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 GMOs
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FEATURE ARTICLE
GMOs: The Other White Meat
by Casey Bailey, MOA Board Member
Posted February 4, 2012
Biotech companies feed us the mantra that genetically engineered food is our hope to end world hunger. While the other side of the fence, which includes most of the organic community, holler “Oh Contraire!”. Arguing, that it has no effect on yield, may be the cause of food allergies, and may even make us infertile thereby, well, also ending world hunger… I’m being a bit sardonic, but the point is there is a lot of heat around this issue; and fueling this fire are a lot of unanswered questions.
The simple coin analogy:
The happy green and white bumper sticker “Who’s Your Farmer” highlights part of the problem. Farmers and consumers are often alienated from one another; the trick, and bumper stickered trend, is to see the whole coin. One coin, two sides. Each side learning about the other’s world.
Therefore the GMO questions are fundamentally complex since they are both agronomic and nutritional. Two different worlds whose commonality we find on our plates. One world calls it a paycheck and the other calls it dinner. Here’s a taste:
Glyphosate (Roundup). This stuff makes a farmer’s life easier. It saves us time and money and helps reduce soil erosion through less tillage while giving us one more tool to fight noxious weeds like bindweed and Canada thistle. At first blush it is an agronomical godsend. On the flip side are a bunch of questions. Is it creating a higher rate of cancer in farming communities? Are there harmful residues left on our foods? Does it support monocultures creating food with insufficient nutrient density that parallels a rise in food allergies and childhood obesity? Might it be creating a biological imbalance in our soils?
What we know for sure is the herbicide glyphosate is analogous for coin in Monsanto’s pocket -and all GMO “Roundup Ready” crops are sprayed with this money maker.
It’s Simple. Just wash it off.
If you have time check out Dr. Huber. Right or wrong he certainly helps us to pause. You can find an hour long interview with him if you google search his name within the Organic Consumer website at www.organicconsumers.org. He was a staff professor at Perdue University for 35 years. His research sternly cautions us against GMOs & glyphosate. He claims that a glyphosate overuse contributes to a nutritionally deficient life form. How it works is Roundup has a “chelating” action that essentially means it immobilizes necessary micronutrients for life to function - rendering a slow “natural” death, since the plant is unable to fight for itself. He claims that GE crops sprayed with Roundup incorporate the glyphosate residue making it integral to the plants physiology – not something you can wash off.
The Organic Consumer’s website has more info on this. It also contains up to speed information on The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. If successful, the November 2012 California Ballot Initiative will require GMO foods to be labeled. If so inclined, you can support this as a non-Californian.
Heads or Tails?
The featured editorial in the Winter 2012 MOA newsletter, Organic Matters, titled “Where have all the grain growers gone,” voices that it isn’t black and white or easy. Really excellent farmers who believe in organics are stepping out of the program. Chemical farming is tempting when we see our field’s soil blowing away, or observe other farmers getting 10 times the work done in a day. To make things more interesting synthetic fertilizer can guarantee a more competitive crop, which isn’t just money in the bank for this year, it also means more competition and less weeds able to flourish creating cleaner fields for decades.
But what about all these risks? And, if this is such a big deal, why aren’t folks like Dr. Huber being broadcast all over the nightly news warning us of these troubles? Because the Monsanto Grinch suppresses independent research!? Well, for whatever reason, the research just isn’t thick enough yet to say without a doubt that GMOs will harm your children, so we may as well continue eating them… This of course is ridiculous. Yet this is exactly what is happening. The two sides of the coin make it difficult to understand. Even when over 90% of consumers say they don’t want to eat GE foods, good farmers are prone to bring GMOs into their farming tool chest.
A quick pause for a Simple Answer:
One bright spot that brings clarity to your dinner table and to this two-sided conundrum is the USDA Organic label. It guarantees that no GMO ingredients will be in certified organic products. As a consumer you can know your farmer and your food’s GMO status through buying USDA certified organic.
Simple Failures:
Kids are addicted to this crap.
I was a youth director at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Great Falls for three years. During that time the youth and I gathered our congregation for a movie night. We watched “King Corn”, a fun documentary about two college graduates who took hair sample tests, informing them that they, and most all of us, are in fact MADE of corn. In response, they took a road trip to answer this startling fact. As a result, a few of us became ingredient hounds! We tried to wean ourselves off any food that contained high fructose corn syrup. We failed.
