GMO Food Labeling...Why Isn't It?

There is a ballot initiative in California to require labeling of genetically engineered (GE or GMO) foods. While there are lots of supporters, there is a consensus that there is not much hope that this initiative will get passed.  There just doesn't seem to be enough consumer awareness of the risks of GMO food or how wide spread GE ingredients are used in the food we all consume.  Why is that?  My husband forwarded me this great article on why GMO foods may not be in the media as much as some of us would like. The author, JD Rucker, did his research and came up with 4 big reasons why it isn't.

The first reason is that there is simply too much information, i.e., information overload.  There are too many other worrisome topics being covered in the news, the loss of jobs, healthcare, the withdrawal of troops and upcoming elections to name but a few.  If GMO food was such a big deal, how come someone isn't screaming about the risks from the roof tops.

Which brings me to his second reason, and to paraphrase the author, if GMO foods are so dangerous, how come people aren't falling over on their soy lattes?  The dangers aren't immediate, but there are many, cancer, fertility issues and food allergies immediately come to mind.  Rucker is right though.  If people were killing over on a regular basis, that would be news. Giving people statistics on research studies and declining health trends does not make an interesting story.

The third reason is that neither the mass media or the US government want to get on the bad side of Monsanto (which is why few are screaming about the risks from the roof tops).  While organizations like Organic Consumers Association are out there battling the giant, with campaigns like "Millions Against Monsanto", there is very little press from the big networks and media outlets.  Rucker found this video that he thinks explains it loud and clear.  It's worth watching.

The final reason why GMO food risks are being ignored is the impact to the cost of our food.  If consumers knew the risks and were no longer willing to purchase 80% of the food in our grocery stores which were now labeled for GMO ingredients, what would happen to the food supply? Governmental officials would have to commit to stronger protection measures with new regulations, farmers would have to go back to traditional growing methods and food prices would soar.

I loved finding this link to an infographic outlining the threats to our food. Click here to see it full size. It takes a fairly complicated subject and makes it easy to understand.

"GMO Film Project"

Here's a link to a 6 minute preview of a movie currently untitled, but referenced as the "GMO Film Project." This short clip is quite impacting, and I hope you'll take the time to view it. How is it that the people of a 3rd world country devastated by an earthquake understand the dangers of GMOs, while the majority of the people in the US don't know and/or don't care? Here's the introduction summary:

THE GMO FILM PROJECT tells the story of a father's discovery of GMOs through the symbolic act of poor Haitian farmers burning seeds in defiance of Monsanto's gift of 475 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds to Haiti shortly after the devastating earthquake of January 2010. After a journey to Haiti to learn why hungry farmers would burn seeds, the real awakening of what has happened to our food in the US, what we are feeding our families, and what is at stake for the global food supply unfolds in a trip across the United States and other countries in search of answers. Are we at a tipping point? Is it time to take back our food? The encroaching darkness of unknown health and environmental risks, seed take over, chemical toxins, and food monopoly meets with the light of a growing resistance of organic farmers, concerned citizens, and a burgeoning movement to take back what we have lost.

Today in the United States, by the simple act of feeding ourselves, we unwittingly participate in the largest experiment ever conducted on human beings. Massive agro-chemical companies like Monsanto (Agent Orange) and Dow (Napalm) are feeding us genetically-modified food, GMOs, that have never been fully tested and aren't labeled. This small handful of corporations is tightening their grip on the world's food supply—buying, modifying, and patenting seeds to ensure total control over everything we eat. We still have time to heal the planet, feed the world, and live sustainably. But we have to start now!

Healthy Lunches

I was reading an article in the Natural Awakenings Magazine recently about school lunch nutrition when I came across a staggering statistic. In an interview with Chef Ann, author of several books and advocate for improving student menu plans, I read that "some studies indicate that children born in 2000 may die at a younger age than their parents because of the food they eat."  Is that not a mouth-dropping statistic?

Apparently, it was a prognostication made by the Centers for Disease Control. I searched the CDC website last night, and couldn't find reference to the study. I would have liked to have read or least skimmed the study in its entirety.

Here's another statistic for us parents with young girls.  From Michigan State University, "girls eating a high-fat diet during puberty, even those who do not become overweight or obese, may be at a greater risk of developing breast cancer later in life."  What our kids eat now is definitely setting the foundation for their health as adults.

I've often joined Abigail for lunch and have seen what they serve in the cafeteria... pizza, nachos, mac 'n cheese, chicken patties, burgers, hot dogs, french fries, tater tots and chocolate milk.  I understand that for many children in this country, this is the best meal they're going to eat in a given day.  I also understand that it needs to be inexpensive.  But, does it have to be highly processed, high in fat, salt and sugar, full of genetically modified ingredients and additives?  These foods lead to cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes.  Should we not look hard at that statistic and invest in our children and their future?  We don't live in a 3rd world country. Why should our life expectancy be on the decline?

Now, in case you are sitting there thinking that you ate pizza, french fries and drank chocolate milk when you were in school and you are in good shape and healthy, let me just say that you ate real pizza and french fries and drank real milk.  That's the difference. There is nothing real about what is served in most cafeterias or packed in most lunchboxes.  1996 was the year that genetically modified/ engineered soy was introduced.  By the year 2000 (note the year), 54% of all soybeans harvested in the US were genetically modified up from 7% in 1996.  GMO corn made up 25% of the corn harvested in 2000.  That's up from 1.5% in 1996.  These numbers have done nothing but climb. Think high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oil, canola & vegetable oil, modified food starch, maltodextrin, soy lecithin to name just a few.  All ingredients commonly found in our food, and unless organic, all derived from genetically modified crops.  Don't forget the milk and cheese.  1994 was the year rbST was introduced.  By 2000, approximately 1/3 of dairy cows were in herds supplemented with rbST.

