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Tell FDA to Label GMOs

Glo Fish, genetically modified animal (wikipedia.org)

Sedona AZ (March 24, 2012)– The USA is the largest commercial grower of genetically modified crops in the world. Most developed genetically modified plants are reviewed by at least two U.S. government agencies and final approval allowing the use of GMOs can still be denied by individual counties within each state. In 2004, Mendocino County, California became the first and only county to impose a ban on the “Propagation, Cultivation, Raising, and Growing of Genetically Modified Organisms.”

The European Union has stringent GMO regulations that consider genetically modified organisms as “new food” and subject to extensive, case-by-case, science based food evaluation by its food safety authority. To-date the EU has denied American grown food shipments with GMOs and forced the return of the contaminated rice and soy flour.

“Transgenic seeds should not be on the market. They are a threat to the future of farming and consumer freedom of choice. Monsanto should not be suing farmers whose land the company’s products contaminate; Monsanto should be paying them damages.” writes Pete Kennedy, lawyer and President of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting food choices.

Kristen Monday of Sedona (Arizona) takes up Kennedy’s standard. “The current Food and Drug Administration policies let companies hide GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in our food by not labeling them. The FDA has allowed this even though it has no proof that GMOs are safe for human consumption. To the contrary, internal FDA documents reflect scientists’ concerns that GMOs could pose significant health risks. Fifteen European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world require genetically modified foods to be labeled. Consumers in those countries can–and do–choose not to buy or eat GMO food.”

Genetically engineered food is on your pantry shelf

Genetically engineered food is on your pantry shelf

Monday suggests consumer activism. “The Center for Food Safety has filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of genetically modified foods. The FTCLDF and hundreds of other nonprofits are supporting the petition. Support this effort by sending your comments to the FDA. Share this information with your friends and take action. Tuesday, March 27, 2012, is the deadline for comments. To submit comments online go to  www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2011-P-0723-0001.  Keep in mind that the government’s online system often malfunctions, so it’s best to write your comments on your computer and save them before trying to submit. You can fax comments to 1-301-827-6870 (Maryland area code). Include the docket number at the TOP of your comments: FDA-2011-P-0723. ”

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14 Comments

  1. Paul Vallee says:

    Paul Vallee liked this story on Facebook.

  2. Melissa Monahan says:

    Liked this article via Facebook comment.

  3. David Fuller says:

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  4. Debbi says:

    Did you know that sweet corn is a genetically modified organism? Used to be that if you didn’t eat sweet corn within a few hours of it’s being picked, it became overly starchy and not very edible. Well now you can purchase sweet corn a day after it was picked and it will keep for several days and still taste great. Don’t condemn the entire “species” without really looking at it.

  5. Jane Westin, Chandler says:

    Much of the uproar is over seeds that do reproduce because as farmers, we are told if we save seeds (a practice since the beginning of harvesting centuries ago) we face loss of our farms and livelihoods because Monsanto will sue us. And don’t scoff that Monsanto won’t or thinks we’re not worth the time and cost – look at all the lawsuits against small farmers in this country by Monsanto and it’s subsidiaries. We can’t even go after them for contaminating our crops but they can go after us – and this is America where it was believed the small farmer had equal rights to the big and powerful.

    Debbie, many modified sweet corns do not digest easily as a result of the modifications – eat it and watch it be pooped through as a whole kernel – little food value at all. A Camp Verde farmer grows gmo sweet corn & now we don’t stop and buy it any more like we used to do years ago when we travel to Lake Powell.

    Monsanto would have sued Naomi and Ruth and won. I worry about the poor and our seniors that rely on cheap and donated foods that will have little or no food value. I worry about our food chain being in the hands of big pharma and big ag. You should as well.

    Jane Westin, Chandler

  6. Sedona Farmers Market says:

    April 22 is the last day for the winter Sedona Farmers Market at Relics Restaurant location. Come out and support it.

  7. Nancy Baer says:

    Nancy Baer 1:16pm Jul 2 via Facebook

    Senator Sanders asking for GMO labeling citing health hazards and Senator Stabenow (D-MI) essentially obstructing any more discussion about the hazards, about how she’s discussed this with Bill Gates’ and then some story to make the listener feel guilt. Fortunately, a heckler gets the last word!!!

    GMO Food Labels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzMF2C1bAnU&feature=relmfu

  8. Tell Rep. Gosar to strike Monsanto’s sneak attack on organic and non-GMO farmers from the 2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

    There will likely be a vote this week.

    Please return to the action alert page for the latest updates:
    http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=61506976&type=CO

    That’s also the link you can share with your friends asking them to join you in contacting your Member of Congress.
    http://www.capwiz.comwww.capwiz.com

    Nancy Baer, Sedona AZ

  9. Ann Logan Crossland 11:21am Jul 11 via Facebook

    Saw spraying this morning in the Sedona skies….

