Archive for the ‘GMO’s’ Category

Eating GMO-free on a budget

It’s a new year and it’s a great time to make resolutions. I am hoping that many more of us will make a resolution to eat GMO free in 2011.  Organics can be expensive so how can you eat GMO free on a budget?  Here are some tips for healthy GMO-free eating on a budget. You can do it, and it will be good for you and your family.

Buy whole foods and cook from scratch – cooking from scratch is less expensive and healthier then buying pre-made meals. As long as you avoid the common GMO ingredients you can use non-organic products. Buy fresh and in season fruits and vegetables, meats, from local farmers if possible, grains (other then corn) and olive oil.  Add some fresh herbs and you can make amazing and wonderfully GMO free meals.  We have a number of great and easy recipes, right here on Moms for Safe Food

Join a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture is a great way to eat GMO free and support your local farmers as well.  When you join a CSA you are buying a share of the years crop, given either weekly or bi-weekly. We belong to a wonderful CSA and get fruit, a wonderful variety of vegetables, spring mix and herbs every week for much less then we’d pay at the store. If you want to find a CSA near you, go to http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Buy directly from a farmer – other then CSA’s you can also shop at farmers markets, and find a local farmer, raising grass and pastured meat and buy directly from them. It will save you money and support our wonderful farmers.

There’s a link to U.S. Wellness Meats in our links section. They have a wonderful variety of grass fed and pastured meats and cheese.

If you eat some processed foods, contact any company you buy processed, pre-made food from. If the food contains, canola, soy, corn, High Fructose Corn Syrup and even ‘sugar’ (a lot of companies are using GMO Sugar Beets), it is most likely GMO. They are using GMO ingredients because we have not yet made it clear that that is unacceptable. You can tell them,

“I would buy more of your product if it was GMO free, otherwise I’m looking for alternatives and will stop buying your product.”  If they hear this from enough of us they will look for alternatives.  Also let your supermarket know you want non-GMO options. There will be a ‘tipping point’ – when they hear from enough people that it starts to make a difference.

So the biggest budget saver, to avoid GMO’s is to buy real, whole foods and cook them yourself. Your family and health will thanks you.

Here’s to a GMO free 2011! – Mom

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-january-7th/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/01/pennywise-platter-thursday-1611.html

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/01/real-food-wednesday-1511.html

Read more, great Monday Mania posts here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/01/monday-mania-132011/

For our last post of 2010, we have another great article from Jeffrey Smith, this one is an excerpt from Genetic Roulette.

Thank you Jeffry and Happy New Year everyone! May 2011 be the year we get GMO’s out of our food supply!  Mom

GMO foods are more dangerous for children than adults

Excerpted from Jeffrey M. Smith’s Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods

“Swapping genes between organisms can produce unknown toxic effects and allergies that are most likely to affect children.”13 —Vyvyan Howard, expert in infant toxico-pathology at Liverpool University Hospital, United Kingdom

Changes in nutrition have a greater impact on the structure and functioning of young, fast-growing bodies. More of the food is converted to build organs and tissues, whereas adults convert more to energy and store this as fat.

The UK Royal Society said that genetic modification “could lead to unpredicted harmful changes in the nutritional state of foods” and recommended that potential health effects of GM foods be rigorously researched before being fed to pregnant or breast-feeding women and babies.”14 Epidemiologist Eric Brunner said that “small changes to the nutritional content might have effects on infant bowel function.”15

Children are more susceptible to problems

Children are three to four times more prone to allergies than adults and “are at highest risk of death from food allergy.” 16 Infants below two years old have the highest incidence of reactions, especially to new allergens encountered in the diet. Even tiny amounts of allergens can sometimes cause reactions. One reason for this sensitivity, according to the EPA, is that “An immature gut or permeable mucosal epithelium is more likely to allow a higher degree of macromolecular transport and access to the immune system than the intact barrier of a normal mature gut. . . . The immune system must also be of sufficient maturity. . . . Both systems appear to be functioning optimally by age three to five.”17

According to the Royal Society of Canada, “The potentially widespread use of GM food products as food additives and staple foods, including use in baby foods, may lead to earlier introduction of these novel proteins to susceptible infants either directly or via the presence of the maternally ingested proteins in breast milk.”18

The UK Royal Society suggested that “post-marketing surveillance should be part of the overall safety strategy for allergies, especially of high-risk groups such as infants,” but acknowledged that it is not clear “whether such monitoring is feasible for GM food.”19

Children can react to much smaller doses of toxins than adults. Exposure to hormones or endocrine disruptors may also severely affect normal development. And children who are prone to infections may be severely impacted if antibiotics lose their effectiveness due to antibiotic-resistant genes in GM food and the overuse of antibiotics in rbGH treated cows.