I only let Abigail purchase lunch from the cafeteria one day a week. On that day I even encourage her to take her water bottle as opposed to purchasing a milk.  If I had my way, she wouldn't eat from the cafeteria at all.  Don't get me wrong, packing lunch is no picnic at our house either. Abigail has to pack the majority of it, and would go without rather than having to take the time to put together something of substance.

She would also live off of starches and carbohydrates if I let her.  Crackers, chips, snack bars, pretzels and pastas are about all she wants to eat.  That and dairy in the form of cheese and yogurt.  Per my insistence, a typical packed lunch consists of a slice or two of ham or pepperoni (both organic), cheese stick (rbST-free) and crackers (GMO/additive-free).  If I have dip she'll eat a couple of carrots so I make an organic ranch dip.  I also insist on a fruit and purchase fruit cups in natural juice with no color or sugar additives.  Snack is usually pretzels or crackers, cereal or fruit bars (also all GMO/additive-free). One day a week, I'll heat up mac 'n cheese or toast some mini-pizzas to send in a thermos.  I try to keep a lot of other options in the pantry and the fridge, but this is what she chooses day in and day out.  If she could, she'd eat the cafeteria food every day. She's not worried about breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease and the like.  That's my job.  Educate her now, condition her to eating healthy now in hopes of it becoming an adult practice.  And, that one day a week in the cafeteria?  It's my attempt to loosen the reins a bit and not create resentment over the contents (or lack of) in our pantry.

For more reading on GMO foods, rbST and healthy eating, check out the links on either side of the blog posts.  Here are links that I used to get my statistics on year 2000 usages of GMO foods and rbST.

Peanut Clinical Trial & Heathy Eating...Why I Blog About Both!

In my last post, I shared a Top 10 list of reasons why GMO food should be labeled.  Bottom line...so that we, the consumer, can make educated decisions on the type of foods we want to purchase to feed our families. I hope you all have had a chance to read through the list. I've been blogging for months now about the hazards of eating GMO foods, and if I haven't been convincing enough, hopefully that last post helped tip the scales in my favor.

It also helps explain why I continue to mix subjects in my blog. I've often wondered if I should have separate blogs. One for healthy eating/living and another for our journey in the peanut clinical trial. However, when I come across the link between the two, for instance:

There’s already plenty of evidence that the Bt-toxin produced in GM corn and cotton plants is toxic to humans and mammals and triggers immune system responses. The fact that it flows through our blood supply, and that is passes through the placenta into fetuses, may help explain the rise in many disorders in the US since Bt crop varieties were first introduced in 1996.

In government-sponsored research in Italy, mice fed Monsanto’s Bt corn showed a wide range of immune responses. Their elevated IgE and IgG antibodies, for example, are typically associated with allergies and infections. The mice had an increase in cytokines, which are associated with “allergic and inflammatory responses.” The specific cytokines (interleukins) that were elevated are also higher in humans who suffer from a wide range of disorders, from arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, to MS and cancer.

Or this:

The young mice in the study also had elevated T cells (gamma delta), which are increased in people with asthma, and in children with food allergies, juvenile arthritis, and connective tissue diseases. The Bt corn that was fed to these mice, MON 810, produced the same Bt-toxin that was found in the blood of women and fetuses.

When rats were fed another of Monsanto’s Bt corn varieties called MON 863, their immune systems were also activated, showing higher numbers of basophils, lymphocytes, and white blood cells. These can indicate possible allergies, infections, toxins, and various disease states including cancer. There were also signs of toxicity in the liver and kidneys.

I think that I'm on the right track in keeping you guys up to date with what's going on in the world of food allergies and how the food we eat might very well be the root cause of those food allergies.

By the way, I took both of those excerpts from this article, Dangerous Toxins from Genetically Modified Plants Found in Women and Fetuses, written by Jeffrey Smith and published on the Institute of Responsible Technology website.  There's a lot of good information in the article, and I encourage you to read it in it's entirety.  In the meantime, I'll continue to research and report on both.

Top 10 Reasons to Label GMOs

Anybody else totally disturbed by this?

10 scary reasons to label GMOs:
(taken from the Organic Consumers Association, Organic Bytes #279)

#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."

I have a hard time describing what I feel when I read about GMO's. To think of the damage we are doing just by eating the very food that is supposed to sustain us.

More on this later.

Please Label GM Ingredients!

My Favorite!

I've been pretty hypocritical lately.  I've been under a lot of stress these past few weeks, and I've found myself eating junk foods that normally would be off limits because of their genetically modified ingredients.  During our house-selling/moving process, I discovered Ben & Jerry's ice cream and have personally eaten 4 pints in just as many weeks.  In fact, I even went so far as to write my name on top of a container telling my family that I was not sharing and that the container was off limits.  Ben & Jerry's has a great story to tell about their allergen labeling, their rBST-free dairy and cage-free egg ingredients and Fair Trade chocolate and vanilla.  However, on their website, they do state that they are unable to use other non-GM ingredients.

