How to get genetically-modified food out of your diet

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How to get genetically-modified food out of your diet

_http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/02/how-to-stop-eating-gmos/_

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An Activist’s Toolkit

 

 

How would you react if you discovered that most of the foods you ate every

day contained hidden ingredients that could be slowly poisoning you?

 

 

Disbelief? Sadness? Fear? Anger? Retribution? All of the above? Well,

surely the first thing you should do is: STOP EATING THEM! Genetically modified

crops such as corn, canola and soy are being used in over 70% of the

processed foods available in your local grocery store. So you might be forgiven

for thinking that if genetically modified ingredients are so widespread,

they must be safe to eat, right? Wrong. It’s just a shame the FDA and the

corporate-controlled North American mainstream media persist in turning a

blind eye. (See The Big GMO Cover-Up by Jeffrey M. Smith.)

 

 

Of course, the last thing that the pro-GM food companies want is for

consumers to get informed and use their immense power to force change in the

marketplace. This has already happened in Europe where genetically modified

ingredients have to be labeled by law. As a result, food companies don’t use

genetically modified ingredients! However, in the absence of equivalent

labeling requirements in the US or Canada, North American consumers have been

left in the dark for over 13 years and are unwittingly taking place in a

huge human feeding experiment.

 

 

We asked Jeffrey M. Smith, international bestselling author of Seeds of

Deception and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically

Engineered Foods, to give us some practical steps on how to get GMOs out of

our diet and off the face of the Earth, forever.

 

 

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Would you choose genetically modified food if given a choice? Some animals

won’t.

 

 

There’s a bowl of corn chips in front of you made from natural corn. Next

to it are genetically modified (GM) corn chips. Which do you choose?

 

 

If you were a pig or cow, we know the answer—the natural corn. In 1998 and

1999, several farmers in Northwest Iowa repeatedly let pigs or cows into

pens with troughs of GM corn and non-GM corn. The animals would head

straight to the closer trough, filled with the genetically modified organisms

(GMOs). They’d sniff, maybe take a nibble, then go over to the trough with the

natural corn. After finishing off the last kernel, they’d stop by the GM

corn one more time just to check it out, but quickly walk away.

 

 

An Iowa farmer who read about the finicky livestock decided to see if

squirrels had similar dispositions. He nailed ears of GM corn and non-GM corn

onto trees by his house. Sure enough, the squirrels ate only the natural

stuff, over and over again. When the farmer stopped replacing the natural

corn, the squirrels still refused to touch the GMO. After 10 cold winter days,

they got up the courage to nibble a few kernels, but that was all they

could handle.

 

 

Another curious farmer wanted to repeat this with the squirrels in his

area. He bought a bag full of GM corn ears, and another of non-GM, and left it

in his garage to wait for winter. He waited too long. Mice did the

experiment for him. They broke into the natural corn bag and finished it. The

GM

cobs were untouched.

 

 

Farmers, gardeners, reporters, and scientists have noticed similar

behavior on at least four continents. Chickens, elk, deer, and raccoons avoided

GM

corn, while geese, rats, and buffalo refused GM soy, tomatoes, and

cottonseed, respectively. Why are animals put off by genetically engineered

food?

No one knows for sure, but let’s get back to the GM corn chips still

sitting in front of you.

 

 

Dangerous side-effects

 

 

Genetic material from bacteria and viruses are forced into the corn’s DNA,

which is then cloned into a plant. This process leads to substantial

collateral damage, including changes in hundreds or thousands of natural corn

genes, plus widespread mutations. Most of the side-effects are never tested

for. We do know, for example, that an allergy-producing gene, normally

silent, gets switched on in a Monsanto corn variety. Proteins change shape,

which might be a serious health hazard. And a compound called lignin is

significantly overproduced. Lignin on its own may not be so bad, but in the

process of producing it, the plant also produces rotenone, a natural pesticide

linked to Parkinson’s disease. No one has tested your chips to see they

contain more rotenone.

 

 

Bayer’s Liberty Link corn have added genes that allow the corn to

withstand high doses of Roundup or Liberty herbicide. These varieties,

therefore,

have more weedkiller residues. Other GM varieties have inserted genes from

bacteria that produce an insect killing toxin in every cell (and in every

bite).

