Barbara H. Peterson

Farm Wars

Time after time we hear about another genetically modified organism (GMO) being approved for our food supply, yet still see the same labels at the supermarket and think that nothing has changed. The reality is, things have changed, and changed drastically.

Approximately 85% of our processed food contains GMOs, and no labeling is required. Congress, the Supreme Court, and the USDA are going to do absolutely nothing about turning this around and have no intentions of forcing companies to truthfully label products containing GMOs. In fact, the opposite is true. These entities have done their very best to make sure that GMOs are being grown and consumed by as many people as possible. To expect them to act differently and somehow do a complete turn-around and support the public’s right to know what they are eating is merely a pipe dream, and colossal waste of precious time and energy.

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The following is a letter from Concerned Citizen. He has reached the same conclusion that I have – one on one is the way to go. While we run in circles trying to get someone in Congress to listen, we could be going straight to the source and giving people the information they need to understand that GMOs are unhealthy, have been put in our food without our consent or knowledge, and the only way to stop the GMO takeover is to get informed, get mad, and stop buying them.

Remember! Food activism starts at home – eliminate the GMOs from your kitchen, and spread the word to others at the supermarket, soccer game, bake sale, and/or any other place that people congregate to shop and eat. Don’t be afraid to speak up and educate. Most people that you run into will not even want to hear about the pesticides and genetically modified poisons in our food, but some will, so don’t give up.

From Concerned Citizen:

I imagine anyone reading this will know by now that Monsanto’s former vice president, Michael Taylor, is our nation’s food safety authority as Deputy Commissioner for Food at the FDA.  And to think he is only one of many other former private sector biotech and pharmaceutical employees who have risen to the bureaucrat arena is a very serious matter.

It should be apparent enough to see that petition efforts are likely to be worthless unless they could somehow get air time – which will likely never happen. Nearly equal in futility are the small demonstrations we have organized and attended.  Politicians are largely out to lunch and have no interest in taking a stand despite the unnumbered phone calls, emails and faxes voicing our concerns.

We need to take a serious lesson from the California ballot initiative campaign for GMO labeling which recently achieved its signatures goal for a referendum in the upcoming elections.  The fantastic organization and untiring work of those great individuals is deeply inspiring and we all need to imitate their determination, but in my opinion, in a different way.  While this work is highly commendable it can be shot down by the judicial system, regardless of the will of the people.

My suggestion and urging is to no longer solely depend upon social networking and all the other activities of the past, but to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of door to door literature drop campaigns to educate our neighbors about what we know and they don’t.

I am fully in agreement with Jeffery Smith of the Institute for Responsible Technology (www.responsibletechnology.org) that getting enough Americans to say no to GMOs in the supermarket is the surest way to usher out the GMO era.  Everything else will or can fall short, even successful referendums for labeling.

Please consider challenging your members to sacrifice their time and dollar to obtain success over the stealth in the marketplace.

DOWNLOAD A PAMPHLET TO PRINT AND SHARE HERE

 

To understand just how the labeling process can be subverted, all we have to do is look at the European Union’s labeling directive. We must do the legwork to get these abominations off our shelves, label or not, by educating our neighbors and friends, and refusing to buy them. Get educated, get mad, then get moving. It is truly up to us – no one will do it for us. No one.

©2012 Barbara H. Peterson

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8 Responses to “Taking it to the Streets – Ban GMOs NOW!”

  1. william neu says:

    For a quick and thorough education on how to avoid GMOs go to: http://nongmoshoppingguide.com/

    Please pass this link onto others – there is much confusion among newbies looking into this matter.

    Bill

  2. jon doe says:

    japans radiation, spraying corexit still in the gulf, chemtrails,drinking water thats unfit to water lawn with,and gmo foods. if you think they want you healthy, they don’t. theres a war on if you do get it yet you will.read the book of Enoch, their back and in control for now

  3. Thanks, Susan. Here is the article from the ISIS site: Recent Evidence Confirms Risks of Horizontal Gene Transfer http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FSAopenmeeting.php. A MUST read.