On the other hand though, I've been super worked up about the use of genetically modified ingredients and there not being a legal requirement for companies to label these ingredients.  In order to find out if Ben & Jerry's used GM ingredients, I had to do significant searching on their website.  As parents of allergic children, we're used to constantly contacting food manufacturers, so we all know it's a time-consuming process.  Now add to that finding a company's policy on the use of genetically modified ingredients.  It's no longer about just trying to avoid peanuts and tree nuts to keep Abigail safe, it's now also about trying to protect the health of my whole family.

There is a big movement right now in the organic community to pressure stores to insist their food suppliers label foods.  I think the realization is that we can't depend on our government to force the issue by passing a law.  I did do my part though by contacting my state representatives.  The target store right now is Whole Foods.  According to the article, "Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto," by Ronnie Cummings who writes for the Organic Consumers Association, "a self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of genetically engineered crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack."

What's the main reason Whole Foods surrendered?  According to the same article, "Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, because they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3rd's of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called “natural” processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs."

Here's a YouTube clip of a protester trying to get answers at a Whole Foods as to what products contained genetically modified ingredients.  Her point... if you'd require labeling, consumers could make educated purchasing decisions and the store employees would know what they were selling.  However, as a Monsanto executive stated,  If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it. 

If you're unclear abut the "natural" versus organic labeling, here's a link to an older post on my blog to get you started.

Back to to Ben & Jerry's.  While they do use GM ingredients for their US products (they've re-formulated the European flavors because of it's GMO-free requirements), they are actively, and have been for years, trying to find alternatives to GM soy and corn ingredients.  Per their website, "Our goal is to be GMO-free in both our domestic and international products. Some of the issues we are confronting at the present time are the availability of a non-GMO supply of alternatives such as corn syrup and add-ins such as candies, and certification of those supplies. Currently we cannot obtain secure free assurances from all of our suppliers."  I've got to give them some credit for trying!

GM Food and Robyn O'Brien

For the first time ever, I reached out to my elected state officials.  I expressed my support of the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act.  It's an issue that I feel extremely strong about, and I felt the need to do something. I've gotten one response, which frankly, is more than I expected.  I don't know if it will make a difference, but I feel good for having made the effort.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that I'm a big advocate of eating foods that are either organic or are not made with genetically modified ingredients.  I believe that genetically modified foods are making us sick and also play a huge role in the increase in food allergies.

Here's a link to a YouTube video featuring Robyn O'Brien, author of "The Unhealthy Truth."  That could be me standing up on stage.  Just ask my friends.  Give me an opening, and I'm going to tell you how the food you're eating is making you sick, how we are human guinea pigs, how disgusted I am at how big business is making profits at our well-being and the well-being of our children, grandchildren and future generations to come and how our government is allowing them to do so.  They'd tell you how I'd mention that over 85% of the food in our grocery stores contain GM ingredients and that food manufacturers are not required to tell us.  Like Robyn, I'm trying to make a difference one person at a time.  I get so thrilled when you guys send me e-mails telling me that reading my blog has made you change the way you eat.

So, watch the video, get fired up and help me make some changes!

Genetically Modified Foods and the Link to Allergies - Part 3

This is the final part to my series on the link between allergies and genetically modified foods.  This post focuses on why our children, newborns and pregnant women are at the biggest risk of developing long-term health concerns as a result of consuming GM foods.

Referencing the article "Moms! GMO Foods Threaten Your Children" on the Nutrition Center Research's website, here's why:

• Young, fast-developing bodies are influenced most.
• Children are more susceptible to allergies.
• Children are more susceptible to problems with milk.
• Children are more susceptible to nutritional problems.
• Children are in danger from antibiotic resistant diseases.
• Young, fast-developing bodies are influenced most.

I reviewed the Institute for Responsible Technology's list of 65 Health Risks of GM Foods for studies applicable to young children or pregnant women.  Here's one that stood out for me.

In this particular study, female lab rats were given GM soy before conception and continuing through pregnancy and weaning.  Here are the conclusions:

1. Of the offspring, 55.6% died within three weeks compared to 9% from non-GM soy controls.
2. Some pups from GM-fed mothers were significantly smaller and both mothers and pups were more aggressive.
3. In a separate study, after a lab began feeding rats a commercial diet containing GM soy, offspring mortality reached 55.3%.
4. When offspring from GM-fed rats were mated together, they were unable to conceive.

In the article, Genetically Engineered Foods Pose Health Risk for Children, written by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, a UK government-funded study demonstrated that young rats fed a GM potato developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, damaged immune systems, partial atrophy of the liver, and inhibited development of their brains, livers and testicles. When the lead scientist went public with his concerns, he was promptly fired from his job after 35 years and silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

According to that same article, differences in GM food will likely have a much larger impact on children because they are three to four times more susceptible to allergies. Children convert more of the food into body-building material. Altered nutrients or added toxins can result in developmental problems. Here are a couple more blurbs..

Kids are regularly fed GM soy-based infant formula. The digestive capacity of small children is less than adults, suggesting that more GM DNA might survive with more transgenes ending up inside gut bacteria or possibly inside organs.

What about corn genetically engineered to create its own pesticide? If the inserted gene were to transfer from the corn that children eat into their gut bacteria, it could theoretically transform their intestinal flora into living pesticide factories.

