A #foodie Friday post.
Gaiam TV News – This is the full interview we did with child health advocate Robyn O’Brien about Prop 37 in California to require the labeling of genetically modified foods. O’Brien is a former food industry analyst and author of “The Unhealthy Truth.”
This issue is heating up! Robyn O’Brien also posts on her blog this week about the fight in California and shares this PSA:
In the absence of any federal labeling law, California is trying to become the first state to label genetically engineered ingredients in foods. This could impact the county, as they represent the largest state economy in the US and the 8th largest in the world.
How could this affect all of us? When legislation was proposed in California for Coke and Pepsi to label a caramel color in their sodas as potentially carcinogenic, rather than do so, the soda giants reformulated their products….across the country. read the rest on Robyn’s site
And lastly, Mother Jones put out this article: Could Prop. 37 Kill Monsanto’s GM Seeds?
At least 70 percent of processed food in the United States contains GM ingredients. Eighty-eight percent of corn and 93 percent of soybeans grown domestically are genetically modified. Soda and sweets are almost guaranteed to contain GM ingredients, either in the form of corn syrup or beet sugar. Canola and cottonseed oils also commonly come from GM crops. But if those stats make you want to run and examine the labels on the boxes and cans in your pantry, you’re out of luck. Unlike the European Union, the US government doesn’t require food manufacturers to disclose their use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)….
…Some independent, peer-reviewed research has suggested trouble, however. GMOs are capable of creating novel proteins that can turn out to be allergenic, as Australian scientists found when they tested a pea variety that had been engineered to express an otherwise harmless protein from the common bean. A 2009 study by French researchersfound that rats fed Bt and Roundup-tolerant corn for three months showed declines in kidney and liver function. While such findings don’t establish that GMOs are unsafe, they do leave the question wide open—and validate demands for labeling. GMOs are a “massive experiment on the American people,” says Stacy Malkan, media director for the pro-labeling group Yes on 37 for Your Right to Know If Your Food Has Been Genetically Engineered. “We absolutely have a right to know and choose for ourselves if we eat genetically engineered foods.” (read the rest)
We can certainly hope that Monsanto might be finished.
Another post that feature’s Robyn O’Brien’s work on Beyond Meds with more of my commentary follows. She’s a very good spokesperson: Eating real whole food is important to our mental and physical wellbeing
Robyn authored The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick – And What We Can Do About It. A former Wall Street food industry analyst, Robyn brings insight, compassion and detailed analysis to her research into the impact that the global food system is having on the health of our children.
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