I like to think of myself as an informed consumer, at least when it comes to food. Being a food writer and regular farmers’ market shopper, I’ve been pretty comfortable in that assertion for years. In my family, we buy a lot of organic foods, especially meats, produce and dairy. Our kids have been eating a variety of foods from the beginning: salmon, spinach, hummus, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar are all things they will ask for by name. Deep fried chicken parts never entered into our family’s food equation.
Imagine my surprise when I found out how woefully late I am to the real food party.
The now defunct Connecticut food labeling bill—HB 5117—has been the subject of several of my recent columns. And with each piece I wrote, each interview I conducted, I have had to peel away layers of half-truths and outright lies like the skins of so many genetically modified onions.
I’ve had to get up to speed in a hurry on the topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and have done so with the help of Right to Know CT co-founders Analiese Paik and Tara Cook-Littman, along with Institute for Responsible Technologyfounder and best-selling author, Jeffrey Smith. Their insight, coupled with my independent research, has shown me just how deeply ingrained GMOs have become in our food supply, and just how far up the proverbial food chain the responsibility for this goes.
I had no choice but to throw my “knowledge” and “expertise” onto the compost pile once I realized that many, many of the foods in my family’s pantry actually contained GMOs. The same GMOs, in fact, that produced frightening results in animal studies, according to a 2009 paper by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine: “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.”
What?
The ingredients that cause these defects—symptoms that sound more like cheap horror film fodder than FDA sanctioned side-effects—are the same as can be found in the Goldfish snack crackers and frozen edamame I was feeding my children. Realizing this was one of my lowest points to-date as a mom.
My fiancé and I acted swiftl
1 Comments on The Real ABCs of GMOs, last added: 5/11/2012
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Well and passionately stated without hyperbole. The simplicity of children is sorely needed in this debate. It was a great insight to include the dialog with your children.
Hebron Acres
Always GMO free!
@hebronacres