Children prone to ear and other infections may be at risk of facing antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, due to the use of antibiotic resistant genes.

Milk and dairy products from cows treated with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH) contain an increased amount of the hormone IGF-1, which is one of the highest risk factors associated with breast and prostate cancer. “rbGH and its digested products could be absorbed from milk into blood, particularly in infants, and produce hormonal and allergic effects, i.e., premature growth and breast stimulation in infants.”

I did a lot of cutting and pasting in this post which I really hate to do.  There's a lot more information to further explain these blurbs that I pulled from the article written by Jeffrey Smith.  I'd encourage you to read it in it's entirety.

One last thought to leave you with.  While we have the choice to limit our childrens' exposure to GM foods by packing safe lunches, what about the children that depend on the school system for hot lunches and often breakfast too?  Wonder about the quality of food our kids are getting for $2.00 (or that matter, us, on the $$  menu in fast food restaurants)?  You can bet it's below par.  Here's one more reference article published on the Center for Environmental Education's website outlining how school food effects the health of students.

Genetically Modified Foods and the Link to Allergies - Part 2

I've struggled with writing this post. I'm not a scientist, doctor or other type of medical or allergy specialist. I'm just a mom that's spent the last 6 1/2 years trying to learn everything I can about my daughter's peanut allergy.

Information regarding the link between genetically modified foods and allergies is not only hard for me to fully comprehend, but it's even harder to put those thoughts together in a post without simply cutting and pasting from other resources.  I'm going to try hard not to, but here's credit in advance to the articles I'm referring to to write this post.  Here goes.

In it's simplest form, GM food is food that has had genes from other plants, bacteria and viruses inserted into it's genetic structure. This in turn creates a new protein that may/may not have been present before which may/may not trigger an allergic reaction.

It's considered inhumane to test these newly formed proteins in GM foods on humans prior to releasing it into our food supply.  I find it ironic that it is considered okay to put it on our grocery store shelves in the form of a processed food ingredient and then wait to see what happens. Because it takes humans eating a food several times before the protein causes us to be allergic, there is really no good way to then go back and see if a particular engineered food is the culprit.

I'm going to use GM soybeans as an example of why there is a possible link between GM foods and allergies simply because that's the one used by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) in their article, "Genetically Engineered Foods May Cause Rising Food Allergies".  There are plenty of examples with other GM crops like corn, cottonseed, sugar beets, canola, Hawaiian papaya, some zucchini and crook neck squash.

The GM soybean was created in the U.S. in 1996 by using a bacteria that formed a new protein that's never before been consumed by a human. Scientist must run all newly formed proteins through an International database comparing it's amino sequence with amino sequences that have been known to trigger allergic reactions.  If known allergens are found to be present, it is required that either additional testing be performed or that the GM crop not be released. In the case of the GM soybean, there were sections of a protein that are identical to known allergens, but the crop was released prior to the creation of the database.

For us dealing specifically with peanut allergies, there is at least one known protein in natural soybeans that has a cross-reactivity with peanut allergies.  Whether genetically modified soybeans might increase that chance of cross-reactivity remains to be seen.  It's certainly coincidence that the number of peanut allergies has doubled in the years following the introduction of GM soybeans.

According to the OCA, another study verified that GM soybeans contain a unique, unexpected protein, not found in non-GM soy controls.  Scientist tested that protein and determined that it reacted with the IgE antibody which is responsible for allergic reactions. "The fact that the unique protein created by GM soy  interacted with IgE suggests that it might also trigger allergies."

Using a question posed from the article "Ah-tchoo!: Do Genetically Modified Foods Cause Allergies" written on emagazine.com, if you are allergic to fish and you eat a tomato that has been genetically modified with genes from a fish, is it then possible that you would then react as if you'd eaten fish?  According to that article by OCA, it is.  The OCA article gives this example. In the mid 1990's, there was an attempt to produce healthier soybeans by using a gene from Brazil nuts.  Blood tests from people with allergies to Brazil nuts showed an allergic reaction to this new soybean.  This was one case where the product never went to market.

While there is really no concrete evidence here in the U.S. to prove a link between GM foods and allergies as well as other health dangers, there have been limited studies in other countries. Funny how those same countries both restrict the use of GM crops grown as well as require imported GM food from the U.S. to be labeled accordingly.  By the way, why aren't GM foods tested in the U.S.?  According to that article in emagazine.com, the FDA (Richard Herndon, an FDA spokesperson) says that it doesn't subject GM foods to the same testing as, for example, a new chemical additive, because new gene introductions do not "materially change the composition" of food.  "FDA has no basis for concluding that bio-engineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding."

I hope all of this information has at least got you thinking about a possible link between food allergies and genetically modified foods.  I urge you to continue to do your own research about all of the possible health risks with eating these types of foods as well as to follow the links in the posts and read the reference articles in their entirety.   Also, here's a link to a past post I wrote about avoiding GM foods.  There's more information in that post on health hazards as well as tips to avoid GM foods.

Author Note:  I just found an Organic Soy Scorecard on The Cornucopia Institute's website.  It rates companies on their organic soy production.

