What I want to know about GM food~ Mariella

In light of the signing of the Agricultural Appropriations Bill last week by President Obama, I am genuinely worried! This obviously does not concern me directly, not today, but it does present a widening shadow over the future of my consumer rights that I feel unable to control. This little bit of trouble snuck into the Bill, referred to as the 'Monsanto Protection Act', states that products containing GM ingredients no longer require labeling and makes it impossible for US federal courts to halt the planting and sale of GM crops should health concerns arise. I find this super scary!

In South Africa, we have no regulation in place stating that foods containing GM ingredients need to be labeled. There is something called the GMO Act, which merely concerns the controlled management and sale of GM crops. And then there is the Consumer Protection Bill, which seems to have conveniently omitted anything to do with regulating GM products!

Interesting that the very corporations producing and patenting GM crops and insisting on their safe use are the very same bodies insisting they be unlabeled. So where does this leave me as a buyer?

Firstly, you know how I go on about growing your own? Well, in addendum to this, its a great idea to grow the foods which are most commonly GM, failing that, I have started to avoid these foods completely. 

Most Common GM foods are:

Corn~ GM varieties have been created to produce a toxin which poisons moths and butterflies, resist herbicides, present high fructose levels to be used as corn syrup.

Canola~Resistant to herbicide (usually Roundup, also incidentally produced by companies producing the seed!)

Beetroot~ Same as above

Soybeans~Same same as above! Starting to see a pattern yet?

Cotton~Engineered to poison pests. These are not only used in clothing, but in foods like Margarine and vegetable oil.

 

Baby Marrow and Papaya are also high on the list and funny how most crops are genetically modified to better tolerate the use of Roundup....

The most obvious concern with GM crops is that, even though they have been deemed safe, they are being banned throughout the world based on mass crop failure and health concerns due to insufficient testing. If you are going to introduce a human gene into rice with possible future use in the pharmaceutical industry, I am going to want to see generations of testing before I even consider going near it, and then what are you testing it on? So far, there have been two tests which have chilled me to the bone, and both were done on rodents, which I find equally unacceptable:

“ This study was just routine," said Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov. 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. 

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 Second test to drive the point home was conducted in 2012. Rats fed a lifelong diet of one of the bestselling strains of genetically modified corn suffered enormous debilitating tumors and multiple organ damage, according to a controversial French study which has lead to the petition by Influential Petition site Avaaz, which was signed by millions.

Scientists said the results raised serious questions about the safety of GM foods and the assurances offered by biotech companies and governments.

So what can you do today to deal with the encroachment of undercover GM foods into your home?

~Ok, I know, I know, I keep going on about growing vegetables at home, but really, a one meter space can yield all of the greens you need to keep your family healthy, tips on buying seed to follow in the next couple of weeks.

~Buy foods labelled 100%organic, which is difficult, but if you invest the time into finding the products that are right for you then you know where to go from then on. Even though these are sometimes more expensive, keep in mind that when you consume only the best foods, the quantity you crave goes down as your nutritional needs are being met and you see the long terms benefits in reduction in health care costs.

~Eat only Pasture fed Free-range hormone-free meat. In this regard, meat eaters may have an easier time of it, but given the recent meat outrage in SA, its advisable to find a local small scale outlet that you can trust.

~Shop at Farmer’s Markets as you have direct access to the person growing the food.

~Stick to Wholefoods and say goodbye to fastfood.

~Start asking questions, become your local supermarket manager’s best friend!  Ask for products which are not yet on the shelves and don't be afraid to get on their nerves!

We as consumers are always in a precarious position as we almost don’t want to know what goings on behind the shelves, but I’d rather be told by the shop owner before I consume the food than by a doctor, years after it’s too late. My rule of thumb is, the more natural it is, the better!