Children have a high exposure to GMOs

Children consume a large amount of products that may be genetically engineered. They eat a higher percentage of corn in their diet compared to adults, and allergic children often rely on corn as a source of protein. Mothers using cornstarch as a talc substitute on their children’s skin might also expose them via inhalation. Infants are sometimes reared on soy infant formula. The Royal Society wrote, “Infant formulas, in particular, are “consumed as a single food over extended periods of time by those who are especially vulnerable” and “should be investigated most rigorously.”20 Among the potential side effects are changes in soy’s natural estrogen mimickers, which may influence sexual development.

Children consume a disproportionately large amount of milk. In the United States and elsewhere, dairy products may come from cows treated with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH). The milk contains increased amounts of hormones and antibiotics and an altered nutritional content (see section 7.1). According to a discussion paper on the public health implications of rbGH, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, an “infant would be exposed to a dose of IGF-1, which was 12.5 times the recommended minimum.”21 Samuel Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and an expert on the health effects of rbGH, says that risks of high exposure to IGF-1 are “of particular concern . . . to infants and children in view of their high susceptibility to cancer-causing products and chemicals.”22 He also suggests that regular exposure might promote “premature growth stimulation in infants, gynecomastia [development of abnormally large breasts on males] in young children.”23

Safety assessments ignore children

An FAO/WHO task force on GM food said that “Attention should be paid to the particular physiological characteristics and metabolic requirements of specific population subgroups, such as infants [and] children.”24 In practice, GM safety assessments ignore them. In fact, industry funded studies often use mature animals instead of the more sensitive young ones, in order to mask results (see part 3).

Biologist David Schubert warns, “Since children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems, if the GM food is given to them without proper testing, they will be the experimental animals. If there are problems, we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.”

To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply.

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/12/pennywise-platter-thursday-1230.html

Read more great, Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/12/real-food-wednesday-122910.html

Here’s another great article by Jeffrey Smith.

He did a great guest appearance on Dr. Oz.  You can watch it here:

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1

And follow the links for part 2 and 3.

Here’s Jeffery’s Article:

Genetically Engineered Soybeans May Cause Allergies

“I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it—unless it says organic.”

-Allergy specialist John Boyles, MD

Beginning in 1996, genes from bacteria and viruses have been forced into the DNA of soy, corn, cotton, and canola plants, which are used for food. Ohio allergist John Boyles is one of a growing number of experts who believe that these genetically modified (GM) foods are contributing to the huge jump in food allergies in the US, especially among children.

The UK is one of the few countries that conduct a yearly food allergy evaluation. In March 1999, researchers at the York Laboratory were alarmed to discover that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by 50% over the previous year. Genetically modified soy had recently entered the UK from US imports and the soy used in the study was largely GM. John Graham, spokesman for the York laboratory, said, “We believe this raises serious new questions about the safety of GM foods.”

Genetic engineering may provoke allergies

There are many ways in which the process of genetic engineering may be responsible for allergies. The classical understanding is that the imported genes produce a new protein, which may trigger reactions. This was demonstrated in the mid 1990s when soybeans were outfitted with a gene from the Brazil nut. While scientists attempted to produce a healthier soybean, they ended up with a potentially deadly one. Blood tests showed that people allergic to Brazil nuts reacted to the beans. It was never marketed.

The GM variety planted in 91% of US soy acres is called Roundup Ready—engineered to survive otherwise deadly applications of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. The plants contain genes from bacteria, which produce a protein that has never been part of the human food supply. Since people aren’t usually allergic to a food until they have eaten it several times, no tests can prove in advance that the protein will not cause allergies.

As a precaution, scientists compare this new protein with a database of proteins known to cause allergies. According to criteria recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, if the new GM protein contains amino acid sequences that have been shown to trigger immune responses in other proteins, the GM crop should not be commercialized (or additional testing should be done). Sections of the protein produced in GM soy, however, are identical to shrimp and dust mite allergens. But the soybean got marketed anyway.

Frighteningly, the only published human feeding study on GM foods ever conducted verified that the gene inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of our gut bacteria and continues to function. This means that years after we stop eating GM soy, we may still have the potentially allergenic protein continuously produced within our intestines.

Damaged soy DNA creates new (or more) allergens

The process of creating a GM crop produces massive collateral damage in the plant’s DNA. Native genes can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned on or off, and hundreds may change their levels of protein expression. This can increase existing allergen, or produce a new, unknown allergens. Both appear to have happened in GM soy.

Levels of one known soy allergen, trypsin inhibitor, were up to seven times higher in cooked GM soy compared to cooked non-GM soy. Another study discovered a unique, unexpected protein in GM soy, likely to trigger allergies.

In addition, of eight human subjects who had a skin-prick (allergy-type) reaction to GM soy, one did not also react to non-GM soy, suggesting that GM soy is uniquely dangerous.

