Organic Foods Threatened

[ginghamkim]

Has anyone watched the documentary The Future of Food (more information at www.thefutureoffood.com)? I watched it last night and was horrified to learn that the US Government does not enforce that genetically modified foods (GMO)/ingredients have to be labeled. The European Union enforces labeling laws on GMO and Japan even bans gmo imports. If you get a chance, watch this documentary (netflix) and you will learn so much.

I came from a farm and we did everything that the documentary profiled because we didn't know any better and both my parents had cancer (that's right, we had wheat crop every year too, ah irony...I used to eat it raw from the hopper wagons). Just FYI---we would by corn seed every year that had a pink coating so that rats/mice/insects would not eat it. The corn ears that it would grow was sterile, so that you would have to buy new seed every year.

Anyway, the problem is that gmo seed and pollen can contaminate our precious organic foods and the USDA is not doing anything to stop it (it has to do with patent laws). I am writing my congress person using this site... The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods www.thecampaign.org.

This is very serious...I am not an activist but a concerned citizen. How many of you rely completely on organic food since you became gluten-free? Please take some time to look into genetically modified food and make your own decisions.

Kim

[gfp]

I have to say this is one of those issues people ignore or think they will worry about later.

Its really not like that, later will be too late once the GM crops have cross pollented... sure theoretically they are not meant to but this is nature, albeit a frankenstein equavalent.

When you grow hundreds of millions of GM crops every year one of them will mutate, nothing is more certain over time.

I'm not saying Jurassic park is a scientifically accurate film but the point were the guy says "They can't breed" is pretty spot on...

Breeding is the primary directive of all life... nature will find a way and always does.

If GM foods were not so actively opposed by gruops who go over the top in other things perhaps more people would take this seriously.

[ginghamkim]

The big problem is that mega companies can patent gmo seed. If the gmo seed cross pollinates with an organic farmer's crop, takes on the characteristics of the patented gmo seed, the mega company can claim that it is infringement and the courts will demand that the organic farmer's seed/plant be destroyed. If the organic farmer has to destroy his seed, then he cannot plant the organic (non-gmo) crop next year.

Imagine this on a larger scale and there would be no organic farming with non-gmo seed.

This is not hypothetical, this is already happening to American Farmers.

We have power as consumers...let's look at Europe as an example.

[tummytroubles]

I just saw the movie a couple of nights ago with my husband. Our local library had it. I'm definitely going to get more involved, as well as tell everyone I know. It's so frustrating that genetically modified food doesn't have to be labelled, and that through no fault of their own, organic farmer's crops are getting cross pollenated by this stuff. Who knows how many people are allergic and/or sensitive to these new forms of food.

Thanks for starting this thread and making more people aware :-)

[Felidae]

I learned about GMO's in several of my classes, one of them being Botany. It sure is a very interesting topic. Europe has a completely different viewpoint than the US and Canada.