From the Organic Consumers Association newsletter, Organic Bytes, 6.2.11

Over the last 10 years or so, Jeffrey Smith of the The Institute for Responsible Technology has written many articles, published several books, and travelled the world campaigning against GMO’s, speaking the truth to hundreds of groups internationally.

Ronnie Cummins, head of the Organic Consumers Association, has been a dedicated organic, non-gmo activist for at least as long as GMO’s have been part of the food supply, working and speaking his mind through the non-profit OCA.

Smith, Cummins, and other food activists like India’s Vandana Shiva, have been voices of sanity and reason, raised against a continuous flood of food industry propaganda (aka lies), lobbying, and corporate owned government. The anti-gmo campaign has been an uphill struggle on a shoestring, getting results against all odds.

Over the years, Savvy Vegetarian has published many non-GMO articles and excerpts from the OCA newsletter and The Institute for Responsible Technology.

The challenge with non-gmo information has been how to present it in clear, short bites for easy understanding, to quickly raise public awareness of this serious issue.

The majority of Americans don’t want GMO foods, but aren’t aware that over 70% of foods they eat have GMO ingredients.

In Europe, where GMO labelling is required, almost no GE crops are grown and almost no GMO foods are sold. In North America, no GMO labelling is required, the GE industry controls government agriculture and food policies, and pro-GMO mis-information is almost all that most people hear.

That’s why the work of educating the public about GMOs and the GE industry is so critically important.

Not everybody wants in-depth non-GMO education – just the facts ma’am, from trusted sources. That’s why I was delighted to see the following piece in the OCA newsletter this morning. Jeffrey Smith’s research teamed with the OCA’s copywriting skills is a winning combination.

I’ve linked to background articles where possible, so if you want the long bytes, feel free.

10 Reasons to Label GMOs – Tell Your Friends, Food Companies, & Politicians!

World Food Day is October 16, 2011. That means there are only 4 months left to get 1,000,000 people to sign our petition to label GMO foods and organize 435 Millions Against Monsanto demonstrations nationwide.

Download the petition

Getting everyone you meet to join the Millions Against Monsanto Campaign should be easy – upwards of 90% of the public already agrees that foods made with genetically modified organisms should be labeled – but if you need some ammunition and inspiration to inspire you to spread the word, look no further than these 10 Scary Reasons to Label GMOs:

#1 Monsanto’s Bt-toxin, in its Bt-producing GMO corn and cotton (used in food in the form of cottonseed oil), was found by Canadian doctors in the blood of 93% of pregnant women and 80% of the umbilical blood of their babies.

#2 The authors of the Canadian study conclude that the women and their babies were exposed to Monsanto’s GMO Bt-toxin through a “normal” non-organic Canadian diet, including non-organic (so-called “natural” and “conventional”) meat, egg, and dairy products from animals fed Bt corn.

#3 Monsanto’s GMO “Bt” corn and cotton plants are engineered to produce a insecticide in every cell of the plant that kills insects by breaking open their stomachs.

#4 Mice fed Monsanto’s Bt corn had elevated levels of immune system substances that are also higher in humans who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, allergies, Lou Gehrig’s disease, autoimmune disease, and colitis.

#5 Young mice in the same study had elevated T-cells, which are increased in people with asthma, and in children with food allergies, juvenile arthritis, and connective tissue diseases.

#6 Monsanto’s GMO Bt-toxin has properties of known allergens – it actually fails the World Health Organization’s allergen screening tests.

#7 Monsanto’s GMO Bt-toxin has been found to bind with the small intestines in mice and with intestinal tissue in rhesus monkeys.

#8 In addition to its GMO “Bt” crops which are engineered to produce insecticide, Monsanto also produces GMO “RoundUp Ready” crops, engineered with a bacterial DNA that allows it to survive otherwise deadly doses of its herbicide RoundUp.

#9 In the only human feeding study ever published on GMOs, Monsanto’s GMO ““RoundUp Ready” soybeans were found to transfer Monsanto’s “RoundUp Ready” DNA to the bacteria living inside human intestines.

#10 According to Jeffrey Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology, the transfer of Monsanto’s GMO Bt DNA to human digestive bacteria could create a “living pesticide factory” that could be responsible for the “increase in gastrointestinal problems, autoimmune diseases, food allergies, and childhood learning disorders – since 1996 when Bt crops came on the market.”