Increased herbicides, digestive problems and allergies

Farmers use nearly double the amount of herbicide on GM soy compared to non-GM soy; higher herbicide residues might cause reactions.

GM soy reduces digestive enzymes in mice. If proteins “digest” slowly in humans, there is more time for allergic reactions (possibly to many food proteins).

Eating GM foods is gambling with our health

Documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that FDA scientists were uniformly concerned that GM foods might create hard-to-detect allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. Their urgent requests for required long-term feeding studies fell on deaf ears. The FDA doesn’t require a single safety test. The person in charge of that FDA policy was Monsanto’s former attorney, who later became their vice president.

Buying products that are organic or labeled non-GMO are two ways to limit your family’s risk. Another is to avoid products containing any ingredients from the seven GM food crops: soy, corn, cottonseed, canola, Hawaiian papaya, and a little bit of zucchini and crook neck squash. This means avoiding soy lecithin in chocolate, corn syrup in candies, and cottonseed or canola oil in snack foods.

To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply.

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-december-17th/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/12/real-food-wednesday-121510.html

Jeffrey Smith has written a fantastic book documenting the health dangers of GMO’s, you can buy it at the link below.

Why didn’t I know about GMO’s?

A friend who is learning about GMO’s told me that she felt badly that she didn’t know about them before now. It got me thinking as I felt the same way when I first learned about what was going on with our food supply.

Here’s a great description of GMO’s from the Non-GMO Project Shopping guide:

GMOs (or “genetically modified organisms”) are organisms that have been created through the gene-splicing techniques of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering, or GE). This relatively new science allows DNA from one species to be injected into another species in a laboratory, creating combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and viral genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods. Virtually all commercial GMOs are bred to withstand direct application of herbicide and /or to produce an insecticide. None of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition or any other consumer benefit. Studies, meanwhile, increasingly show a correlation between consumption of GMO’s and an array of health risks.

Read more here: http://www.nongmoproject.org/consumers/

Why didn’t we all know about GMO’s?

Because, it seems, Monsanto did not want us to.  Putting Genetically Modified Organisms in our food was never presented to the American people, it was done behind our backs. The FDA (run by former employees of Monsanto) allowed them to be marketed, based on Monsanto’s assurance that the products are safe.  There was never any safety testing done by our government and tests done elsewhere in the world have proved them to be unsafe and potentially dangerous.  Our government, both the Democrats and the Republicans have handed our food supply over to a private multi-national corporation. This is the corporation who gave us DDT and Agent Orange. They now own almost all our commercial seed.

They are not doing this to ‘save the world’, they are doing this to control our food supply. If they had good intentions they would not be suing our farmers or putting our seed cleaners out of business. Farmers have traditionally saved their seed to replant for the next year and they’ve done this for thousands of years.  Monsanto is known to sue any farmer who saves their seed, even unintentionally.  They have also put most, if not all, of the seed cleaners that our farmers use out of business as well.  Watch The Future of Food for more information. You can watch the movie here, for free: http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

This is the history of GMO’s in our food supply, dates and basic info from: http://deliciouslivingmag.com/greenliving/dl_article_1558/ comments added by Mom.

1986   First field tests of genetically engineered plants (tobacco) are conducted.

1987   Advanced Genetic Sciences’ Frostban, a genetically altered bacterium that inhibits frost formation is field-tested on strawberry and potato plants in California—the first authorized outdoor tests of an engineered bacterium. Again this was done without public knowledge or approval.

1993   The FDA declares GMO foods are “not inherently dangerous” and do not require special regulation. And the FDA, the same people who are now being put in charge of our farms, allowed them to with no questions asked. In 1994, Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto said, “If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.” (source, Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994).  Here’s what another Monsanto employee had to say,

The debate on genetically modified (GM) brinjal variety continues to generate heat. Former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, is the latest to join the critics of Bt brinjal, perhaps the first industry insider to do so.

Jagadisan, who worked with Monsanto for nearly two decades, including eight years as the managing director of India operations, spoke against the new variety during the public consultation held in Bangalore on Saturday.

On Monday, he elaborated by saying the company “used to fake scientific data” submitted to government regulatory agencies to get commercial approvals for its products in India.

The former Monsanto boss said government regulatory agencies with which the company used to deal with in the 1980s simply depended on data supplied by the company while giving approvals to herbicides.

Read more here:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/StoryPrint?sId=83093&secid=4&page=0

Here’s some more history of GMO’s in the US.

1995   GMO soy and corn planted in the United States.

1996   GMO foods first hit supermarket shelves. WE are not told!

1996   Seven percent of soy and 1.5 percent of corn crops grown in the United States are genetically modified.

1999   The rising tide of public opinion in Europe brings biotech food into the spotlight.  Europe has stopped accepting some of our food as it’s GMO and they do have labeling.  Ireland is a GMO free country!

