Posts Tagged ‘GMO’

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2017: Clean vs Dirty Dozen Food (whether to buy Organic)

Monday, March 13th, 2017

Free-range chicken farm

By Catherine Haug, March 13, 2017 (Photo, right, from Cornucopia (5)

Cat’s food-shopping tips:

  • Produce: If you can afford Organic, it is highly recommended you choose Certified Organic or Organically-grown. If your budget is limited, see the Clean Dozen and Dirty Dozen food lists, below.
  • Red meats: Pasture/grass raised and finished, locally-raised livestock provide the most healthful meats; see also my posting Why ‘Pasture-Raised’ trumps ‘Organic’.
  • Poultry meats: Your best choice locally raised poultry, provided they have access to the outdoors; and not just a small door to the outdoors, but a door you can use, too. Chickens eat not only seeds but also insects, grubs and worms, and they need the sun for the sunshine vitamin, just like we do.
  • Eggs: Your best choice is eggs from poultry raised in similar way as for ‘poultry meats’ above.
  • Dairy: Buying from a local farmer (who keeps his/her dairy livestock in pasture) is highly recommended. Organic commercial milk is ultra-pasteurized and, in my opinion, ultra-damaged. See my article on Cat’s Kitchen: Raw Milk: A Real, Natural & Perfect Food, which has a discussion about the problems with ultra-pasteurized milk. If drinking raw milk is not for you, choose simply ‘pasteurized’ milk (HTST) from a local dairy, such as Kalispell Kreamery here in the Flathead Valley. See Food Safety & Pasteurization on The EssentiaList for a description of the various pasteurization types.
  • Cheese: This is a dairy food but I give it its own bullet because we have a great source of raw-milk cheeses in Montana: Lifeline brand, from Victor MT. There are also local brands that use simply-pasteurized milk to make their cheeses, such as Flathead Lake Cheese (2) in Polson, and Amaltheia Dairy (3) in Belgrade.
  • Avoid processed foods, even if they say ‘organic’ on the label, because unless they are Certified Organic, they will contain up to 15% non-organic ingredients most of which are GMO. See my posting: Natural vs Organic Labeling for more.

Buying Organic can be expensive, so if your food budget is limited, read on. (more…)

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Roundup, Paraquat herbicides lead to liver disease and Parkinson’s

Tuesday, February 7th, 2017

By Catherine Haug, February 7, 2017

If you regularly eat processed foods (boxed, bagged, dried, fried, canned or frozen), or meats, dairy and eggs from livestock not raised Organically, you may have a risk for these diseases: (1)

  •  NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), which can lead to cirrhosis and increases likelihood of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes (from exposure to Roundup, (13))
  • Parkinson’s disease (from exposure to Paraquat, (2)).

This is another reason to avoid GMO foods. Read on for more. (more…)

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International Monsanto Tribunal

Saturday, December 10th, 2016

Frankenfood

By Catherine Haug, December 10, 2016 (Image, right, from Organic Consumers Association (6) used with permission)

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Genetically Engineered (GE) foods are very common in today’s processed food supply and have even invaded the produce section. States have tried to halt it by passing laws requiring labelling of such foods, but last July, those efforts were invalidated by a sham GMO-labelling law passed by Congress and signed by our President. This law did not specifically require text stating the product contains GMO/GE ingredients, but rather allows printing of an 800-number or QR codes for more information. (See my article Pres. Obama signed the Dark Act (faulty GMO-labeling law) for more).

In October 2016, countries around the world participated in the International Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. This “Tribunal was a show of international solidarity for a regenerative food and agriculture system — the antithesis of Monsanto’s toxic, degenerative model.” (1) The tribunal cannot impose penalties, nor is it a mock-trial, but rather a citizens tribunal, which “have a long history of bringing justice to issues where governments etagere act corruptly or fail to act.” (1) This tribunal was based on the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” adopted by the United Nations in 2011. It was “an international court of lawyers and judges  who assessed the potential criminal liability of Monsanto for damages inflicted on human health and the environment. [The tribunal’s] final verdicts can serve as foundation for future legal cases against not only Monsanto, but also Bayer, Syngenta, Dow and others.” (1)

Ronnie Cummins, International Director of the OCA and a member of the Regeneration International (5) steering committee. wrote: “Ultimately the People’s Assembly agreed that we need to not only get rid of Monsanto, but the entire degenerative system of food, farming and land use that is driving global warming, catastrophic droughts and floods, soil erosion, desertification, water shortages, mass biodiversity loss, rural poverty and war, and deteriorating public health. (4)

For more about the tribunal see references 2 – 5.
(more…)

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Stop GE/GMO Wheat

Saturday, December 10th, 2016

Frankenfood

By Catherine Haug, Dec 10, 2016 (image, right, from Organic Consumers Association, used with permission)

The Montana Organic Association’s ‘Organic Matters‘ newsletter, Fall 2016 (1) included an article by Green America titled “Stop GE Wheat.” Its intent is to encourage people to sign a petition to prevent the introduction of genetically engineered (GE) wheat.

This campaign is critical to all of Montana’s wheat farmers who grow wheat for flour sold in the US, but also imported around the world. The types of GE wheat currently being developed/tested are herbicide-tolerant varieties, such as Roundup-ready. Note: wheat is in so many processed foods, not just breads and cookies. See Kids with Food Allergies (2) for list of what to look for on labels.

If this campaign is important to you, consider signing the petition at stopGEwheat.org.

NOTE: GE and GMO both refer to artificial modification of genes, producing varieties that could not otherwise be produced by breeding.

Read on for my transcription of the article. (more…)

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GMO news: It only gets worse

Wednesday, October 5th, 2016
Frankenfood

Frankenfood

By Catherine Haug, Oct 5, 2016 (image, right, from Organic Consumers Association, used with permission)

With GMOs, it only gets worse by the day.

  • First, Congress passes a sham GMO labeling law that becomes law; see my article from July 30: Pres. Obama signed the Dark Act (faulty GMO-labeling law). It allows QR codes or 800 numbers to substitute for words on the label that would indicate the product contains GMOs. See my December 2015 post, QR code’ to label GMO foods? for more.
  • Then there’s a new version of GMOs (1) that will likely not be covered by the new law (i.e., they won’t require labeling) because the don’t insert genes from another species but rather manipulate the native gene, such as by turning the gene off. Examples of this new GMO: GMO apples and potatoes that won’t turn brown when you cut them. Because the genetic modification suppresses the gene for a key immune-system enzyme, it increases the chance the apple can be infected with bacterial or fungal disease, which in turn can result in toxicity issues when the apple is consumed.See my post GMO Apples for more.
  • And now, new evidence that GMOs have spread around the world and can even cross-pollinate with non-GMO plants to produce 100% GMO seeds – even with Organic crops, so that we can no longer trust the Organic label. That is, Organic seeds are GMO-contaminated and will produce GMO plants even if they are grown Organically. Franken-Broccoli is a perfect example (2, 4).

Say what?

Yes, you read that right. It’s downright scary. What can you do? For starters, you can take action on the last issue by signing a petition telling the USDA to stop ignoring GM cross-contamination (3). And you can hope/pray that a test is developed to determine if a seed contains GMO genes. Read on for more about Franken-broccoli. (more…)

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Vermont’s GMO Labeling law and the anti-labeling push

Wednesday, June 15th, 2016
GMO Button

GMO Button

By Catherine Haug, June 15, 2016

It’s less than a month before Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law takes effect, and you can be sure Monsanto, et. al., are doing all they can to pass Sen. Robert’s  DARK Act, or any compromise that doesn’t mandate on-package labels for genetically engineered foods, to stop this Vermont law from taking effect.

From the Farm-To-Consumer-Legal-Defence-Fund (1):

(Sen. Roberts’] bill, dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, would preempt state GMO labeling laws, taking power away from our state legislatures….

In place of state laws for mandatory, on-package labeling, the DARK Act would continue the failed approach of voluntary labeling, together with secretive QR codes, websites, and call-in numbers, none of which serve to inform the majority of consumers about what is in their food.

Montana’s Senator Tester supports mandatory labeling of GMOs – in words, not QR codes. I’m not so sure about Sen. Daines’ stance.

If you have an opinion on mandatory GMO labeling, please contact your senators. See US Senators, by state: senate.gov where senators are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

References:

FTCLDF on GMO Labeling: farmtoconsumer.org/gmo-labeling-reject-hr1599/

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