Too good to be true
I covered GMO foods for the first time in
Newsletter #144, where we looked at the claims for bioengineered foods — and the accusations against them.
The claims make GMOs sound like they will save the world. Advocates say GM foods will control pests and weeds, create seeds that resist drought, and supplement starving cultures with vitamins and abundant amounts of food.
To date, some sixteen years later, none of those claims have been conclusively proven. Instead, we may be on the brink of an agricultural nightmare.
Worse, substantial health problems linked to GMOs are starting to surface. Studies are uncovering links to fertility problems and birth defects. There's a cancer link that's been confirmed both by a Russian study and by British environmentalists. Significant organ damage also appears to result from eating certain GM foods.
On top of all that, we're facing the destruction of biodiversity and the demise of farmers' livelihoods. Really, it's a threat to our basic freedoms — the ability to choose what we eat and to know what we've chosen.
At the heart of all the controversy is Monsanto, the giant seed company working to pump the world full of genetically modified crops.
"Worst company of 2011"
Greed and a total disregard for human welfare appear to rule Monsanto, assuming recent allegations against the company hold water.
In the past, Monsanto has gotten well-deserved flak for suing small farmers for patent infringement when GM seed traits spread into fields surrounding GM crops. Monsanto has also been found guilty of polluting American rivers and landfills with toxic waste. And then recently, Monsanto was declared the worst company of 2011 by the Natural Society for its threat to both the environment and human health.
Right now, the government of India is in the process of suing Monsanto on bio-piracy charges. They claim the biotech giant failed to get approval before attempting to create GM versions of local eggplant varieties, thereby violating the Indian Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
The company shows a long pattern of fraud and apathy toward health and sustainability. From where I sit, it looks like it's all about money. After all, records show the company spent $1.4 million lobbying the federal government last year. $2.5 million was spent the year before, and $1.9 million the year before that (small change for this big company, though.)
Monsanto's lobbying efforts are targeted toward Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure no hint of GM crop regulation is ever passed. This especially includes disclosing on the packaging when foods contain GMOs.
What you can do to protect yourself
By some measures, at least 70 percent of the food in your typical American grocery store is laced with GM foods. You just don't know it, thanks to the massive lobbying efforts of U.S. lawmakers by Monsanto to prevent labeling requirements.
That doesn't mean there's no hope. It was a grassroots effort that got GM foods out of Europe and other countries, not legislation. Consumers rejected GM foods, forcing food manufacturers to remove GM ingredients. According to EU law, all foods with any amount of GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled.
As of this writing, GM foods are banned in Germany, Ireland, Hungary, France, and Peru. Peru even went to the effort of passing a monumental 10-year ban on all GM foods — and this was despite previous governmental pressure to legalize GMOs.
The problem is, you have to know which foods to reject. That's not easy, since Monsanto has fought tooth and nail against labeling laws.
Which means our only answer is education.
Here's what you can do to protect yourself right now:
- Buy organic products whenever possible. Just keep in mind you're only guaranteed to be buying GMO-free if there's a label that says "100% USDA Organic." By definition, foods that carry this label must be free of all GM organisms.
- Don't eat processed foods. Most contain soy and corn products, and these are almost guaranteed to be heavy with GMOs.
- Use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide when deciding which brands and products to buy. I suggest you print it out and take it with you when you go to the store. If you have an iPhone, download the free app called "ShopNoGMO."
- Don't buy something simply because it has one of the following labels: natural, naturally made, naturally grown, all natural, or any derivative of those terms. The use of the word "natural" is not regulated and products with those labels often contain substantial amounts of GMOs.
- Avoid processed foods, and anything with maltodextrin, soy lecithin, and high fructose corn syrup. Also, avoid aspartame (NutraSweet) and Milk with rbGH.
- Avoid non-organic varieties of zucchini and crookneck squash, as well as papayas from Hawaii.
- Look at the PLU code on the produce stickers of the fruits and vegetables at the supermarket. Organic produce has five digits, starting with the number 9. Conventionally-grown produce has four digits, starting with the number 4. GM fruit has five numbers, starting with the number 8.
Push now for truth-in-labeling
I won't deny it's a nice idea to use science to fix the world's problems, especially when it comes to our food supply.
But evidence against bioengineered food continues to mount, and if something isn't done soon there's a real risk these problems will only escalate. There's hope, at least. For starters, polls over the last 16 years show between 85% and 95% of Americans want mandatory labels on GMO foods.
And we're already seeing some progress. A bill was recently introduced in Vermont that would require food to be labeled as GM food whether it was made entirely or even partially with GMOs. The bill would also forbid use of the misleading slew of "natural" labels. In April of this year, the Vermont House Agriculture Committee voted in favor of the bill. They now await judiciary approval. California has a similar bill underway.
It's said that a Monsanto executive once remarked, "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." To him, that means it would merely alarm people for no reason. To me, a skull and crossbones sounds like truth in labeling.
There's no question we need truth-in-labeling. And the only way to get it is by action at the grassroots level. One of the things you can do is put pressure on big supermarket chains and natural food retailers to implement their own labeling practices.
Personally, I look forward to the day when we can once again be sure of what we buy in the store. In the meantime, I urge you to take the steps listed above to protect yourself from the potential threats of GM food.
