GMOs: A Horror Story

What if a multinational biochem company started inserting foreign genes derived from bacteria or viruses into DNA and cloned these cells into new genetically modified organisms? What if that same company created entirely new plants, unfound in nature, resistant to the same company's weed killer Roundup, allowing farmers to use drastically increased amounts of that company's pesticides on their crops?  What if that "trusted" company had a long history of selling such toxins as DDT, PCBs, and Agent Orange?  What if former attorneys and officers in that company became stakeholders in government agencies and branches including the FDA, EPA and US Supreme Court?

What if the company acquired seed companies and licensed genetic modification technology to other large chemical companies?  What if by 2015, genetically modified crops were expected to dominate the market with new non-commodity GMOs introduced into our food supply?

What if 94% of conventional soy, 86 % of conventional canola (grapeseed) pressed into oil, 75 % of conventional corn and most sugar beet crops were grown from the company's GMO seeds?  What if no human clinical trials had ever been done to prove safety of these genetically altered crops in our food supply?  What if the only published independent study of the GMOs showed the transfer of the altered DNA into the intestinal lining of subjects, potentially creating super strains of antibiotic-resistant diseases?

What if the rates of allergies, autism, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and other inflammation-related diseases have escalated since the introduction of genetically modified plants into our food supply?

What if after one week in 1999, the majority of European food manufacturers committed to non-use of GMOs?  What if forty countries worldwide, including Russia and China, required labeling of GMOs while our own FDA does not?

What if the same biotech company introduced a synthetic hormone that increased milk production in dairy cows along with mastitis, an increase of antibiotics found in milk, a 7% spike in ductile breast cancer and a 4% spike in prostate cancer?  What if the biotech company and a biotech lobbying group aimed to stop labeling in rBST dairy products because that might cause Americans to question its safety?  What if after consumers stopped buying milk and dairy products with bovine growth hormone, corporations including Walmart and Yoplait stopped buying dairy from farmers who used rBST?

What if voters in California had the opportunity to vote to require labeling of GMOs so consumers could make an educated choice when grocery shopping for their families?  What if the biotech company, grocers' lobbying group and huge food corporations donated millions of dollars to fight consumer knowledge and awareness?  What if ads inflated the costs of labeling to consumers just to sell more seeds and control the food supply?

This sounds like a political thriller but it's the story of Monsanto. 

If you are a California voter, support labeling of GMO foods by voting for Prop 37. 

In the meantime, purchase organic foods which cannot be derived from GMOs.  Avoid conventional corn and soy as well as any derivatives including oil, high fructose corn syrup, guar gum, texturized vegetable protein. Exchange corn, soy, vegetable and canola oil for olive oil.  Purchase pure cane sugar instead of sugar made from sugar beets. 

In my next few blogs, I will provide links to non-GMO grocery shopping lists and apps and more information on GMOs.

We deserve to know what we feed ourselves and our families.  We need to be educated consumers and eaters.