Today's Friday Friend Shout Out is dedicated to Citizens for a GMO Free World. Founded by 15 graduates from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, including our friend and Co-Leader of the Holistic Moms Network of Monmouth County, NJ, Dawne Vrabel. Citizens is an organization dedicated to removing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) from our natural food sources. They work tirelessly advocating for the labeling and/or removal of GMOs from our food supply. According to one estimate, GM foods are present in approximately 80% of dpackaged food products in America. As many of you know, Americans increasingly rely on packaged products for the majority of their meals. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) had called for an immediate moratorium on GMO foods because doctors believe they pose a serious health risk. GM products also cross-polinate with neighboring crops, unintentionally modifying much of our food system and deeply impacting farmers. Unlike pharmaceuticals, GM crops cannot simply be removed from the system, the continued cultivation of GM crops is altering beyond viability the very foundation of our health and society: our food.
Unfortunately, American consumers and farmers continue to be denied the simple, inalienable right to choose what we produce and what we eat because labeling of GM foods is not currently required. In fact, in the US, foods may legally contain up to 10% GMO material and still be considered organic (in the EU, it's 0.9%). In three separate federal cases, US courts ruled that the USDA, specifically the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, violated the National Environmental Policy act by not providing and Environmental Impact Study on the impact to an ecosystem or farmers due to cross contamination. The USDA has admitted that they do not have policy or screening measure to identify, or weed out, a shipment of unapproved GMOs unknown to the regulatory system.
Citizens for a GMO Free World are at the forefront of activism towards the labeling of GMOs and removing GMOs from our food sources. This summer, they reached out to First Lady, Michelle Obama, sending a letter to request her assistance and created a petition to place an immediate moratorium on all GM crops, among other requests.
Citizens for a GMO Free World, you've taken on Goliath and we commend and support you! Keep up the fabulous work!
To learn more about GMOs please click here.
Keep it Fresh!
~ Terra