How to Avoid GMO’s in Your Food

Learn More

Savvy Vegetarian Non-GMO Articles

His timely and well researched article shows how Round-Up’s side effects are just as horrible as the effects of GMO’s on our health and the environment.  Many people have the idea that when you apply Roundup to weeds, it just magically disappears them, without harm to the soil or to other plants. Not true. Roundup is an extremely toxic chemical cocktail. 

Excerpts from Jeffrey Smith’s article on Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide:

While visiting a seed corn dealer’s demonstration plots in Iowa last fall, Dr. Don Huber walked past a soybean field and noticed a distinct line separating severely diseased yellowing soybeans on the right from healthy green plants on the left (see photo). The yellow section was suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a serious plant disease that ravaged the Midwest in 2009 and ’10, driving down yields and profits. Something had caused that area of soybeans to be highly susceptible and Don had a good idea what it was.

Don’s a scientist; it takes more than a few photos for him to draw conclusions. But Don’s got more—lots more. For over 20 years, Don studied Roundup’s active ingredient glyphosate. He’s one of the world’s experts. And he can rattle off study after study that eliminate any doubt that glyphosate is contributing not only to the huge increase in SDS, but to the outbreak of numerous other diseases. (See selected reading list.)

More than 30% of all herbicides sprayed anywhere contain glyphosate—the world’s bestselling weed killer. It was patented by Monsanto for use in their Roundup brand, which became more popular when they introduced “Roundup Ready” crops starting in 1996. These genetically modified (GM) plants, which now include soy, corn, cotton, canola, and sugar beets, have inserted genetic material from viruses and bacteria that allows the crops to withstand applications of normally deadly Roundup.

Monsanto incentivizes farmers who buy Roundup Ready seeds to also use the company’s Roundup brand of glyphosate. For example, they only provide warranties on the approved herbicide brands and offer discounts through their “Roundup Rewards” program. This has extended the company’s grip on the glyphosate market, even after its patent expired in 2000.)*

The herbicide doesn’t destroy plants directly. It rather cooks up a unique perfect storm of conditions that revs up disease-causing organisms in the soil, and at the same time wipes out plant defenses against those diseases. The mechanisms are well-documented but rarely cited.

On top of this perfect storm, the USDA now wants to approve Roundup Ready alfalfa, which will exacerbate this calamity. Please tell USDA Secretary Vilsack not to approve Monsanto’s alfalfa today.

Read the full article

Article excerpt from A Month Without Monsanto, published 8.26.10 by

YES! Magazine, via CommonDreams.org

Author April Dávila wondered what it would take to cut the GMO giant, Monsanto, and GMO foods out of her family’s life. She found that Monsanto was far more entrenched in our food supply than she’d ever realized.

“Unfortunately, with the exception of a few national brands (check out Annie’s, Inc. Massa Organics, and Lundberg Farms for a good start), there is no easy way to avoid Monsanto and genetically modified foods.”

Good First Steps

While it’s extremely difficult to entirely avoid Monsanto and gmo foods, there are some basic guidelines that anyone can use to minimize the GMOs in their lives.

1. Avoid processed foods & junk foods. In particular, eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from your diet and be sure to read labels. HFCS appears in everything from sodas to wheat bread.
2. Consider going vegetarian, limiting your meat consumption, or buying grass-fed varieties. Over 60 percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed cattle on polluting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in America. 
3. Buy organic dairy products. This is particularly important for the parents out there. The hormones in regular milk have been shown to bring on early puberty and are currently under investigation for contributing to a host of other health problems in our little ones.
4. Buy organic cotton when you can. Even though cotton makes up only 2.5 percent of the world’s crops, it is doused with 16 percent of the world’s pesticides. Cotton pesticides, most of which are listed as “extremely hazardous” by the World Health Organization, turn up regularly in water sources around the globe.

“What most amazed me during my month without Monsanto was the influence that one corporation had in my daily life–without me knowing anything about it. Once I started looking, Monsanto was everywhere. Once I started making the effort to avoid it, I found something else that surprised me: the confidence that comes from really knowing what I’m eating.” 

 Read More

Savvy Veg Comment: Going veg, eating local, having a garden, buying organic food, cooking from scratch, avoiding processed food, are all the ways that my family avoids GMOs in our diet. Knowing that almost all processed foods contain GMOs is strong motivation! Stronger motivation yet is knowing about the nature of GMOs – what they are, and their far-reaching potential for harm in our lives.

More Info on GMOs

Processed foods contain health hazards including genetically modified organisms, high fructose corn syrup, TVP, MSG and various ingredients which are other names for MSG

 
Humans have been processing their food in various ways for thousands of years, right? Freezing, drying, preserving and canning come to mind.