Genetically Modified Foods and the Link to Allergies - Part 1

There are not many subjects that get me as worked up as the subject of genetically modified food.  The fact that one company has decided that their bottom line is more important than the health of the world's people and the future of our country and that a handful of U.S. governmental agencies have decided that it's more important to protect that business than to prevent their constituents from becoming human guinea pigs absolutely infuriates me.  Not only are we all at risk of damaged immune systems and digestive systems, infertility and increased risks of cancer, to name a few, but GM foods might actually also be the cause of the food allergy epidemic.  And, our beloved children face the greatest risk of all.

It all started in the 1990's when Monsanto determined a way to boost the sale of their product, RoundUp.  By gene-splicing corn, soy, cotton and canola with foreign DNA, Monsanto scientist were able to create a plant that could survive massive doses of RoundUp allowing farmers to repeatedly spray their crops.  Now,
 75 million acres, or 85%, of U.S. corn production is GM, 72 million acres or 91% of U.S. soy is GM, 8.8 million acres or 88% of U.S. cotton is GM, 3.2 million acres or 85% of U.S. Canola is GM and 1.2 million acres or 95% of U.S. sugar beets is GM.  Eighty percent of these crops get converted to animal feed and end up in our beef, dairy and eggs.  The other 20% ends up on our grocery stores shelves in the form of non-organic processed foods.  Just reading these facts on the Organic Consumer Association's "Millions Against Monsanto" link makes me nauseous.  The reach of GM food and the resulting damage is far too extensive to cover in a couple of posts.

Why do we stand for it?  Only a fourth of all Americans even realize that we are eating this toxic food.  There's no labeling laws requiring GM foods to be identified.  If that was the case, over 80% of the foods found on our store shelves would have to have a warning label

Avoiding it takes knowledge and time, at least in the beginning.  I've heard from family and friends that have decided after reading my blog to take the challenge to make shopping changes in order to avoid foods made with GM ingredients.  I think the goal to completely avoid GM food is next to impossible to achieve.  For our family, I try to just minimize how much we eat.  I will say that now that I know the health risks, I find it extremely difficult to put an item I know to contain GM ingredients in my grocery cart.  I'd rather do without.

I'm hoping that I've given you enough food for thought, no pun intended, to also consider making a New Year's Resolution to learn about the risks of GM food, what brands are the biggest users of GM ingredients and what steps you and your family can take to minimize the intake of GM food.  If I haven't, maybe this list published by the Institute of Responsible Technology giving 65 Health Risks of GM Foods will.  My personal goal for 2011 is to now tackle our restaurant exposure.

I still want to touch on why our kids are at biggest risk as well as cover the link between GM foods and allergies.  Those topics are too big to cover in this post so there's a Part 2 and Part 3 still to come.

Thanks for giving me a minute to get up on my soapbox!

Kellogg's and Kashi

If you're kept up to date by the Organic Consumer's Association, then this is old news; however, with an image like this, I find it very fitting to write this post here at Halloween.

Recently the OCA asked that consumers join them in boycotting Kellogg's based on their use of genetically engineered ingredients.  The catalyst for the boycott was a response received by a Kellogg's Consumer Specialist excusing the use of these ingredients by stating that because organic ingredients are subject to cross-pollination with other genetically modified (GM) ingredients than there's no need to bother eliminating the GM ingredients...or something to that effect.  I've copied the response from the OCA Take Action Alert:

Thank you for your comments regarding the use of biotechnology ingredients. Like you, we want only the best ingredients to go into our products.

Biotech ingredients are safe and have become common in the open market. Sixty to seventy percent of packaged foods in the U.S. include biotechnology crops. Even organic ingredients can contain biotech ingredients due to cross-pollination.

We use biotech ingredients based on the backing of groups including the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the American Medical Association that confirm there are no safety concerns.

Given that I was already unofficially boycotting Kellogg's, having already removed their products from our grocery cart due to their use of GM ingredients, this was no big sacrifice.  That is until I realized that Kellogg's owned Kashi.  Now it's an entirely different story.

I like the Kashi products and have highlighted them in past posts.  A big reason for that is I feel that the company is very responsible in their food allergen labeling, that their product is a healthy alternative to the main stream brands and that the company has a great focus on the environment and sustainability.  In a company profile, I learned that Kashi itself isn't a big company (if you take Kellogg's out of the equation) consisting of just 70 employees.  I had my suspicions about their use of GM products so I limited our purchases to their breakfast cereals.  My kids like the cereals and don't complain when they're served it for breakfast instead of something with an animal mascot on the front of the box.  Frankly, it's quite hard to find cereal that meets my high standards and is also safe for Abigail.  Most "organic" cereals are processed in a plant with other peanut products.

I recently contacted Kashi about their use of GM ingredients, and got the following response:

Thank you for contacting us about our products and the use of genetically modified organisms. At Kashi Company we believe in providing pure, delicious, minimally processed foods for our consumers.

The basis for our product line is our proprietary blend of Seven Whole Grains & Sesame. The whole grains include oats, long grain brown rice, hard red winter wheat, rye, buckwheat, barley, and triticale. None of these grains are commonly harvested using genetically modified organisms.

We do not voluntarily source ingredients that are genetically modified. Due to cross-pollination at the level of the farm and manufacturer it has created an environment in North America where GM is not sufficiently controlled therefore we cannot guarantee that the ingredients we source are GMO free.

Certified organic products are grown using non-GM seeds, but even organic products face significant challenges when it comes to controlling for contamination. Kashi does offer an organic line of cereals called Organic Promise™. 