 

 

In addition, genes inserted into GM crops don’t necessarily stay put. In

the only human GM feeding experiment— done with Roundup Ready soy—

functioning genes transferred into the DNA of bacteria living inside our

intestines. This means that millions of Americans probably have Roundup Ready

gut

bacteria—unkillable with Roundup herbicide. No one has yet looked to see if

GM

corn genes also transfer. If they do, their insecticide-producing genes

could turn your gut flora into living pesticide factories, continuously

producing toxins inside you—long after you finish your bowl of chips.

 

 

Have you made your decision yet? If you still need encouragement, check

out “The Big GMO Cover-Up†in UGM007 to find out why the American Academy

of

Environmental Medicine wants doctors across the country to prescribe

non-GMO diets to everyone.

 

 

But aren’t GMOs supposed to feed the world?

 

 

If you’re feeling some moral imperative to support GMOs, that’s

understandable. The biotech industry spent more than $250 million convincing

you

that its gene-spliced foods are the answer to the sick and starving. So don’t

be embarrassed if you fell for it. Many leading US politicians have

likewise been mesmerized by this long-running PR ploy. Clinton’s Agriculture

Secretary Dan Glickman spoke candidly to a St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter

about the pro-GMO attitude embedded in the US government:

 

 

“It was almost immoral to say that it wasn’t good, because it was going

to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the

naked. … And if you’re against it, you’re Luddites, you’re stupid. …

You

felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an

open-minded view.â€

 

 

Glickman acknowledged that he too “spouted the rhetoric,†admitting, “it

was written into my speeches.†The current Ag Secretary, Tom Vilsack, is

the latest GMO cheerleader. As Iowa’s governor, he gave Monsanto an award in

2000, and the next year was anointed Biotech Governor of the Year by the

biotech industry trade organization.

 

 

In October 2009, Vilsack tried to play the “feed the world†card at a

conference sponsored by the Community Food Security Coalition. Bad move Tom.

The people in the room were actually experts at feeding the world. Attendees

included numerous PhDs and eminent scholars, such as the co-chairman and

several leading authors of the authoritative IAASTD report, the world’s most

comprehensive evaluation of agriculture.

 

 

This crowd knew that GMOs had no answers for world hunger. The IAASTD

report, for example, concluded that the current generation of GMOs does not

reduce hunger and poverty, does not improve nutrition, and does not facilitate

social and environmental sustainability. A comprehensive analysis by the

Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that GMOs do not increase yield; in

fact, on average they reduce yield. A USDA study showed that farmers’

income doesn’t increase, and in some cases, it decreases. And it doesn’t

help

the overall economy either. The federal government has been spending $3-5

billion per year to prop up the prices of the GM crops no one else wants.

 

 

Thus, when Secretary Vilsack invoked “the ever-increasing population of

the globe and the capacity to be able to feed all of those people†as the

excuse to promote GMOs, he was greeted by moans, groans, hisses, and even

boos. That didn’t stop Vilsack from playing the same card two days later, but

this time he was at the World Food Prize conference. That’s sponsored by the

biotech industry, so they were overjoyed that the Ag Secretary was still

supporting their myth.

 

 

How Do You Choose Non-GMO?

 

 

Are you now ready to choose the bowl of natural chips? If so, you’re not

alone. Most Americans, according to a CBS/New York Times poll, would also

choose foods made without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if they knew

which was which—if they were labeled. But unlike most other industrialized

nations, GMOs don’t have to be labeled in the US or Canada. Therefore,

avoiding GM foods here takes some doing.

 

 

Tip #1: Buy Organic

The best way is to buy organic foods, which don’t allow the use of GMOs.

And you also benefit from organics’ higher average levels of vitamins,

minerals, and antioxidants, as well as lower pesticide residues.

 

 

Tip #2: Look for “non-GMO†labels

Some companies voluntarily label products as “non-GMO.†The best label is

now the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. It’s the new uniform,

third-party-verified standard for non-GMO claims that is spreading through the

industry.

 

 

Tip #3: Consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide

For a handy list of non-GMO brands by category, go to

_www. NonGMOShoppingGuide.com_ (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/) . .

View it online, download or order copies, and look for the Mobile Phone

Application coming soon.