2000   GMO corn StarLink, approved solely for animal feed, ends up in corn products for human consumption.

2002   ProdiGene violates the U.S. Plant Protection Act by allowing experimental biopharmaceutical corn to mix with a commercial soy crop.

2004   GMO wheat developer Monsanto decides against selling GMO wheat because of negative public perception.

2004   Eighty-five percent of soy and 45 percent of corn crops grown in the United States are genetically modified.

Anything you eat with soy, corn, canola like high fructose corn syrup, corn oil, soy oil, canola oil, etc, is most likely genetically modified.

We can get GMO’s out of our food supply but we need to speak up. Let’s make 2011 the year that the USA goes GMO free!

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here:  http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-december-3rd/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/12/real-food-wednesday-12110.html

Here’s another great article from Jeffrey Smith’s GMO Speaker training. Did you know many animals will choose GMO free if given the choice?

Would you choose genetically modified food if given a choice? Some animals won’t.  By Jeffrey Smith

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. Farmers 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 an ear 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. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we have a guest post from Dr. Ishii-Eiteman from the Pesticide Action Network. Go visit their site – link below.

By Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, reprinted with permission.

Monsanto’s humiliations are all over the news these days. Last week we heard that Monsanto is actually paying farmers to spray their fields with competitors’ weedkillers. Monsanto’s latest press release announces it is offering RoundupReady cotton farmers up to $20/acre to pour on extra herbicides. In fact, The Organic Center reports that this bizarre practice—a reversal of Monsanto’s traditional exhortations to rely on its own chemical Roundup—has actually been going on for over a year now, a response to the Monsanto-induced epidemic of superweeds now ravaging the country. As Tom Philpott explains, it’s a desperate last-hour attempt by the giant seed and pesticide company to slow the wildfire spread of noxious weeds resistant to Roundup, an epidemic which essentially spells the demise of Monsanto’s entire RoundupReady “system of weed management.” Other last-ditch efforts by Monsanto to keep revenue coming in include genetically engineering its Roundup Ready seeds for “enhanced resistance,” that is the ability to withstand—at least temporarily—even heavier dousings of Roundup. Talk about trying to smother a fire with gasoline.
Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: ZUMA Press

GMO’s in the news

I haven’t had a news update lately, there’s a lot to share!

Did you know that your Vitamin C is  most likely made from GMO  corn?

For more than a year now, supplements manufacturers have watched quietly as

an angry chorus has risen up against genetically modified organisms. So far,

though, GMO questions have stayed planted in the produce and grocery

sections of natural products stores.

But now one small but vocal retailer concerned about GMOs in the environment

has started asking his supplements suppliers if there are GMOs in the

vitamin C he sells. The answers he says he’s gotten have ranged from “we

don’t think so but we don’t know for sure” to “probably.” That’s not good

enough for Joe Lemieux, owner of the 2,500-square-foot Go To Health store in

Brooksville, Fla.

“People think that health food stores are a kind of haven from things like

GMOs,” Lemieux said. “That’s why this issue is so explosive, because I can’t

tell them that the vitamin C is made without GMOs.” He’s not saying the

products are unsafe, but he says that genetically modified crops are bad for

the environment, and the agriculture business needs to get that message from

consumers and retailers, which is why he’s taking a stand in his store.

Lemieux still stocks vitamin C but is telling his own customers not to buy

the products, and he’s letting others in the industry know about his

boycott–through word-of-mouth and a Web site that deals with organic

issues–until someone can make a non-GMO vitamin C.

You can read the rest, here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/Organic/vitccontro.cfm

And there are a few brands of Non-GMO vitamin C

Source Naturals is making one:

http://www.sourcenaturals.com/products/GP1475/

As is Cardiovascular Research. We’ve been using this one:

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp;jsessionid=RNFEKMT4BSUM4CQUC4YFAGIKCQL00UNE?id=CV-1041

China rejects U.S. corn cargo, citing GMOs

China has rejected a cargo of U.S. corn after finding it contained an unsanctioned genetically modified strain, two sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

“China only allows 11 varieties of GM corn to be imported to the country, and the cargo was found with GM material outside the 11 varieties,” said one source, who declined to be identified.

“The animal and plant quarantine department has barred it from entering China,” the source said. He said it was supplied by a Japanese trading house.

The cargo of 50,000-60,000 tonnes was shipped to a port in the China’s southern province of Guangdong in September. The problem was detected only in October, the same source said.

China’s first ever rejection of a U.S. corn cargo, if confirmed, risks deepening a trade spat with the United States and a bigger diplomatic row with Japan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69S23U20101029

Top 10 ways to avoid GMOs

Maria Rodale explains how to stay away from genetically modified organisms.