I can see the Kellogg's influence in their statement concerning the cross-pollination of non-GM plants.  In addition to my reply, here's a link to a message board discussing Kashi's ingredient sources for some of their other product lines.

Here's what I decided.  My favorite cereal is the Organic Promise Cinnamon Harvest cereal and my kids go through a box of Oat Flakes & Blueberry Clusters every couple of days.  My cereal is organic, and the kid's cereal is made using their blend of whole grains none of which are high on the GMO list.  I've found a couple of other safe cereals at Trader Joe's that I now purchase in large quantities to add some variety.  As for the rest of the Kashi products, I don't purchase those anymore.

It makes me both sad and mad at the same time that this much thought, effort and research has to go into the food we purchase.  I'm also disappointed to find an otherwise healthy line of food made toxic by the use of genetically modified ingredients.  Kashi, take note....there are other really good food manufacturers doing what it takes to ensure that they use quality, organic ingredients.  And, as soon as Abigail finishes this clinical trial, and can eat foods processed in a plant that uses peanuts, we're switching!!

Generation Monsanto

We've had a very busy weekend celebrating my son's 3rd birthday and getting ready for Abigail's food challenge at Duke this week.  I'll post more on both topics tomorrow and Wednesday, but I wanted to pass on an e-mail update that I received last week from the Organic Consumers Association.  It's gives an excellent look at the current state of genetically modified foods and the impact on our children.  It's a call to require labeling of all GMO foods.  Here's the article, taken directly from the OCA e-mail and also found on Huffington Post.  It's definitely worth the read:

Generation Monsanto (GM) - Why We Need Labels on GM Foods Now

Gen-M, the first Monsanto Generation of humans force-fed genetically modified foods hasn't reached reproductive age yet (they were born in the late 1990s). But, if a critical mass of animal feeding studies are any indication, the millennial generation, reared on Food Inc.'s unlabeled "Frankenfoods" can look forward to a long-term epidemic of cancer, food allergies, learning disabilities, sterility, and birth defects.

Corn (85% of U.S. production is GM), soy (91% GM), cotton (88% GM), canola (85% GM) and sugar beets (95% GM) are all genetically engineered by Monsanto to withstand massive doses of the company's glyphosate herbicide RoundUp, or else to exude their own pesticide, Bacillus Thuriengensis (Bt). RoundUp, the favorite weedkiller poison of non-organic farmers and gardeners, causes brain, intestinal and heart defects in fetuses. And scientists warn that RoundUp, the most extensively used herbicide in the history of agriculture, "may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious." In addition, hundreds of thousands of US dairy cows are injected with genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone (developed by Monsanto) in spite of studies linking BGH with cancer, and longstanding bans on the drug in the EU, Japan, Canada, and most industrialized nations.

With genetically modified foods and crops threatening public health and the environment, not to mention the next generation's reproductive capacity, why isn't there a massive consumer outcry to restrain Monsanto's biotech bullying and ban genetically engineered foods and agriculture?

The answer is disturbingly simple. Collusion between Monsanto and elected public officials (including the current Obama Administration) has obscured the fact that almost all non-organic foods in the US contain GMOs. Despite poll after poll indicating that 85-95% of US consumers want mandatory labels on foods containing GMOs, Congress has heretofore listened to Monsanto and corporate agribusiness, rather than their own constituents. In the European Union, Japan, or South Korea, where GM foods must be labeled, there are no GM foods on grocery story shelves (and little or none served in restaurants), since most consumers would not buy them and a significant number would complain if they saw GMO labels on products. Consequently there are very few GM crops being cultivated in the EU (mainly a small amount of corn in Spain for animal feed).

Most Americans simply do not understand that 80% of non-organic supermarket processed foods (basically every product containing soy, corn, canola, cottonseed oil, or sugar beet derivatives) are contaminated with GMOs. While nearly everyone in North America has eaten genetically modified foods, only 26% believe that they have.

People don't think they're eating genetically modified foods because they have no way of knowing whether they are or not. Genetically modified foods aren't labeled.

If we're going to save this generation from reproductive dysfunction and save our farmland from the ravages of RoundUp, we need to stop Monsanto.

The first step is to protect consumers' right to know whether their food is genetically modified.

We need genetically modified food labeled now!

Write your Congresspersons and 2010 candidates for the House and Senate. Tell them to support mandatory labeling of all genetically modified foods.

Another Reason to Shop Trader Joe's

I've written how much I love to shop at Trader Joe's.  I've also written that I'm frustrated that there are so many products that are not safe for Abigail to eat because they are manufactured on shared equipment or in the same facility with other peanut/tree nut products.  That being said, I do have to commend them for their voluntary labeling policy.  On Trader Joe's website, they discuss their allergen labeling policy which includes a statement about their supplier's Good Manufacturing Practices.  At our house, we're zero tolerance on labeling, so regardless, we don't purchase these products.

I recently contacted Trader Joe's about their use of genetically modified ingredients.  They just gave me a really good reason to continue to make my monthly trips across town.  As if I needed another one! Here's their response:

Our customers can be assured that all products in Trader Joe's private  label are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients. Our efforts began in 2001, when we determined that, given a choice, our customers would prefer to eat foods and beverages made without the use of  genetically engineered ingredients. Our process has been to identify any product containing ingredients that could potentially be derived from genetically engineered crops and work with our suppliers to replace offending ingredients with acceptable alternatives.