 

 

Tip #4: Avoid at-risk ingredients

If it’s not labeled organic or non- GMO, and the brand is not listed in

the Guide, look at the ingredient panel to see if it contains any at-risk

GMOs. The most pervasive GMOs are derivatives of corn and soy. Here are some

common ones: (A more comprehensive list is available in the _Non-GMO Shopping

Guide_ (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/) .)

 

Corn:

flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrups. Sweeteners such as fructose,

dextrose, and glucose.

 

 

Soy:

flour, oil, lecithin, protein, isolate, and isoflavones.

 

 

Oil from canola and cottonseed is genetically modified.

Sugar from GM sugar beets was introduced in late 2008, but a recent ruling

in a federal lawsuit may eventually drive it out of our food supply. For

now, if the sugar doesn’t say pure cane, it’s likely blended with beet

sugar.

 

 

Other than corn, there are only three items in the produce section that

may be genetically modified. That includes papaya from Hawaii (yes, only

Hawaii) and a small amount of zucchini and yellow squash. Mercifully, popcorn

is not GMO.

 

 

Aspartame, the artificial sweetener also known as NutraSweet and Equal, is

derived from GM microorganisms.

 

 

Meat, fish, eggs and dairy:

FDA scientists had warned that animals fed GMOs might bioaccumulate

toxins, which end up in milk, meat, or eggs. Their concerns were ignored and no

safety studies have looked into this. Most US livestock, and even farmed

fish, are fed GM soy or corn. To avoid GM-fed animal products, buy organic,

wild caught, or 100% grass-fed. Fortunately, there are no genetically

modified fish, fowl, or livestock yet approved for human consumption.

 

 

Dairy products also carry the risk that the cows were injected with

genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbST or rbGH). The milk from

drugged cows has more pus, antibiotics, bovine growth hormone, and insulin-like

growth factor 1 (IGF- 1). IGF-1 is a powerful hormone and a high risk factor

for cancer. That’s primarily why the American Public Health Association,

American Nurses Association, and many other groups condemn the use of rbGH.

Consumer concerns about rbGH have forced Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dannon,

Yoplait, and most of the major dairies in the US to stop using the hormone. Look

for labels, consult the _Non-GMO Shopping Guide_

(http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/) , or buy organic dairy products.

 

 

How to Avoid GMOs in Restaurants

 

 

When eating at restaurants, it is not too hard to identify non-GMO options

if your restaurant cooks from scratch. If they use processed foods, which

is true of fast food places, they will have hidden GM ingredients.

 

 

For meals cooked from scratch, you will be able to easily identify most

GMO food items. Corn products include tortillas, corn bread, corn on the cob,

polenta, and corn chowder. Soy products include tofu, teriyaki and soy

sauce.

 

 

The hidden ingredients are usually the oils used for cooking and salad

dressing. Most restaurant cooking oil is from soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola

—all GMOs. If they say vegetable oil or margarine, it means it is almost

certainly one of these.

 

 

Therefore, your first question is, “What oil do you cook with?†If they

use GMO oils, ask if they have anything that is cooked without oil, or if

olive oil or some other oil can be used. If they have olive oil, be sure it’s

not a blend. Many restaurants blend canola and olive.

 

 

Go through the same routine for the oil used in salad dressing, and for

the shortening in desserts.

 

 

But for the sweet stuff, the GMO threats include sugar from beets, high

fructose corn syrup, and aspartame. Since most processed foods contain GM

derivatives (corn and soy, for example), ask what foods are freshly prepared.

But check if packaged sauces are used.

 

 

Other potential sources of GM foods at restaurants include bread,

crackers, and mayonnaise.

 

 

Moving GMOs out of the market

 

 

The declining fortunes of rbGH demonstrate the power of informed

consumers. As more and more people linked the milk hormone to cancer, marketing

executives realized that allowing their suppliers to use the controversial drug

was bad for sales. Because the mainstream media has been pretty silent on

the health effects, it took a few years of a concerted consumer education

campaign to start the dominoes falling. If the hazards of rbGH had made

headline news, the tipping point would have been swift.

 

 

The experience of GMOs in Europe shows us just how swift markets can move.

