Bob Burns: "One good way is to create the time to visit local farmers markets, where freshness and little or no use of herbicides and pesticides ensure a high quality of nutrition, the one guarantee we have for good health."
A young women shops at a farmers market. (photo: Organic Living)
A Non-GMO Buying Guide
01 September 12
upermarkets have carried genetically modified foods for nearly two decades, but the debate over GMOs continues and is heating up. HB Bill 5117 would require the labeling of products containing GMOs. And while the bill has won early support from several state representatives, senators, farmers markets and chefs other organizations such as The Connecticut Farm Bureau and the state Department of Agriculture oppose the bill.
Denison Farm Market Master Stuart Woronecki recently sat down to talk GMOs with one of the leading supporters of the GMO labeling bill, Bob Burns of Aiki Farms in Ledyard.
Q. What does GMO stand for?
A. GMO stands for "genetically modified organisms," which are products that have been modified at the cellular level by combining DNA molecules from different species to create a new set of genes. This includes the creation of transgenic plants that contain unrelated material derived from at least one source of virus, fungi, pathogens, or animals. The GMOs appear in the marketplace unlabeled and are not required to be tested by the FDA for toxicity. Many food products - corn, soy, sugar cane, sugar beets, rice, squash, and tomatoes, to name just a few - are common GMOs.
Q. Are all GMO products bad for you?
A. According to FDA policy, no. GMO products are not required to be tested for toxicity, as would non-GMO products. Because of this I am suspect of the quality of GMO foods. I believe that the FDA should require testing and also clear labeling of all GMO food products in our food system.
Q. Is there a place for GMO products in our food system or the worldwide food system?
A. There have been successes for farmers in certain areas where the lack of testing for toxicity does not matter, such as in the production of corn for ethanol. However, the cross-pollination of GMO corn with non-GMO corn crops does occur and is a serious problem. This contamination has ruined sales, resulting in lawsuits and damages paid to farmers in the corn- and rice-producing sectors of our country who ship to the European Union, where some nations will not accept US imports containing GMO sources.
Q. In a conventional grocery store, which kinds of foods are most likely to be GMOs?
A. USDA Certified Organic labels in the supermarkets usually guarantee GMO-free foods.
Q. What can the average person who does not want to buy GMO products do?
A. One good way is to create the time to visit local farmers markets, where freshness and little or no use of herbicides and pesticides ensure a high quality of nutrition, the one guarantee we have for good health. This upcoming year the movement in Connecticut to label GMO foods now includes a bipartisan group of over 30 legislators. The goal is to give the consumer the right to know what is our food system. Contact Rep. Donovan, who has appointed an internal support system for labeling next year. Also, work with Sen. Maynard and Rep. Urban, who are both advocates of the GMO labeling bill.
Q. Can you suggest online resources with more information?
A. Visit nonGMOshoppingguide.com for an explicit list of non-GMO foods.
Q. Is there an upside to the fight against GMO foods?
A. The best part of the GMO debate is that it allows us to discover a better choice of the foods we consume each day of our lives. This is why more and more people are choosing our farmers markets as a surefire path to good health with the high nutrition fresh foods we purchase at the market.
See Also: Wal-Mart and Monsanto: Joining Forces
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
 18 May 2013
|
 16 May 2013
|
 16 May 2013
|
 17 May 2013
|
 16 May 2013
|
 18 May 2013
|
|
17 May 2013
|
 18 May 2013
|
 19 May 2013
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
GM's are time bombs in food clothing.
This is entirely untrue. Many studies of GMO foods have been done, and are continuing to be done. Period. Full stop.
Before you give me a thumbs-down please consider that I:
- Avoid GMO foods;
- Live in a highly agricultural part of New York state, and include amongst my friends people who are farmers;
- Buy as much as my foods from local farmers' markets, and avoid any/all farms that use GMO seeds and feeds;
- Am a PhD in biochemistry and physiology, and teach nutrition at the college-level.
IMHO, the greatest threat from GMO foods is NOT the foods themselves, but rather the dangers GMO crops present to crop and livestock farming, the foods we eat (so much processed food is garbage that is adulterated and sweetened to make it palatable), and the quantity of food that we eat. That is, we eat poorly, and we eat waaaay too much.
If you haven't already, watch "Food, Inc." and do some serious reading about nutrition! Take your own nutrition seriously... and then you'll be avoiding GMO foods because you'll be eating less adulterated low nutritional value foods and fewer meat products.
http://truefoodnow.org/shoppers-guide/
There are NO benefits to GMO food. Even if they were perfectly safe from a health standpoint, the damage they do to the economics of farming is perhaps even worse. GMO is a strategy for monopolozing food production in the hands of a few corporations like Monsanto. They want to control the food of the world, and GMO is their technique. GMO needs to be banned 100%. No one should be allowed to patent or own a species or life form that can reproduce itself on its own.
The Canadian Supreme court ruled in a Monsanto case that the owner of the patent on the DNA is the owner of the material. Wrong. A stray seed that grows at random somewhere is not owned by Monsanto, no matter what DNA it carries.
I have not lost weight but that was not the goal. What I have done is lower my blood pressure to normal without taking life long drugs as well as cholesterol. Besides having worked on a farm as a kid it brought back the feeling that one was really creating something. I suggest using some of your backyard as a garden. They now have terraced above ground planters that if you have a walled yard can put them on the wall. You can also if one wants make your own.
A. According to FDA policy, no. GMO products are not required to be tested for toxicity, as would non-GMO products."
This is a VERY poorly worded statement. I believe that Mr. Woronecki means to say is "Like non-GMA products, GMO foods are not required to be tested for toxicity".
If you want to be healthy, you are going to have to become responsible and educated and not be dependent on the govt. for your information because they are lying to you about GMOs too.
RSS feed for comments to this post