Please know that because this is a standard for Trader Joe's products we do not highlight or place a Non GMO statement on our products.

How awesome is that!  I can purchase Non-GMO, Organic, rBST-free and other Natural products for prices less than a lot of processed foods.

Trader Joe's hasn't endorsed this review.  I write this because I'm a huge advocate for eating healthy and want to share any tips I have to make it easier to do so.  But...I wouldn't be opposed if they would advertise on my site or do a give-away.  I might just have to ask them!

Grocery Shopping Woes

Grocery Shopping is no longer easy.  Not that it's always been a walk in the park...especially those trips where both kids are with me.  But, now that I'm reading labels not only for peanut allergens, but also for GMO's, rBST, artificial colors, sweeteners, etc., it's become a major, time-consuming effort.  I've gotten pretty good about knowing what products meet our family guidelines.  It's just that I can't purchase them all at one store.  In fact, I now shop at seven different stores.

Our Sunday School class is doing the Crown Financial Study.  My husband and I have started to take a close look at our day to day expenses.  I was pleased to see that eating healthy hasn't increased our food expenditures by a huge amount.  What was shocking was to see that I had made over 21 trips to a grocery store in a one month period.  Quite frankly, I've got better things to do with my time!

Here's what's happening.  I love Trader Joe's.  The prices are very reasonable and their foods meet our healthy eating requirements.  However, because of Abigail's peanut allergy, I can't purchase any of their breads, the majority of their boxed products (cereal, snack bars, etc.), a good many of their baking items, a lot of their frozen items or any of their cookies or other sweet treats.  So, at Trader Joe's, I stock up on what I can, but that leaves a ton of items that I have to purchased elsewhere. They also have the best price on organic produce, but it's a 30 minute drive to the closest store so I only make the trip once a month.  That leaves me looking for everything else we need at the other 6 stores that I shop.

I should explain that the reason we haven't seen a huge increase in our food budget even though we are purchasing organic, natural and peanut free is because I shop at so many different stores.  For instance, I stop into Food Lion to purchase our Jone's Colas.  They're just $2.99 versus $4.99 at Harris Teeter.  Wal-Mart carries a few organic products and have the best prices on those items, but the selection is very limited.  I go to BJ's for diapers and paper products.  While Harris Teeter tends to be the most expensive on basics, they have the best selection and a few products that I can't find anywhere else.  Fresh Market has the best price on certain organic produce items, and Target has rGBH-free dairy items that I purchase when I can't get to Trader Joe's.  And, if a store does a special event with triple or double up to $1.99 coupons, I'm probably shopping there too.  Don't laugh (my husband does), but I've had to create a spreadsheet to keep track of all of this.

So, what to do?  This is going to be a stretch, but I'm going to try to plan a monthly menu.  I've started this weekend working on just a 2 week menu and will work my way up to doing a month at a time.  Considering that there are many evenings that I don't start figuring out what's for dinner until dinnertime, this is a big deal.  Hopefully, the payoff will be big.  My goal is to simplify my afternoons and decrease our food budget by purchasing in bulk.  Mostly though, I want to gain lots of time by eliminating the 3 to 4 trips I make each week to grocery stores.

There are a lot of resources on the internet.  Last night I found someone that put their meal calendars and shopping list templates online for upload.  It's a good starting place.  I also purchased a 5 ingredient crock pot cookbook.  My kind of cooking!  Now, I just need to take my menu and translate it into 6 different shopping lists!  Wish me luck!

Healthy Change #10: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods

Well, I've put off writing the 10th and final change in my "Ten Changes to Make for Healthier Living" series as long as possible.  It's now the first of February, and I can no longer procrastinate. For me, it's the hardest of all the changes, not just writing about, but also following. I barely have a handle on this change myself.

Change #10:  Avoid Genetically Modified Foods

In order to make crops more resistant to disease, weeds and pest, more tolerant to drought and cold weather and more nutritious, many have been genetically modified.  Genetically Modified (GM) Food has been unnaturally altered by inserting genetic fragments (DNA) from one organism to another. According to the World Health Organization, the inserted DNA is usually from a different species. The genes can be taken from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals and even humans. 

Other than the fact that we are not eating food in it's true form, why avoid foods that have been genetically modified? According to the Academy of Environmental Medicine, "GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health and are without benefit."  Just last month, The Huffington Post wrote of a study linking GM food to organ failure.

But beyond the food we eat, there is a serious impact to the environment.  The Center for Food Safety (CFS) outlines the environmental impacts to include an "uncontrolled biological pollution, threatening numerous microbial, plant and animal species with extinction, and a potential contamination of all non-genetically engineered life forms with novel and possibly hazardous genetic material."

The US doesn't require food manufacturers to label GMO products so it's difficult to know which foods have been altered.  I've read that there is an estimated 30,000 foods found on grocery store shelves that contain a GM ingredient or 75% of processed foods in the US.  DisabledWorld.com reported that from 1995 to 2005, total worldwide land surface growing GMO crops increased from 4.2 million acres to 222 million acres.

