven't done the research for that, but I know that there is a gender selection process already in effect where you can choose which gender of child you can have!)
The potential health ramifications of these world-wide experiments with our food supply are frightening to say the least. If you care about the health and future of your family, I strongly urge you to refuse to participate in this destructive trend.
How?
It’s actually simpler than you might think... By buying only non-GM foods.
The True Food Shopping Guide is a great tool for helping you determine which brands and products contain GM ingredients. It lists 20 different food categories that include everything from baby food (yes, babyfood!!! Sickos.) to chocolate.
Additionally, here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of GM foods as much as possible:
1. Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.
The potential health ramifications of these world-wide experiments with our food supply are frightening to say the least. If you care about the health and future of your family, I strongly urge you to refuse to participate in this destructive trend.
How?
It’s actually simpler than you might think... By buying only non-GM foods.
The True Food Shopping Guide is a great tool for helping you determine which brands and products contain GM ingredients. It lists 20 different food categories that include everything from baby food (yes, babyfood!!! Sickos.) to chocolate.
Additionally, here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of GM foods as much as possible:
1. Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain GM ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.
2. Read produce and food labels. Conventionally raised soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. Ingredients made from these foods include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu.
3. Buy organic produce. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed."
(Article #2)
The Center For Food Safety
The Center For Food Safety
"Today, thousands of products on supermarket shelves are made with ingredients from genetically modified (also known as genetically engineered [GE]) crops. But GM foods are not labeled in the U.S., despite warnings from doctors and scientists that these foods may not be safe in the diet or the environment. This lack of mandatory labeling can make it difficult to determine which products are made with GM ingredients and which are not. The new application is designed to give health-and-safety-conscious consumers who wish to avoid GM ingredients the tools they need to make informed purchasing decisions.
The True Food Shoppers Guide also arms consumers with valuable information regarding common GM ingredients, as well as brands to look for, and to look out for. The application includes a “Four Simple Tips” section, which offers easy ways to avoid GM ingredients as they shop to feed themselves and their families, a “Supermarkets and GMOs” section to help consumers identify GM and non-GMO private-label store brands, and a rbGH and rbGH-free dairy guide. Check out this video review of the app on livingmaxwell.com.
The app is available for free on iTunes for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad,
and in the Android Market by searching for “True Food.”
(Wow! You can scroll through your phones as you shop!)
The True Food Shoppers Guide also arms consumers with valuable information regarding common GM ingredients, as well as brands to look for, and to look out for. The application includes a “Four Simple Tips” section, which offers easy ways to avoid GM ingredients as they shop to feed themselves and their families, a “Supermarkets and GMOs” section to help consumers identify GM and non-GMO private-label store brands, and a rbGH and rbGH-free dairy guide. Check out this video review of the app on livingmaxwell.com.
The app is available for free on iTunes for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad,
and in the Android Market by searching for “True Food.”
(Wow! You can scroll through your phones as you shop!)
In addition to a list of brands that produce foods with no GM content, the application also offers contact information for companies that do use GM ingredients. This feature enables consumers to personally voice their opposition to the use of GM foods directly to the parties involved. As a result, the app serves not only as a shopping guide and teaching tool, but one that can be used for widespread advocacy as well. The app also has a “Take Action” section allowing people to contact state and federal agencies and officials to demand better regulatory oversight, safety testing and labeling laws for GM foods and crops.
The Center for Food Safety’s True Food Shoppers Guide was compiled
because you have the right to know what’s in your food!
Don’t have a compatible mobile phone? Download our printable Shoppers Guide instead! (This is what I did since I'm not a cell-phone junkie...tee-hee. Seriously. I don't even know why I have one. Oh yeah. Emergencies.)
We are also working on a web-based version of the App that can be accessed from any smart phone. We hope to launch a Blackberry app in the future as well.
We compiled the Shoppers Guide primarily from direct communications with food producers. In some cases, we received company policy statements from consumers who passed these on to us. In addition to written statements, we spoke to many company representatives to clarify or assess their position. Products on the RED list contain ingredients that come from the most common GE crops (corn, soy, canola, cotton). Companies with products on this list have confirmed that their products may have or are likely to be made with GE ingredients, or have not denied using GE foods when given the opportunity to do so. Companies on the GREEN list have made a concerted effort to avoid GE ingredients and have company policies asserting their position on avoiding GE foods."
Makes me want to dry EVERY seed from my garden this year and keep my lines going with certain foods. Who knows if natural seeds will be available in 20 years!
We compiled the Shoppers Guide primarily from direct communications with food producers. In some cases, we received company policy statements from consumers who passed these on to us. In addition to written statements, we spoke to many company representatives to clarify or assess their position. Products on the RED list contain ingredients that come from the most common GE crops (corn, soy, canola, cotton). Companies with products on this list have confirmed that their products may have or are likely to be made with GE ingredients, or have not denied using GE foods when given the opportunity to do so. Companies on the GREEN list have made a concerted effort to avoid GE ingredients and have company policies asserting their position on avoiding GE foods."
Makes me want to dry EVERY seed from my garden this year and keep my lines going with certain foods. Who knows if natural seeds will be available in 20 years!
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