In late January of 1999, biotech representatives predicted that 95% of all

commercial seeds would be genetically engineered by 2004. But just a few

weeks later, their plans to replace nature crashed. On February 16th, the

gag order imposed on a scientist who had conducted GMO safety studies was

lifted by order of the UK Parliament. When Dr. Arpad Pusztai, the top

scientist in his field, discovered the extensive damage that a GMO diet can

cause,

he was fired after 35 years and silenced with threats of legal action. When

he finally was able to speak, all hell broke loose.

 

 

Within the week, the European press reeled off 159 column feet of

articles. Within the month, 750 articles on GMOs were circulating. According to

one

editor, the coverage divided society into two warring blocks. Within just

10 weeks, the tipping point of consumer rejection was achieved. GM

ingredients had become a marketing liability. At the end of April, Unilever

publicly committed to remove GMOs from its European brands. Within the week, so

did nearly every other major food company.

 

 

These same companies continue to use GM ingredients in the US, where the

Pusztai controversy was not reported. Here, only one in four people are even

aware that they’ve ever eaten a genetically engineered food in their

lives.

 

 

Engineering a North American tipping point

 

 

The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a

tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs in the US. Several indicators

suggest that it’s not far off. A December 2009 issue of Supermarket News, for

example, predicted: “The coming year promises to bring about a greater, more

pervasive awareness†of the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our

food supply. This trade publication, which is used by food executives as a

source of industry news and trends, attributed the coming uprising in part to

the Campaign’s new _Non-GMO Shopping Guide_

(http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/) .

 

 

The article describes how food “culprits†such as fat, carbs, salt, and

added sugar can “define the decade†for the food industry; companies

scramble to create new low-culprit or culprit-free options. When the specter of

GMO health dangers surfaces onto consumers’ radar screen, however, there

will be a significant difference. Whereas traditional ingredient culprits

offer some consumer appeal like better taste or texture, GM foods do not.

Furthermore, companies can usually eliminate GMOs without even changing

recipes.

They can simply substitute the non-GMO soy or non-GM corn, without

reformulating.

 

 

Therefore, when the industry gets hit with the anti-GMO tipping point,

they won’t create separate brand options of low GMO or GMO-free. Instead,

they

will eliminate all GMOs from their brands and proudly proclaim that here

as they do in Europe.

 

 

The number of shoppers rejecting GMOs need only be a tiny amount, perhaps

5% of Americans, in order to convince food companies to do a brand-wide GMO

clean-out. But when you look at the numbers, no matter how you slice it,

they add up to a coming non-GMO tidal wave.

 

 

More than 9% of Americans regularly buy organic. About 29% are strongly

opposed to GM foods and believe they are unsafe. And 53% say they would avoid

GMOs if labeled. While most people do not conscientiously avoid brands

with GM ingredients, it’s usually because they don’t know how. Hence the

importance of the _Non-GMO Shopping Guide_ (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/)

..

 

 

Time to take charge

 

 

There are so many people predisposed to reject GMOs, we can achieve a

tipping point without ever having to convince those who are resistant. Just by

educating the people who want to know why GMOs are unsafe and how to avoid

them, we can kick GMOs out of the food supply. The Campaign offers

educational tools that are easy to use and to pass onto others. There are

right-brain books, left-brain books, videos for the visual learner, brochures,

articles, podcasts, CDs, PowerPoints, and of course, shopping guides.

 

 

The Campaign also provides strategies and support materials designed

specifically for the most receptive targeted groups: healthand

environmentally-conscious shoppers, parents, healthcare professionals, chefs

and food

service professionals, and even religious groups. If you would like to lend a

hand and help protect the health of those you care about, visit

_www.healthiereating.org_ (http://www.healthiereating.org) and look at the

action items

and tools available.

 

 

Little did you know that a bowl of chips would turn you into an activist…

 

 

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the is

the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (_www.

healthiereating.org_ (http://www.healthiereating.org/) ). His first book,

Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of

the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating, is the world’s bestselling

and #1 rated book on GMOs. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented

Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, documents 65 health risks of

the GM foods Americans eat everyday.

 

To help you choose healthier, non-GMO brands, use the _Non-GMO Shopping

Guide_ (http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/) .

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DISCUSSION

 

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