There are many GM foods, but five account for the highest volume of food and food ingredients.  The CFS reports that "currently, up to 85 percent of US corn is genetically engineered as are 91 percent of soybeans and 88 percent of cotton (cottonseed oil is used in food products)." Canola is one of the top five, and newly added is sugar beets.  Some examples of these GMO products:

Corn - corn flour, meal, oil, starch & syrup, sweetners (fructose, glucose), modified food starch
Soy - soy flour, lecithin, vegetable oil, soy beverages, tofu
Cotton - cottonseed oil
Canola - canola oil
Sugar Beets - any sweetener not labeled 100% cane sugar, evaporated cane juice or organic sugar

Unless the product package specifies that the food is non-GMO, then you can assume that if it has one of these ingredients, then it's been genetically modified.  The best list of GMO crops I've found is on DisabledWorld.com.  Here's an incredible Non-GMO Shopping Guide.  It lists products by brands, includes brands that do use GMO ingredients and lists a ton of "hidden" GMO ingredients.

What's most difficult for me, is that I can't seem to avoid GMO foods without making drastic and unwanted changes to our shopping and eating habits.  In fact, it makes me downright angry to find out that we've been human guinea pigs for years now, and that I've unknowingly feed my family these foods.  It's possible that the soy formula and milk that Abigail drank from 7 months of age to the age of 2 could very well be the cause of her peanut allergy.  Since 1996, when GMO's hit the mainstream food supply, food allergies and chronic diseases have doubled. From what I am reading, there is not adequate testing, our government is leaving it up to big business to determine what's safe and what's not, other countries' governments have long since realized that there is a serious health risk and are imposing regulations while big business is doing everything in it's power to shut down the small farmers who want to avoid the use of genetically modified seeds for their crops.
 

NaturalNews.com has created a good list of ways to avoid GMO foods.  Obviously, eating organic is the easiest.  Using the shopping guide I mentioned above is helpful, but frustrating.  The products tend to be more expensive and many aren't safe for our household because of the risk of cross-contamination with peanuts/tree nuts.  I've done a few things like purchase organic produce, rice and canned goods, switched to Safflower Oil for cooking, purchase Kashi crackers and cereal, and Kettle potato chips.  Trader Joes is another source for non-GMO snacks.  However, I've got a really long way to go!

Here are a few more links if you want to do a little more reading. 

A Few Updates.....

I wanted to give a quick update on our trip to Duke last week.  It was our 12th visit and completely uneventful.  We drove a little over 2 hours there, got an increase in dosage (2 drops up from 1 of the highest concentrate), waited for the required 1 1/2 hours while they monitored Abigail for a reaction (she did have a little more severe tingling in her ears and throat) and then we drove the 2 plus hours home with a stop to visit my dad and sister and then again farther down the road for a little shopping and dinner.  We are down to just 2 more visits before we hit the maintenance dose.  Then we'll go every 8 weeks instead of every 2.  That's pretty exciting for us.

We had a safe and fun Halloween.  Hope everyone else did as well.  It's great to have neighbors who understand Abigail's allergy.  Many of them have safe candy set aside just for her.  As seen in the picture, this year her pile of safe candy was much bigger than the unsafe candy.  We packaged up the smaller pile along with her excess safe candy and added it to a collection going to the Charlotte USO who will send it with deploying troops to Afghanistan.  Thinking positively, I'm hoping in a year or two, we'll no longer need to sort candy.  I'm hoping Abigail will be able to eat whatever she receives.  Selfishly, it means the rest of us can also eat those forbidden candy bars.  I snagged a few Kit Kat's after she went to bed, but packed up the Reese's Cups and other peanut base candy bars.  The risk outweighs any enjoyment I might have by eating one.

Speaking of food that we can't eat, it seems that so much of the healthy, organic food I would like to purchase for our family is manufactured in plants that also process tree nuts/peanuts.  I was very disappointed during my last trip across town to Trader Joe's.  It's one of our favorite stores, and for the last year, a place where I did a great deal of our grocery shopping.  For a while now, our family has been eating foods without high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oils, trans fat, artificial sweeteners, and of course, all nuts.  We drink organic milk and purchase organic meats.  I'm also trying to remove foods from our grocery list that contain artificial dyes. Trader Joe's had a lot of products at a really good price that met all of our restrictions.  I say "had" because the last time I went, a good many of the products that I buy were labeled "manufactured in a plant that processes tree nuts/peanuts."  While I can commend Trader Joe's for their great labeling practices, I was disappointed that there were yet more unsafe, healthy products that I could not purchase.  I asked the manager about all of the new labels, and he told me that they had recently changed distribution centers.  The new one was closer and while stocking the same Trader Joe branded products, they used different manufacturers to produce those products.  Unfortunately for us, those manufacturers also produced more products with tree nuts/peanuts in the same facility.  An important lesson here is that you should always read the label even if it's a product that you've purchased for years.  But, back to thinking positively, after the Duke clinical trial we might be able to eliminate "may contain" or "processed in a plant with tree nuts/peanuts" from the long list of food ingredients that our family chooses not to consume.  A very long list of organic products would then be on my "safe to purchase" list.

In the coming posts, I want to finish discussing IgE numbers and also discuss a great book I'm reading.  It's called "The Unhealthy Truth" and is written by Robyn O'Brien.  She discusses how our food is making us sick from food allergies to ADHD to cancer.  She brings up a whole new topic for me which is resulting in yet another food that I want to eliminate from our diet, food that has been genetically modified.  I was repulsed to read about the effects of rBGH on our dairy products and disheartened to read about the lack of regulation on genetically engineered crops of soy and corn, to name just a few.  I've added a few links over in the margin if you want to start doing your own research.  I'd add a word of caution though, it'll change the way you think about your food.