This month, October, is Non-GMO Month. I find most people are really confused about what a GMO is and where GMOs are found. Some people tend to think that GMO seeds are similar to the type of hybridization that has been going on amongst gardeners for centuries. Not true! The type of genetic modification that happens to create GMO seeds involves the forceful insertion of things like E.coli genes or genes that produce glyphosphate (an herbicide) or cause Roundup resistance (allowing farmers to dump more Roundup onto the plants) into corn and soybeans and cotton.

GMOs exist for one reason only: for the chemical companies who make them to enable themselves to sell more chemicals to farmers. Do not, I repeat, do not fall for any marketing sales efforts that claim GMOs will help feed the world and save farmers from drought. It’s a lie!!!!

And remember, as I write in “Organic Manifesto,” the only safety testing on humans or animals for GMOs is happening right now, on you, on your kids, and on farm animals around the world. Early results are showing everything from digestive failure to kidney and liver failure and accelerated aging. Terrible stuff.

Here are 10 ways to avoid GMOs:

1. Buy USDA-certified organic food. It is currently the only official way you can avoid GMOs, since GMOs are not allowed to be used according to USDA organic regulations. THANK YOU, GOVERNMENT! (For once!)

2. Avoid all nonorganic soy products like the plague. That means things like nonorganic veggie burgers, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and miso products.

3. Don’t buy anything that claims to be “non-dairy” that isn’t organic. Soy is used to create everything from Cool Whip to Coffee-Mate…in addition to the obvious non-dairy soy treats in your health-food store freezer. Yup, they are filled with GMOs, too.

4. Don’t buy or eat anything with corn in it that isn’t organic. That means corn chips, cereals with corn (or soy, for that matter), or even corn bread!

5. At all costs, eliminate high-fructose corn syrup (a.k.a. “corn sugar”) from your diet. It is just an excuse for chemical companies to convince farmers they can keep growing GMO corn and poisoning you and your family.

6. Avoid biofuels and ethanol; they’re a toxic GMO festival. No one seems to care if corn is poisoned if it’s just going to drive our cars. Problem is, we are all being poisoned by it.

Read the rest here:

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating-recipes/stories/top-10-ways-to-avoid-gmos

We just finished the first ever Non-GMO month in October. Let’s make it a Non-GMO year!

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-november-5th/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/11/pennywise-platter-thursday-114.html

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/11/real-food-wednesday-11310-2.html

Here’s another article that Jeffrey gave us permission to share, in his wonderful speaker training.

Moms – if you are feeding your babies soy formula – it IS GMO – read the below.

Non-GMO day is this coming Sunday – lets all call the companies that make baby formula and tell them that we DON’T want GMOs – genetically modified soybeans –  in baby formula:

Mead Johnson makes Enfamil, Pregestimil, Nutramigen, and Nutramigen AA – 1-847-832-2420

Abbott Labs Ross division makes Similac, Isomil, Alimentum, and EleCare (800) 551-5838

Nestlé the largest producer of formula in the world, makes Good Start; owns Gerber, 1-800-284-9488

Mom

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality

By Jeffrey M. Smith

April 20, 2010

“This study was just routine,” said Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, in what could end up as the understatement of this century. Surov and his colleagues set out to discover if Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) soy, grown on 91% of US soybean fields, leads to problems in growth or reproduction. What he discovered may uproot a multi-billion dollar industry.

After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups.

And if this isn’t shocking enough, some in the third generation even had hair growing inside their mouths—a phenomenon rarely seen, but apparently more prevalent among hamsters eating GM soy.

The study, jointly conducted by Surov’s Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Association for Gene Security, is expected to be published in three months (July 2010)—so the technical details will have to wait. But Surov sketched out the basic set up for me in an email.

He used Campbell hamsters, with a fast reproduction rate, divided into 4 groups. All were fed a normal diet, but one was without any soy, another had non-GM soy, a third used GM soy, and a fourth contained higher amounts of GM soy. They used 5 pairs of hamsters per group, each of which produced 7-8 litters, totally 140 animals.

Surov told The Voice of Russia,

“Originally, everything went smoothly. However, we noticed quite a serious effect when we selected new pairs from their cubs and continued to feed them as before. These pairs’ growth rate was slower and reached their sexual maturity slowly.”

He selected new pairs from each group, which generated another 39 litters. There were 52 pups born to the control group and 78 to the non-GM soy group. In the GM soy group, however, only 40 pups were born. And of these, 25% died. This was a fivefold higher death rate than the 5% seen among the controls. Of the hamsters that ate high GM soy content, only a single female hamster gave birth. She had 16 pups; about 20% died.

Surov said “The low numbers in F2 [third generation] showed that many animals were sterile.”

The published paper will also include measurements of organ size for the third generation animals, including testes, spleen, uterus, etc. And if the team can raise sufficient funds, they will also analyze hormone levels in collected blood samples.