So what’s the problem? I recently sampled a brand of veggie burger which shall remain anonymous as there isn’t much to choose between the various brands.

I found the veggie burger tasty, then I dug deeply into the ingredient list. My research strengthened my resolve, never to eat a “processed food” that has more than three or four ingredients, ones that I know are safe for me to eat.

Take a look at the long list of ingredients on most packages of processed foods, and you won’t find much actual food. What food there is has had the life processed right out of it, beyond recognition. Then there are all the ingredients whose names we can’t pronounce, and hidden ingredients the manufacturers don’t want us to know about.

The 100% hidden ingredient in processed food is genetically modified organisms or GMOs:

The main GMO crops are soy and corn, abundant in most processed foods in various forms: e.g. HFCS or high fructose corn syrup, TVP (soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate), soy sauce, preservatives and flavor enhancers like modified corn starch, xanthan gum, yeast extract and maltodextrin.

Jeffrey M. Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology, Explains Why GMOs Are Bad For You:

“Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are the result of laboratory processes which artificially insert foreign genes into the DNA of food crops or animals. Those genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Although banned by food manufacturers in Europe and elsewhere, the FDA does not require any safety evaluations. Most Americans say they would not eat GMOs if labeled, but the U.S. does not require labeling. GMOs are not safe, but have been in the food supply since 1996 and are now present in the vast majority of processed foods in the US.”

“Genetically modified foods are linked to toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals. (See summary in Jeffrey M. Smith’s book Genetic Roulette)

For more information on GMO’s, browse our Non-GMO Articles Index.

Another common ingredient,  mostly hidden, in processed foods is MSG:

That’s right, even if MSG isn’t listed on the processed food label, chances are very very good, it’s in there, and lots of it. How else could they get us to want to eat that stuff?

According to MSGTruth, the following, present in many processed foods, contain MSG: autolyzed yeast  extract (found in many processed AMERICAN foods), TVP or textured vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, soy sauce, carageenan, dough conditioners (e.g Microgard), mushrooms (naturally high in free glutamate), “natural flavors” (may contain up to 20% msg).

The Fit Shack tells why MSG is so bad for us and makes us fat:

“I first learned a little bit more about MSG while reading the book “You On A Diet“. There is a small side line about it on page 117 that states that MSG may influence the body’s metabolism in a negative way. It “over stimulates the glutamine receptors of the brain”, which means that it heightens the salty and sweet tastes of the dish containing MSG, while at the same time, it dampens the bitter and sour tastes. Interestingly enough, MSG “may cause us to eat more” (Remember my post on HFCS? It does the same thing), and it can also cause higher levels of insulin to be produced.”

1. MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. As mentioned above, “You On A Diet” pointed this out, however on MSGTruth, it is made a bit clearer to me. You see, MSG stimulates the pancreas to release insulin into the blood stream even when there are not any carbohydrates in the dish for the insulin to act on.

Your blood sugar ends up dropping because of this flood of insulin, and then you end up hungry again an hour or so later. Reading this gave me a “Wow” moment because of that saying “No matter how much Chinese food you eat, you still end up hungry an hour later.” I never connected this with the additive MSG. This really gives you something to think about, especially if you are working on losing weight.

2. MSG tricks your body into thinking that the food you are eating is nutritious, even if it is not. The reason for this is that your taste buds detect the free glutamic acid that is in MSG. In “taste bud language”, this translates to “hey, there’s protein in this food I’m tasting!”. Therefore, your brain gets the signal that the food you are eating is actually nutritious, while more than likely, it is not.

The pervasive pairing of fat and salt:

Processed food, including fast food, often is loaded with fat and salt, because that’s what makes it taste so good. It’s also what makes you fat, clogs your arteries, and aggravates high blood pressure, putting you at risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke. If you have a lot of processed foods in your diet, chances are very good that your intake of fat and salt is far beyond the recommended daily limit. 2400 mg of sodium is 100% of the RDA. So is 16 grams of saturated fat.   There is no RDA for trans fat – i.e. you shouldn’t eat any if you can help it.    In comparing a daily omnivore menu with a vegetarian menu - both reasonably healthy – we found that adding a hamburger and fries to  an otherwise reasonable healthy daily diet boosted fat and sodium into the danger zone. Substitute more processed and fast food at other meals, and you could easily get double or triple the RDA for fat and sodium. Read the labels, or save yourself the trouble and just say no to processed food.