  4. Susan says:

    g
    to clear up any further confusion, please advise if correction is required.
    Thanks
    transgenic adj. Of, relating to, or being an organism whose genome has been altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed:
    When recombinant DNA techniques were developed in the 1980s, work began on creating the first transgenic wheat, coincident with the third Green Revolution.5 Of the three most important cereals in the world (corn, rice and wheat), wheat was the last to be transformed by transgenic, biolistic methods in 1992, and by Agrobacterium methods in 1997.

    Agrobacterium is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria established by H. J. Conn that uses horizontal gene transfer to cause tumors in plants. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the most commonly studied species in this genus. Agrobacterium is well known for its ability to transfer DNA between itself and plants, and for this reason it has become an important tool for genetic engineering.
    It turns out that Agrobacterium injects T-DNA into plant cells in a process that strongly resembles conjugation, ie, mating between bacterial cells; and all the necessary signals and genes involved are interchangeable with those for conjugation 14.

    That means transgenic plants created by T-DNA vector system have a ready route for horizontal gene escape, via Agrobacterium, helped by the ordinary conjugative mechanisms of many other bacteria that cause diseases 15.

    A report submitted to MAFF in 1997 had indeed raised the possibility that Agrobacterium tumefaciens could be a vector for gene escape [16, 17].

    The researchers found that it was extremely difficult to get rid of the Agrobacterium used in the vector system after transformation.

    High rates of gene transfer are known to be associated with the plant root system and the germinating seed 18. There, Agrobacterium could multiply and transfer transgenic DNA to other bacteria, as well as to the next crop plant.

    Agrobacterium was also found to transfer genes into several types of human cells 19, and in a manner similar to that which it uses to transform plant cells.

    We have submitted two relevant ISIS reports together with some specific questions to the ACNFP for consideration at the November 13 Open Meeting 20.

    All the risks of horizontal gene transfer described above are real, and far outweigh any potential benefits that GM crops can offer. There is no case for allowing any commercial release of GM crops and food products.

    I am only concluding what I am experiencing on what seems to be either a fad or misdiagnosis by physicians to recent encounters with gluten intolerance on a scale I have never encountered in 40 years of food service. I understand that the conclusion cannot be evident due to the USPTO allowing CBI (confidential business information) in patents. However it is a bit alarming and needs required labeling to determine cause and effect.

  5. Abe says:

    Well I’m proud to say that I got sick of writing to my bozo’s in DC and targeted my state Reps. In St. Paul MN. Along with the efforts of other members of GMO FREE MN we got the labeling Bill started. I’ve gone to the town hall meetings and brought the labeling issue up, and to my surprise I got a resounding yeah from others there.
    At the Caucus I was a precinct delegate, and used this at the Republican County Endorsing Convention to get Deputy Senate Majority Leader Julianne Ortman to Support this. Didn’t make it to the Senate yet. I also got Rep. Ernie Lidiger to vote for it in the House. He was only 1 of 4 Republicans to vote yea. We talked at the convention last month, and we both couldn’t understand why it was so partisan. I’m going to start on the MN State Atty Gen. Lori Swanson next!
    BTW did you see the story about the woman that was sticking her own labels on boxes of cereal?
    Like I told Ortman at the town hall meeting “The worst thing you can feed your kids is Frosted Flakes! It has GMO Sugar and Corn!”
    Also I sent my Reps and the Rep. that introduced thie bill that very chart you have up. (the who’s who) I’ll bet an “Economic Hit man” (take the money or die)Got the changes for Monsanto in VT & CT! Wonder what “Moonbeam” will do?

  6. Sally_Oh says:

    Monsanto will find a way around labeling laws, like the GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) loophole which is how anti-freeze is allowed into your ice cream. They are in cohoots with the USDA and the FDA and Congress. Forget labeling.

    You are 100% correct that the only way to fight GMOs is to stop buying them. We need to stop and we need to educate others to stop. Thank you!

  7. Barbara Talbert says:

    Without our knowledge or consent many ordinary foodstuffs contain ingredients that are GMO so the fight to combat them by avoiding them is near nigh impossible. Let’s also keep up the pressure on government and write to the agricultural ministries in other countries. When exports fall that is a big set-back to to the GMO agenda. Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t also grow your own and make your own. This even applies to making your own bread as much wheat, that is not supposed to be genetically modified, is in fact. With a conspiratorial government many liberties have been taken and will continue to be taken. Your own health and that of your loved ones is being manipulated and compromised.