Hair Growing in the Mouth

Earlier this year, Surov co-authored a paper in Doklady Biological Sciences showing that in rare instances, hair grows inside recessed pouches in the mouths of hamsters.

“Some of these pouches contained single hairs; others, thick bundles of colorless or pigmented hairs reaching as high as the chewing surface of the teeth. Sometimes, the tooth row was surrounded with a regular brush of hair bundles on both sides. The hairs grew vertically and had sharp ends, often covered with lumps of a mucous.”

(The photos of these hair bundles are truly disgusting. Trust me, or look for yourself.)

At the conclusion of the study, the authors surmise that such an astounding defect may be due to the diet of hamsters raised in the laboratory. They write, “This pathology may be exacerbated by elements of the food that are absent in natural food, such as genetically modified (GM) ingredients (GM soybean or maize meal) or contaminants (pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, etc.).” Indeed, the number of hairy mouthed hamsters was much higher among the third generation of GM soy fed animals than anywhere Surov had seen before.

Preliminary, but Ominous

Surov warns against jumping to early conclusions. He said, “It is quite possible that the GMO does not cause these effects by itself.” Surov wants to make the analysis of the feed components a priority, to discover just what is causing the effect and how.

In addition to the GMOs, it could be contaminants, he said, or higher herbicide residues, such as Roundup. There is in fact much higher levels of Roundup on these beans; they’re called “Roundup Ready.” Bacterial genes are forced into their DNA so that the plants can tolerate Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. Therefore, GM soy always carries the double threat of higher herbicide content, couple with any side effects of genetic engineering.

Years of Reproductive Disorders from GMO-Feed

Surov’s hamsters are just the latest animals to suffer from reproductive disorders after consuming GMOs. In 2005, Irina Ermakova, also with the Russian National Academy of Sciences, reported that more than half the babies from mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks. This was also five times higher than the 10% death rate of the non-GMO soy group. The babies in the GM group were also smaller (see photo) and could not reproduce.

In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova’s feeding trials, her laboratory started feeding all the rats in the facility a commercial rat chow using GM soy. Within two months, the infant mortality facility-wide reached 55%.

When Ermakova fed male rats GM soy, their testicles changed from the normal pink to dark blue! Italian scientists similarly found changes in mice testes (PDF), including damaged young sperm cells. Furthermore, the DNA of embryos from parent mice fed GM soy functioned differently.

An Austrian government study published in November 2008 showed that the more GM corn was fed to mice, the fewer the babies they had (PDF), and the smaller the babies were.

Central Iowa Farmer Jerry Rosman also had trouble with pigs and cows becoming sterile. Some of his pigs even had false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of water. After months of investigations and testing, he finally traced the problem to GM corn feed. Every time a newspaper, magazine, or TV show reported Jerry’s problems, he would receive calls from more farmers complaining of livestock sterility on their farm, linked to GM corn.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine accidentally discovered that rats raised on corncob bedding “neither breed nor exhibit reproductive behavior.” Tests on the corn material revealed two compounds that stopped the sexual cycle in females “at concentrations approximately two-hundredfold lower than classical phytoestrogens.” One compound also curtailed male sexual behavior and both substances contributed to the growth of breast and prostate cancer cell cultures. Researchers found that the amount of the substances varied with GM corn varieties. The crushed corncob used at Baylor was likely shipped from central Iowa, near the farm of Jerry Rosman and others complaining of sterile livestock.

In Haryana, India, a team of investigating veterinarians report that buffalo consuming GM cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent abortions, premature deliveries, and prolapsed uteruses. Many adult and young buffalo have also died mysteriously.

Denial, Attack and Canceled Follow-up

Scientists who discover adverse findings from GMOs are regularly attacked, ridiculed, denied funding, and even fired. When Ermakova reported the high infant mortality among GM soy fed offspring, for example, she appealed to the scientific community to repeat and verify her preliminary results. She also sought additional funds to analyze preserved organs. Instead, she was attacked and vilified. Samples were stolen from her lab, papers were burnt on her desk, and she said that her boss, under pressure from his boss, told her to stop doing any more GMO research. No one has yet repeated Ermakova’s simple, inexpensive studies.

In an attempt to offer her sympathy, one of her colleagues suggested that maybe the GM soy will solve the over population problem!

Surov reports that so far, he has not been under any pressure.

Opting Out of the Massive GMO Feeding Experiment

Without detailed tests, no one can pinpoint exactly what is causing the reproductive travesties in Russian hamsters and rats, Italian and Austrian mice, and livestock in India and America. And we can only speculate about the relationship between the introduction of genetically modified foods in 1996, and the corresponding upsurge in low birth weight babies, infertility, and other problems among the US population. But many scientists, physicians, and concerned citizens don’t think that the public should remain the lab animals for the biotech industry’s massive uncontrolled experiment.

