GM Foods Take Spotlight in New Documentary

[Guest guest]

http://www.mercola.com/2005/oct/1/gm_foods_take_spotlight_in_new_documentary.htm

 

GM Foods Take Spotlight in New Documentary

 

Deborah Koons Garcia's new movie, " The Future of Food, " documents the

way that genetically engineered foods have entered into most of the

American food supply, mostly from corn and canola. Genetically

modified products are present in the great majority of all processed

foods. Nationally, 100 million acres of GM crops were under

cultivation by 2003, according to the film.

 

Though Garcia has made films for more than 30 years and runs her own

production company, she is better known as the widow of legendary

Grateful Dead lead singer and guitarist, Jerry Garcia.

 

The movie has attracted notice on the film festival circuit, and

activists have been showing it across the country, often as part of

campaigns to ban GMO crops.

 

Originally, Garcia had intended to make a film about pesticides. But

her research led her to investigate genetic engineering. The 90-minute

documentary takes a strong stand against allowing new life forms loose

on the land without long-term testing of the health effects and real

government controls, especially food labeling.

 

" The Future of Food " goes through the history, science and politics of

GM foods, including how the chemical companies have succeeded in

patenting life forms for the first time without any vote on the

subject, the uncontrollable spread of GM plants beyond the fields

where they were planted, and why the U.S. government hasn't required

GM foods to undergo rigorous testing or labeling. It also debunks the

idea that GM foods will solve world starvation.

 

San Francisco Chronicle

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

I haven't seen this one yet, but it is on my to-see list, as it is one

of the first movies to document the problems of GM crops and foods. I

urge you to visit The Future of Food Web site

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

to learn more about the movie and watch a promotional trailer.

 

If you read this newsletter with any regularity, you know about the

blight of genetically modified crops and foods in this country,

causing all sorts of potential disasters-in-the-making. I suspect many

more of the doubters among us will begin to understand the real

problem after viewing this documentary.

 

The film reportedly examines all sides of the problem, including the

many government officials with links to GM interests, and the behavior

of big businesses such as Monsanto, the international company ordered

by a German court to release a report earlier this summer that

documented terrible side effects in animals that ate its Mon 863

variety of corn.

 

The overarching theme of the piece is a familiar one, especially if

you're a Baby Boomer like I am who has heard this jingle far too many

times: It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature ...

 

If you want to steer clear of eating GM food for good, I advise you to

take the following steps:

 

* Avoid processed foods. Some 75 percent of processed foods

contain GM ingredients.

* Read produce and food labels. GM soybeans and corn make up the

largest portion of genetically modified crops. When looking at a

product label, if any of the ingredients are corn flour or meal,

dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, or tofu (to name a few),

there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it's

listed as organic.

* Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to

ensure that your food has not been genetically modified. Food that is

certified organic is by definition free from all GM organisms.

* Look at produce stickers. Those little stickers on fruit and

vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit

was conventionally grown, organically grown, or genetically modified.

The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit has four numbers,

organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine,

and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.

 

Related Articles:

 

The Damaging Effects of GMOs Revealed

 

Many Organic Foods Contaminated With GM Crops

 

Sweet Misery: The Horrors of Aspartame Revealed in Documentary