Why Planting a Garden Should Be a Priority

[Guest guest]

Below is why we should be planting our own

backyard or container gardens using heirloom seeds. We should also be including herbs which

are so easy to grow outside or inside. It will provide safe and nutritious food

for our family; a great learning experience for our children, allows us to get

much needed sunshine and is one of the most effective, yet inexpensive, stress

relievers around.

Will Obama's Food Safety Team Finally Regulate

the Biggest Food Safety Hazard of Our Time

If President Obama's new

Food Safety Working Group dedicates all their time and credentials to prevent

future food recalls, they will have saved thousands of people--but forsaken

millions.

Over the last decade, our

radically changing diet has ushered in the explosive growth of food-related

ailments, such as allergies, asthma, obesity, diabetes, autism, infertility,

gastro-intestinal disorders, and learning disabilities. Of all the changes in

our food, the most dangerous transformation was the introduction of genetically

modified (GM) crops.

When these gene-spliced

concoctions, such as GM soy, corn, canola, and cottonseed, came on the scene in

1996, the proportion of Americans suffering from three or more chronic

ailments. After just 9 years, that nearly doubled to 13%. GM foods are the

prime suspect.

Government policy at odds with science

Until now, the government

has sidestepped the controversy by hiding behind FDA policy, which asserts that

genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are " substantially equivalent "

to natural foods and therefore don't require any safety studies. But as Obama

acknowledged, " many of the laws and regulations governing food safety in

America " are outdated.

In truth, the FDA's GMO

policy was not even up-to-date when it was implemented in May 1992. FDA

documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that virtually all the agency

scientists asked to comment voiced strong warnings that GMOs may cause serious

health problems. But the FDA was under orders from the White House to fast

track GM foods, and the person in charge of FDA policy was the former attorney

of biotech giant Monsanto--and later become their vice president. The

scientists and the science were ignored.

Now that animals fed

GMOs--in labs and farms around the world--have exhibited symptoms related to

the growing list of diseases in the US population, the President's Food Safety

team, including Dr. Margaret Hamburg as FDA Commissioner, must update GMO

regulation. A scientifically sound regulation would translate into an immediate

ban of current GM crops, and the implementation of rigorous safety testing

requirements before any GMO was put back into the food supply. And certainly

mandatory labeling, as promised by President Obama during his campaign, must

accompany any GM food approval.

Presidents and industry insiders avoid GMOs

The Obama family has

wisely opted out of exposing themselves to GM foods by requiring organic--and

therefore non-GMO--foods served at the White House. They are even planting an

organic garden on the south lawn of the White House, to feature 55 types of

vegetables.

The Bush family also had

an organic kitchen policy. Laura Bush was " adamant " about it, but

kept it all quiet.

Even at Monsanto, many

in-the-know employees won't consume the company's own GM creations. Back in

1999, the management of the cafeteria at Monsanto's UK headquarters in High

Wycombe, England wrote:

" In response to

concern raised by our customers . . . we have decided to remove, as far as

possible, genetically modified soy and maize (corn) from all food products

served in our restaurant. . . . We have taken the above steps to ensure that

you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve. "

 

And one former Monsanto scientist told me that his colleagues, who were safety

testing milk from cows injected with the company's genetically engineered

bovine growth hormone, decided to stop drinking milk--unless it was organic.

It's now time to let us

all opt out of this dangerous and failed GM experiment. If Obama's team is

serious about food safety and public health, they must take GMOs off our plates

and put them back into the laboratory.

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey M. Smith is the

author of publication Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of

Genetically Engineered Foods, which presents 65 risks in easy-to-read two-page

spreads. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the top rated and #1

selling book on GM foods in the world. He is the Executive Director of the

Institute for Responsible Technology www.responsibletechnology.org, which is

spearheading the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America. Go to www.responsibletechnology.org to

learn more about how to avoid GM foods.