Alexey Surov says, “We have no right to use GMOs until we understand the possible adverse effects, not only to ourselves but to future generations as well. We definitely need fully detailed studies to clarify this. Any type of contamination has to be tested before we consume it, and GMO is just one of them.”

To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply.

Below’s a link to Jeffrey’s must read, Genetic Roulette:

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-october-8th/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/10/pennywise-platter-thursday-10710.html

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/10/real-food-wednesday-10610.html

I just finished taking a fabulous 5 session GMO activist training with Jeffrey Smith. He’s so knowledgeable about GMO’s and about how to pass along the information about them in an empowering way.  This year the focus is to reach the tipping point where consumers outright reject GMO’s.  Monsanto would like us to just eat organic foods to avoid GMO’s but what will really make an impact is when we are telling the processed food companies that we will not eat there products until they are GMO free.  See our ‘What You Can Do’ page for the phone numbers of the Frankenfood Fifteen, https://www.momsforsafefood.org/What_we_can_do.html

They can make their same products, in exactly the same way but without the GMO ingredients. Since I don’t what my kids to be the lab rats for the untested GMO food, I am boycotting any processed foods until they no longer use any GMO ingredients. If we hit them in their profit margin, they will pay attention!

Here’s an article from Jeffrey Smith, posted with permission.

Mom

It’s time to reclaim a food supply without dangerous genetically modified organisms (GMOs). And we can do it—together.

When European consumers said no to GMOs, the food companies kicked them out. As more and more US consumers rejected GM bovine growth hormone, most dairies and brands, including Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Kroger, Dannon, and Yoplait, responded.

No we are joining forces nationwide in the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America—designed to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMO to force them out of the market.

October is Non-GMO Month and 10-10-10 is Non-GMO Day. Between now and then, we will send out a series of articles you won’t want to miss.

Find out:

•About the serious documented health risks of genetically modified (GM) foods.

•Why children and pregnant mothers are most at risk.

•How scientists who uncovered these findings were threatened, vilified, and fired.

•About the sneaky ways the industry scientists rig their research to avoid problems.

•The way the biotech industry hijacked the FDA and regulators worldwide, and ignored the warnings of their own scientists about GMO health risks.

•Which brands are non-GMO, so you can protect yourself and your family.

•What you can do to make this campaign go viral.

•Why even 5% of US consumers choosing healthier non-GMO brands could achieve a tipping point, eliminating GMOs for the rest of the nation.

After you read these articles, please pass them onto your entire network, and encourage them to do the same.

It is past time for us to look to the government to bail us out of this mess. We are on the top of the food chain, and we can make things happen—together.

Safe eating.

Jeffrey M. Smith

To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods. His first book, Seeds of Deception, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on the topic. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, provides overwhelming evidence that GMOs are unsafe and should never have been introduced. Mr. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of our food supply. Watch the free online video today, for the big picture.

Read more great, Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-september-17th/

Read more great, Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/09/pennywise-platter-thursday-916.html

Read more great, Real Food Wednesday posts here:  http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/real-food-wednesday-91510.html

You can buy Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith, at Amazon, link below. Highly Recommended!

GMO’s in the news

I’ll be happy when the only articles about GMO’s are about how we USED to grow them, and they’ve been outlawed for safety concerns. Mom

UK: Food Standards Agency on Hot Seat over GMOs

by Suzanne Schreck | Jun 08, 2010

Two members of the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency steering group on genetically modified foods (GM foods, or GMOs) recently resigned from the group in protest over language inserted into a report from the agency strengthening the case for the growth of GMO crops and sales of GMOs in the UK. 

According to The Observer, emails between members of the Food Standards Agency group and the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, which represents such businesses as Bayer and Monsanto, show the council inserted key sentences strengthening the case for GMOs that ended up in the final report, “Food Standards Agency work on changes in the market and the GM regulatory system.”

Dr. Helen Wallace, director of Genewatch UK, a scientific pressure group opposed to GMOs, left the steering group last month.  She told The Observer the emails, “expose how the Food Standards Agency is acting as a puppet of the GM industry by colluding with foreign GM companies to undermine people’s access to GM-free food supplies in Britain.” 

Professor Brian Wynne, an expert on public engagement with science and the group’s vice-chairman, resigned from the steering group last week.  He expressed concerns that the Food Standards Agency had adopted a pro-GMO attitude. 

UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has recently come under fire and is being called on to abandon a planned public consultation exercise on GMOs.  She formerly was a director at a food and biotechnology lobbying company, Spelman, Cormack and Associates, with her husband, Mark Spelman, and has been quoted saying she is in favor of GMOs “in the right circumstances.”

“The consultation-exercise has lost all credibility,” said Pete Riley, of pressure group GM Freeze.  “And it is clear that the Food Standards Agency should not be allowed anywhere near it–they clearly have a pro-GM agenda.