And then, there’s High Fructose Corn Syrup:

Even though the veggie burgers I sampled didn’t have high fructose corn syrup, it’s in so many processed foods, I had to talk about it.

We all know by now that HFCS is bad for you, but we’re a little fuzzy on the details, and we don’t realize how widespread it’s use in processed foods. And HFCS is also a hidden food, often listed only as “sugars”. I searched onHFCS and here’s what I found out:

First of all, High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from GMO corn. See Institute for Responsible Technology for why this is bad. Second, during the manufacturing process,HFCS is contaminated by mercury, which puts you in danger of mercury poisoning if you eat a lot of processed foods containing HFCS. Children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable.

An excellent article, by Christopher R. Mohr, MS, RD, LDN provided a lot of useful information about HFCS.

Common Foods High in HFCS

• Regular soft drinks
• Fruit juice and fruit drinks that are not 100 percent juice
• Pancake syrups
• Popsicles
• Fruit-flavored yogurts
• Frozen yogurts
• Ketchup and BBQ sauces
• Jarred and canned pasta sauces
• Canned soups
• Canned fruits (if not in its own juice)
• Breakfast cereals
• Highly sweetened breakfast cereals

Problems Caused by Too Much HFCS

• It can lead to higher caloric intake
• It can lead to an increase in bodyweight
• It fools your body into thinking it’s hungry
• It increases the amount of processed foods you eat, thereby decreasing your intake of nutrient-dense foods
• It may increase insulin resistance and triglycerides

Here’s Chris Mohr’s advice on how to avoid HFCS:

If HFCS is one of the first ingredients listed on a food label, don’t eat it. Make a mental list of the worst culprits, such as regular soft drinks and many highly sweetened breakfast cereals. HFCS alone won’t make you fat, but when HFCS is high on the ingredient list, the food is not the best choice. As part of a lifestyle that has many of us eating too much and moving too little, we’re putting our health at risk if we don’t choose our foods carefully.

So what’s the answer? It’s easy. Avoid HFCS by reading food labels and shopping the grocery store’s perimeter: Produce is on one side, seafood, meat and poultry on another, and dairy products, eggs and bread on the third. Avoid the center aisles, which are mostly stocked with highly processed foods.

The more you stick to fresh whole foods and avoid commercial and highly processed foods, the less HFCS you will consume.

Savvy Veg Note: Eating a healthy vegetarian diet with lots of fresh fruit and veg, nuts & seeds, legumes and whole grains, is a great way to avoid not only HFCS, but also GMOs, MSG, and excessive fat and salt.

I am fanatical about eating only non-gmo foods. I’ve heard there are a few foods one has to be careful about: potatoes, tomatoes, soy, yellow squash, corn, canola oil. Are there others?

A friend recently told me there is a problem with strawberries–they may be genetically modified.

Could you please tell me what you know about strawberries re: gmo (quickly, if possible; I love them–but will not buy any more until I hear about this.)

Do you have a list of foods that one must be careful about re: gmo?

Thanks. C. C.

Savvy Vegetarian Advice:

Hi C. C. Thanks for writing!

As far as I know strawberries are not genetically modified. But that doesn’t mean that they’re safe to eat. They’re on the Top 10 list of foods contaminated with pesticides. Try to get organic strawberries if you can’t live without them.

GMOs are present in 75% of processed foods. That’s because most of those foods have some form of soy, corn or canola oil – e.g. soy protein isolates or high fructose corn syrup. That’s why you should buy organic, and make your own food from scratch, as much as possible. Most fruit and veg, grains and beans are not genetically modified, so far, with the exception of some (not all) potatoes, squash and papaya. Blue corn isn’t GM. Most animal foods – meat, poultry, eggs and dairy are from animals that are fed GM corn and soybeans. So going vegetarian is also a good idea.

GM foods have never been adequately tested, have never been shown to be safe for human consumption, and the scientists who have spoken out that they’re NOT safe have been fired, threatened, ignored, shunned and hushed up. Here’s an article which explains why GMOs are extremely dangerous: Campaign For Healthier Eating In America, by Jeffrey M. Smith

The trouble is that there are no labels to tell consumers when foods have GMOs! If there were, that would put Monsanto etc out of business pretty fast. Most people are not aware that they’re eating GMOs and get pretty upset when they find out. After all, who wants to be an involuntary participant in a dangerous and illegal mass food experiment? Not me!

Here is the Institute For Responsible Technology’s Non-GMO Shopping Guide – also available as a PDF download.

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian