This month, October, is Non-GMO Month. I find most people are really confused about what a GMO is and where GMOs are found. Some people tend to think that GMO seeds are similar to the type of hybridization that has been going on amongst gardeners for centuries. Not true! The type of genetic modification that happens to create GMO seeds involves the forceful insertion of things like E.coli genes or genes that produce glyphosphate (an herbicide) or cause Roundup resistance (allowing farmers to dump more Roundup onto the plants) into corn and soybeans and cotton.
GMOs exist for one reason only: for the chemical companies who make them to enable themselves to sell more chemicals to farmers. Do not, I repeat, do not fall for any marketing sales efforts that claim GMOs will help feed the world and save farmers from drought. It’s a lie!!!!
And remember, as I write in Organic Manifesto, the only safety testing on humans or animals for GMOs is happening right now, on you, on your kids, and on farm animals around the world. Early results are showing everything from digestive failure to kidney and liver failure and accelerated aging. Terrible stuff.
Here are 10 ways to avoid GMOs:
1. Buy USDA-certified organic food. It is currently the only official way you can avoid GMOs, since GMOs are not allowed to be used according to USDA organic regulations. THANK YOU, GOVERNMENT! (For once!)
2. Avoid all nonorganic soy products like the plague. That means things like nonorganic veggie burgers, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and miso products.
3. Don’t buy anything that claims to be “non-dairy” that isn’t organic. Soy is used to create everything from Cool Whip to Coffee-Mate…in addition to the obvious non-dairy soy treats in your health-food store freezer. Yup, they are filled with GMOs, too.
4. Don’t buy or eat anything with corn in it that isn’t organic. That means corn chips, cereals with corn (or soy, for that matter), or even corn bread!
5. At all costs, eliminate high-fructose corn syrup (a.k.a. “corn sugar”) from your diet. It is just an excuse for chemical companies to convince farmers they can keep growing GMO corn and poisoning you and your family.
6. Avoid biofuels and ethanol; they’re a toxic GMO festival. No one seems to care if corn is poisoned if it’s just going to drive our cars. Problem is, we are all being poisoned by it.
7. Don’t buy any meat, fish, poultry, or eggs unless they’re certified organic or from a farmer you completely trust. TIP: Ask farmers what they feed their animals when they aren’t eating grass. If a farmer feeds her animals nonorganic food, it is most certainly filled with GMOs. Those GMOs are definitely harming the animals, and they are probably harming you…we won’t know for sure until we all find out together, since we are all guinea pigs in this giant experiment.
8. Buy certified-organic cotton clothing, bedding, and towels. Again, it’s the only way to be certain that you are not supporting GMOs. Even though you don’t eat cotton (although cottonseed oil is a part of many processed foods, so technically, you may be eating it), you are still supporting a toxic, dangerous farming system.
9. Read! This GMO arena is constantly changing as the industry tries to sneak around consumers and farmers. Be vigilant, keep an eye out, and read whatever you can to try to stay informed.
10. TAKE ACTION! Ultimately, the only thing that can stop the GMO invasion is you. All of you. Write letters. Send petitions. Speak up. Demand change and demand organic!!!!
This is a travesty that unfortunately is very political. The current head of US Dept. of agriculture is a former Monsanto employee! The more I read about GMO’s, the more frustrated & fearful I get. GMO contamination has now shown itself in creek water tests in Indiana!
GMO’s are banned in Europe. Animals will not eat GMO grain if given a choice.
I forget to mention CANOLA oil…filled with GMO’s unless it’s certified organic.
The Non-GMO Project offers a handy guide with a list of foods and ingredients to avoid, plus products that are safe. You can print the little brochure and take it shopping with you http://www.nongmoproject.org/consumers/search-participating-products/print-shopping-guide/
The Non-GMO Project offers a handy guide with a list of foods and ingredients to avoid, plus products that are safe. You can print the little brochure and take it shopping with you: Go to nongmoproject dot org/consumers/search-participating-products/print-shopping-guide/
Thank you all for the information. I’ll have to change my canola oil to just organic olive oil usage from now on.
This is sooo very scary! I am thankful for people like you, Maria, who speak out and get people informed!!!
Maria,
Love your blog! So much useful information! Please keep informing us on all this GMO info and let us know what action we can take to make our food safer and GMO-free.
Thanks!
Read this moments ago at coreperformance.com:
“Early (post-workout) lunch: Either a salad with “tons” of beans, avocados and vegetables, or some spaghetti topped with homemade tomato sauce, beans, legumes, peas and seitan or “wheat meat,” which is another great source of protein. (“I don’t do a lot of soy,” says Dos. “It’s the most genetically modified crop we have, and I’m not a big fan of that.”)”
http://www.coreperformance.com/daily/one-small-change/the-ultimate-vegan.html
I did not know about Flaxseed and Canola. I will watch about organic and check ingredients on meat replacements.
I have been buying more goat- and sheep’s milk cheeses instead of regular milk products to avoid BGH, but just read about GMO grains in sheep’s feed. I did not know that it went this far already.
Does anyone have an idea if the sweet corn from our local farmer’s markets could be GMO as well? It is hard to fulfill a pledge if you are not quite sure who the enemy is. This is how far it has gone already.
As a note, Spectrum makes organic canola oil in glass bottles. In this way you have neither GMOs nor BPA in your oil.
GMO to remember-Corn, cottonseed, canola, soy…soon sugar beets & alfalfa, which will be fed to all livestock, end up in the manure that we use in our gardens or the soil we buy for it.
Coming soon? GMO salmon!
Sabine, you have to ask the farmer what type of seed he uses. At my farmers market my choice was between the gmo corn or the non gmo corn that had pesticides on it. One farmer was honest(i pray!)in telling me which veggies she had sprayed heavily, lightly, or not at all. Some weeks I left empty handed.
You’re never to old to learn new things and not all new is good for you, take notice in what you put into your body, after all you are what you eat.
For those of you switching from canola to olive oil, I just wanted to add that olive oil has a low smoking point and can become toxic/carcinogenic if heated too much. A healthy non-GMO alternative for cooking at high heat is peanut oil.