Read the rest here:

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/uk-food-standards-agency-on-hot-seat-over-gmos/

GMO Crop Takes Over Thousands of Acres in Germany

by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 06. 7.10

Food & Health

“The Biggest GM Crop Scandal in Germany to Date”

A genetically modified strain of maize classified as NK603 — one that is explicitly banned in the European Union — has been unleashed in Germany. The crop has been unwittingly planted on nearly 7,500 acres so far, and is continuing to spread. The source of the contamination has not yet been determined, but it is believed that it could cost farmers millions of euros to eradicate the tenacious GMO crop.

The contamination has spread across 7 different states in Germany, contaminating fields unbeknown to the farmers tilling the land. Such affected farmers will have no choice but to plow their fields prematurely. Greenpeace operations in Europe helped uncover the GMO’s spread.

Read more here:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/out-control-gmo-crop-spreads-across-thousands-acres-germany.php

And I hope it’s not this organized, but there’s some very interesting info in this one …

Food and Depopulation: Rockefeller Family

Cassandra Anderson

Infowars.com

June 8, 2010

Part 1 of 4.

The purpose of this article is to give a brief outline of how the elites, and the Rockefellers in particular, are using food as a weapon.

Since the Rockefeller family came to power (especially after gaining a monopoly with Standard Oil) they have manipulated our government into ruining our financial system by way of the Federal Reserve, energy through oil dependency and food with GMOs (Genetically Engineered Organisms).  The intention is to rob us blind and kill us.  It’s time to wake up.

The official name of this program is Agenda 21 Sustainable Development.

It the overarching blueprint for depopulation and total control over America and the rest of the world.  There is no question that Americans are targeted for depopulation: GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) food has saturated American farmlands. GMOs are dangerous and the proliferation of corn crops (used as sweetener, animal feed, processed food, etc) in America is shortening our life spans.(1)  Our water is polluted, containing over 60,000 chemicals, most of which have never been tested for safety.(2)  Our air is toxic, and the US is one of the most targeted areas for chemtrails.(3)  This is just the tip of the iceberg, the things we know about.  The focus of this article is revealing the link between the Rockefellers and their intended use of food as a weapon, which is more powerful than military domination and energy control.

Read the rest here:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/food-and-depopulation-rockefeller-family.html

Good for them!

Haitian Farmers Reject Monsanto Donation

by Michelle Greenhalgh | Jun 07, 2010

The Peasant Movement of Papay, a group of Haitian farmers, has committed to burning 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds donated by Monsanto in the wake of the devastating earthquake earlier this year.

Peasant Movement of Papay leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste called Monsanto’s donation “a new earthquake” and called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti for World Environment Day.

The National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay sent an open letter on May 14 signed by Jean-Baptiste.  The letter called Monsanto’s presence in Haiti, “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.” 

In addition to MPNKP and MPP, other Haitian social movements have advocated in opposition to agribusiness imports of seeds and food.  The groups have expressed strong concern regarding the importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as they undermine local production of local seed stocks.

Haitian law does not prohibit the use of GMOs within the country, but the Ministry of Agriculture rejected Monsanto’s offer to donate Roundup Ready seeds.  As a result of these actions, a representative from Monsanto responded to the Ministry of Agriculture via email to assure that donated seeds would not be GMO.

Monsanto is internationally known for aggressively pushing its seed products, specifically GMO seeds.  The use of seeds also usually includes highly restrictive technology agreements between the company and farmers, who groups opposed to the use of GMOs claim are not always fully made aware of what they are signing.  GMO-opposed groups claim that by signing these agreements, small farmers are forced to buy Monsanto seeds each year under conditions they often find onerous and at high costs that they cannot afford.

Read the rest here:

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/haitian-farmers-burn-monsanto-hybrid-seeds/

Which brings us once again to the fact that we vote with our forks and the best way to stop the GMO food is not to buy it. Buy local and organic whenever possible. 

Locally grown best for eating

By Paul Walton, The Daily News June 8, 2010

Grocery shopping in Nanaimo may have never been this exciting.

With the news that Fairway Market is to move and Thrifty Foods will open a third store at the Brooks Landing location, what could be better?

Not just another grocer relocating in Harewood and building a whole new store, as I understand may happen in the next few years.

How about greater selection of locally produced food?

A trip down the aisles to any of the grocery stores in the city reveals row upon row of — there’s no other word for it — junk.

It’s time that Nanaimo residents started pushing for more locally produced food.

A commentator in the film Food Inc., following scene after scene of depressing visuals and facts about modern food production, makes the point that every time we go into a grocery store we are voting with our wallets as to what type of food we want to be available for us to buy.

Read the rest here:

http://www.canada.com/Locally+grown+best+eating/3126220/story.html

Read more great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-june-11th/

Read more great Real Food Wednesday posts here:  http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/06/real-food-wednesday-6910.html