I just read about a school in LA who revamped their lunch menu in an attempt to healthify their student population. According to the article they substituted foods high in salt and fat like corn dogs and nachos for vegetarian curries, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles. The kids hated it. It turned into the prohibition. Instead of boos it was Flamn’ Hot Cheetos and soda pop. The effort was initiated by the Los Angeles Unified School District. They had to tone it down and realize kids’ palettes can’t change overnight. One step at a time.
Simple Success:
Who’s to blame? I reeeealy want to blame someone. Monsanto for sure. Western civilization? Roman Christianity!? How ‘bout emperor Constantine!? If we could just eliminate one bad dude. But, we can’t.
What we can do is look at what we have achieved. Food awareness is on the rise. The number of consumers who want good food tops the charts. Youth from cities are heading back to find lives as farmers, desiring a simple existence that they can be proud of. Community gardens are popping up like wildfire. And, we have a couple campaigns to label GMO food that are gaining a lot of strength and awareness.
And, in the end it’s all about that dinner plate. And, if you dare to hop down the rabbit hole, in our modern industrial setting, our dinner plate is part of the master cylinder to our soil, river, ocean,
and climate health. We are fighting the good fight.
Other GMO Resources and Links:
The Organic and Non GMO Report
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/
Right to Know March
http://www.right2knowmarch.org/
Institute for Responsible Technology:
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
Organic Seed Alliance (blog by Kiki Hubbard)
http://blog.seedalliance.org/
Non-GMO Shopping Guide
http://nongmoshoppingguide.com/
Current GMO News:
Breadbasket of Democracy, by Ted Nance, Orion Magazine, posted May 2, 2012.
GMO alert: top 10 genetically modified foods to avoid eating, by Aurora Geib, NaturalNews.com, posted May 2, 2012.
Is Vermont's Governor Surrendering to Monsanto?, by Will Allen and Ronnie Cummins, AlterNet.org, April 19, 2012.
Millions Against Monsanto: The Food Fight of Our Lives, by Ronnie Cummings, AlterNet.org, April 13, 2012.
North Carolina seed company joins class-action lawsuit against Monsanto that seeks protection against predatory patent lawsuits, Ethan A. Huff, NaturalNews.com, posted March 1, 2012.
Organic Growers Attack Monsanto, FarmFutures.com, posted February 6, 2012.
Senator pushes for GMO labeling in WA State, NaturalNews.com, Jan 17, 2012.
WikkiLeaks: More evidence of Monsanto Bullying, by Bob Adelmann,The New American, Jan 15, 2012.
The World According to Monsanto: No need to test GMOs, by Ethan A. Huff, NaturalNews.com, Jan 13, 2012.
The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods, Ari Le Vaux, The Atlantic, Jan 9, 2012.
Advocacy:
Ten Things You Can Do About GMOs in the Food System, GoodFoodWorld.com, Feb 15, 2012.
Tell Obama to cease FDA ties to Monsanto, signon.org, Feb 3, 2012.
On January 31, 2012, family farmers will take part in the first phase of a court case filed to protect farmers from genetic trespass by Monsanto’s GMO seed, which contaminates organic and non-GMO farmer’s crops and opens them up to abusive lawsuits. Farmers need your voice today. Please spread the word.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/farmersvs_monsanto/
?referring_akid=.228711.5s97qi&source=taf
 MOA Endorses Just Label It Campaign
January 4, 2012 - A recent study shows that 93% of Americans support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods. Yet for 20 years we have been denied that right. Without labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, we cannot make informed choices about the food we eat. The Just Label It: We Have a Right to Know campaign was created to advocate for the labeling of GE foods. MOA is the latest of hundreds of partner organizations that have joined together in support of the FDA petition and the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. We hope to raise awareness of this issue, drive consumers to submit comments to the FDA and let Washington know that Americans want labeling of genetically engineered foods. Please visit www.justlabelit.org for more information and instructions on how to submit your comments to the FDA.
Videos Making GMO News:
GMOs failing across America - Farmer to Farmer film reveals disastrous failure by PF Louis, posted Sept 19, 2011. The mainstream media reports almost nothing about the downside of GMO farming. Only the propaganda of creating more agricultural abundance cheaply is broadcasted. A short video documentary "Farmer to Farmer: The Truth about GM Crops" offers a glimpse into the undisclosed downside reality of GMO farming.
The best new online videos you'll want to check out: GMOs, Define Better, FLOW, Awakening and more, NaturalNews.com, posted Sept 19, 2011.
OCA's Thalia Kazakos offers another great video on how and why anti-GMO activists should organize local activists and dump GMO-tainted products in front of natural food stores, posted May 26, 2011.
Support Organic Efforts by Joining MOA Today! Just click here.
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