A light at the End of the Cornfield?

Is it just me or has everyone else noticed that GMOs have been in the news a bunch lately? Maybe it’s because October is Non-GMO Month or maybe it’s because it’s a subject near and dear to my heart and I tend to notice it more. Whatever the cause, I think it’s a good thing.
Recent polls are showing that people know what GMOs are and want them labeled. A few years ago, similar polls showed that people had no idea what a GMO was or that GMOs were in most of the processed foods they were eating.

Just in case you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, let me quickly explain. GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms (also known as Genetically Engineered (GE) food) are foods that have been engineered in a lab by inserting foreign genes into a particular crop to get certain traits that can’t be bred into them the traditional way. These foreign genes come from other species or from viruses and bacteria.

The science of inserting the gene is not exact and the outcome of this mutation cannot be exactly predicted. So far the only GE food (that we know of) to cause acute symptoms in humans is Starlink corn (it was never approved for human consumption but got into our food stream anyway). However, there are no long-term human studies of the chronic effects these engineered foods might have on us (the cynic in me says we are all that long term study). The companies producing GE foods conduct all of the research that the FDA uses to determine if these frankenfoods are safe; no third party scientists test these findings.

These companies (Monsanto being the biggest and baddest of them all) claim that GE foods are better for us and will feed our hungry planet. So far, the commercially available genetically modified crops have been modified for one of two reasons, either they can tolerate massive doses of an herbicide that (coincidentally) the same company makes, and/or every cell of the food contains a pesticide. Neither of these modifications has been shown to increase human health or crop production levels over the long term; only corporate profits. I could go on but I want to get to the good stuff. There is tons more information like this on-line if you want to learn more about GMOs and why you want to avoid eating them.

By now you can tell I’m not a fan of GMOs and would love to know if they are in the food I’m eating. There seems to be a rising tide of people who feel the same way, but before I get to all the good news I’ve seen about GMOs I need to tell you a bit of the bad news.

The FDA is poised to approve GE Salmon. The company that created this frankenfish is close to bankruptcy but the USDA just gave them a $500,000 research grant. I smell something fishy.

Monsanto plans to begin selling seed for sweet corn this fall. This would be the first GE food eaten “straight up”. Almost all other GMOs are made into processed food or fed to livestock, which we then eat. The corn will be both resistant to Round Up and have Bt toxin in every cell. Considering a recent study found Bt toxin in the maternal and fetal blood of 93% of the samples tested (a place Monsanto swore it could never end up) and that that level was just from eating the smaller amounts of GMOs in processed foods, I wonder what eating a whole ear of corn in which every cell contains the toxin will do to us? Since it won’t be labeled, I’ll stick to organic fresh corn and not bother to find out.

And now the good news:

Locally, Winter Ridge celebrated Non-GMO month by highlighting Non-GMO Verified products and by donating 5% of their sales on Oct 19th to the Non-GMO Project (full disclosure: I work there). The most exciting thing about the donation day was that customers were asked to round up their purchases to increase the donation. An unscientific poll showed that about 80% of customers donated. That means even in little old Sandpoint people know they don’t want GMOs in their food.

Over a thousand stores participated in Non-GMO Month this year and over 3000 items are now non-GMO verified. Non-GMO food is the fastest growing category in natural foods today, with a 24% increase this year.

There are other movements gathering steam out there to push for labeling of GE foods. Just Label It, which is a group partnered with hundreds of like-minded organizations from concerned parents to health care professional to businesses, submitted a legal petition to the FDA calling for the mandatory labeling of GE foods. You can sign the petition on their website.

The Right To Know March traveled over 300 miles starting October 1st in New York and ending October 16th in front of the White House to demand the labeling of GMOs and to bring awareness of the issue to the public

Lastly, the Occupy Wall St. movement is bringing new light to the incredible amount of influence corporations have over our government. The government’s continued support of GMOs, when a recent poll showed that 93% of those surveyed wanted mandatory labeling, is a perfect example of the corporate takeover of our government. The FDA and the USDA have long been a revolving door for biotech industry execs who go between working at Monsanto and then for the government and then back to Monsanto. Maybe if people get fed up enough, we can kick the bums out.

I’m a hopeful kind of person and all this good news makes me think that someday soon this country will have mandatory labeling laws like the 40+ other countries that already do (obviously it’s not impossible). Until then, I will continue to support the companies that go to the extra effort to get non-GMO verified, eat organic, and try to avoid processed foods. And I’ll keep signing those petitions!