  10. You can help to pass the United State’s first GMO labeling law – Proposition 37 – that will require labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods and food ingredients – and ban the routine industry practice of labeling and marketing such foods as “natural.”

    Prop 37 is the best chance we have of defeating the corporate agri-giants and of forcing food manufacturers to stop hiding potentially dangerous ingredients in our food, without our knowledge.

    Please sign the petition below today. When we reach the goal of 200,000 signatures, it will be hand delivered to the White House and the Organic Consumers Association will make sure to have national media on hand to help spread the message. http://signon.org/sign/michelle-obama-tell-presiden?source=c.url&r_by=5382364

    Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association

  11. Dennis Kucinich Calls Out Monsanto: Americans Demand GMO Labeling – 20 September 2012
    Kucinich Calls Out Monsanto: Americans Demand GMO Labeling – 20 September 2012
    http://youtu.be/4J_YvtbSSqg (Watch this one minute CSPAN YouTube)
    Uploaded on 19 September 2012 by DJKucinich “In 1992 the Food and Drug Administration decided that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are the functional equivalent of conventional foods…”
    Like…Facebook…

  12. Jan, VOC says:

    http://worldtruth.tv/aspartame-has-been-renamed-and-is-now-being-marketed-as-a-natural-sweetener/

    I suggest you go to the link — there are alternative suggestions with links that I could not copy on to this email.

    Aspartame has been Renamed and is Now Being Marketed as a Natural Sweetener. Artificial sweeteners especially aspartame has gotten a bad rap over the years, most likely due to studies showing they cause cancer. But not to worry Ajinomoto the company that makes Aspartame has changed the name to AminoSweet.

    It has the same toxic ingredients but a nice new sounding name. And if you or your child happens to be allergic to Aspartame, well don’t take it personally it’s just business.

    Despite the evidence gained over the years showing that aspartame is a dangerous toxin, it has remained on the global market . In continues to gain approval for use in new types of food despite evidence showing that it causes neurological brain damage, cancerous tumors, and endocrine disruption, among other things.

    Most consumers are oblivious to the fact that Aspartame was invented as a drug but upon discovery of its’ sweet taste was magically transformed from a drug to a food additive. HFA wants to warn our readers to beware of a wolf dressed up in sheep’s clothing or in this case Aspartame dressed up as Aminosweet.

    Over 25 years ago, aspartame was first introduced into the European food supply. Today, it is an everyday component of most diet beverages, sugar-free desserts, and chewing gums in countries worldwide. But the tides have been turning as the general public is waking up to the truth about artificial sweeteners like aspartame and the harm they cause to health.

    The latest aspartame marketing scheme is a desperate effort to indoctrinate the public into accepting the chemical sweetener as natural and safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

    Aspartame was an accidental discovery by James Schlatter, a chemist who had been trying to produce an anti-ulcer pharmaceutical drug for G.D. Searle & Company back in 1965. Upon mixing aspartic acid and phenylalanine, two naturally-occurring amino acids, he discovered that the new compound had a sweet taste. The company merely changed its FDA approval application from drug to food additive and, voila, aspartame was born.

    G.D. Searle & Company first patented aspartame in 1970. An internal memo released in the same year urged company executives to work on getting the FDA into the “habit of saying yes” and of encouraging a “subconscious spirit of participation” in getting the chemical approved.

    G.D. Searle & Company submitted its first petition to the FDA in 1973 and fought for years to gain FDA approval, submitting its own safety studies that many believed were inadequate and deceptive. Despite numerous objections, including one from its own scientists, the company was able to convince the FDA to approve aspartame for commercial use in a few products in 1974, igniting a blaze of controversy.

  13. The USDA is poised to approve the first GMO apple.

    If approved, these genetically engineered apples could end up everywhere from school lunches to grocery stores, posing risks to our health, our environment and apple farmers across the United States.

    Like other GMOs, it won’t be labeled and won’t have undergone independent safety testing — regulators will rely on the company’s sole assessment that the apple is safe for human consumption.

    Worse yet, this GMO apple was genetically engineered via a new, virtually untested experimental technique called RNA interference, which many scientists are concerned may have negative, unintended impacts on human health and the environment.

    We need your help today, right now, to tell the USDA to say no to GMO apples.

    That’s why I signed a petition to The US Department of Agriculture, which says:

    “USDA: Do not approve the genetically engineered Arctic Apple.

    If approved, unlabeled genetically engineered apples could contaminate conventional and organic foods including fruit slices, juice, baby foods, and applesauce—products predominantly consumed by children and babies, who are at increased risk for any adverse health effects.

    GMO apples may contaminate nearby organic and conventional apple orchards and could potentially cause valuable export markets to reject U.S.-grown apples, as has happened in the past when wheat and rice crops were found to be contaminated by GMOs.

    This product is unnecessary and poses numerous risks to apple growers, the food industry, and consumers. The USDA should not approve this genetically engineered apple.”

    Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:

    http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-approval-of?source=s.fwd&r_by=9608188

    Thanks!

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