Hey, look! I just found a soapbox
I have a growing green streak in me, meaning I get irritated when people don’t recycle, shut off lights and electronics when leaving a room or turn off the water when brushing their teeth. But, my biggest, deepest, most passionately felt environmental pet peeve is the way we handle food in this country. You don’t need me to reiterate what the media and experts are gradually pointing out to us – you’ve already heard about pink slime, the poor treatment of cows, pigs, chickens and more, and you know that pesticides are probably not the healthiest thing to be dumping all around us.
But, there is one topic that I feel is not understood – genetically modified organisms, also known as GMOs. I’m hoping you’ll read on a little bit further and at the end, make the choice to sign a petition asking the White House to consider mandating that all genetically modified foods (fish included because, yes, people out there want to sell you genetically modified salmon) be clearly labeled so consumers know if they’re eating it. As of now, 50 other countries have laws including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union that restrict or outright ban the production and sale of GMOs because they are not viewed as safe. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. This just doesn’t make sense to me. My biggest fear is that, after years of eating GMOs myself and feeding them to my children, the news will break that GMOs are bad for us and causing harm, much like what happened with the once legal pesticide DDT. So, in honor of Earth Day, please take a look at the facts below (info from The Non-GMO Project) and sign the petition, because it’s our right to know what we’re eating.
What are GMOs?
GMOs merge DNA from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding. Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. In other words, scientists have altered the genetic makeup of plants so they won’t die when farmers spray crops with weed/insect killers. Some will argue differently, but the use of GMOs do not increase yield or drought tolerance.
What are the concerns with GMOs?
They’re new and not well tested. The only published study directly testing their safety on humans found potential problems. To date, this study has not been followed up. Typically the response to the safety question is that people have been eating GMOs in the United States and elsewhere for more than ten years without ill effects and that this proves that the products are safe. While minimal testing of GMOs has been done on human, it has been tested on lab and farm animals (most farm animals are fed GMO foods, so it’s also in meat and milk). These studies have raised concerns, as rats developed liver and kidney problems and reduced fertility.
But there’s more. Over 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance. As a result, use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has increased 15 times since GMOs were introduced. GMO crops are also responsible for the emergence of “super weeds” and “super bugs,” which can only be killed with ever more toxic poisons like 2,4-D (a major ingredient in Agent Orange). But there’s still more. Because GMOs are novel (new) life forms, biotechnology companies have patented them. So, if a GMO seed drifts onto a farmers’ field who did not buy that GMO seed, that farmer can be (and has been) sued.
What foods contain GMOs?
In the U.S., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food, including infant formula. Because we do not require companies to label GMO products, the only way to know you’re not eating it is to buy organic or to look for products with the Non-GMO Certification label. The most common GMOs are soy, cotton, canola, corn, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, alfalfa, and squash (zucchini and yellow). Many of these items appear as added ingredients in a large amount of the foods we eat. For instance, your family may not eat tofu or drink soy milk, but soy is most likely present in a large percentage of the foods in your pantry.
GMOs may be hidden in common processed food ingredients such as: Amino Acids, Aspartame, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Flavorings (“natural” and “artificial”), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Lactic Acid, Maltodextrins, Molasses, Monosodium Glutamate, Sucrose, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), Xanthan Gum, Vitamins, Yeast Products.
The Non-GMO Project site allows you to search food brands/products to find out if your favorite cereal, bread, any processed food contains GMOs.
That’s the gist of it, but I could go on and on, and if you want to learn more, the Internet does go on and on about it. So, do I eat GMOs? Do I feed them to my daughter? Of course I do. Unless you eat 100% organic, it’s impossible not to. And while I would prefer to avoid all GMOs and to only buy organic items, the cost of doing so deters me. So, as a compromise, I almost always go organic for the foods we eat the most of (milk, bread, granola bars, etc). But there are occasional acceptions to this as well.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m sick of not knowing what’s really in my food and whether or not it’s safe. I don’t want to worry about this anymore. I don’t want to worry that I’m feeding my children foods that could harm them and that are harming the environment. So, please follow this link to the Obama Administration’s We The People page and sign the petition. You’ll have to create an account, an email will be sent to you and once you open the link in the email, you’ll be able to digitally sign the petition. You can also sign this petition to the FDA at JustLabelIt.org. Then tell everyone you know to do the same.
Thanks, and Happy Earth Day!
Great post! I just noticed for the first time the nonGMO label on the frozen peas I bought. The state of the food in this country is simply sad.
Lizzie,
Keep it up, keep on telling people about how the food industry is focused on money, not on healthy food. Roundup Ready soy beans….we have them all around us.
Keep on talking, girl! Love, Dad
Yessir!
Thanks for posting about this. I’m also sick and tired of not knowing what’s in our food. As someone who’s at child-bearing age, I’m terrified that I’ll pass something on to my children because of what I eat. 1 in 88 kids is autistic and I’m convinced it’s from our food. Cancer? I think that’s also caused by the crap we put in our bodies. I cook almost all meals from scratch but we have snackies that used processed ingredients. I’m trying not to buy anything with hydrogenated corn syrup. It’s a start.
I feel 100% the exact same way. I simply do not trust that we know what all the lab-created products we use do to our bodies. We do a lot of scratch cooking, too, but just like you, our diet includes packaged items for their convenience. Hopefully our food will keep getting cleaner and cleaner as more people speak up out.
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