Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/LIFE
27/02/2008 10:46 AM

Taking aim at GMOs
Urged by customers who feel that genetically modified organisms have
negative effects on food, some local grocers are 
taking items containing them off their shelves
By JOHN DARLING
for the Mail Tribune (Southern Oregon)

February 26, 2008 6:00 AM
Believing that genetically engineered foods are 
untested for health effects on humans, the 
Ashland Food Co-op has launched a program to get 
all such products off its shelves this year -- 
and other area markets, including Shop N Kart and 
Food For Less, say they are steadily increasing 
offerings of GMO-free food.

Most genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are 
found in corn, soy, canola, cottonseed products 
and Hawaiian papaya, which means they're in a 
huge array of foods -- estimates range up to 70 
percent in processed food ó says Co-op Outreach 
and Owner Services Manager Annie Hoy, who teaches 
classes on non-GMO shopping.

"They're made in a lab in ways that nature 
doesn't operate. It's an imprecise science. It 
may look, act and taste like corn, but it isn't 
corn," says Hoy, noting that science recognizes 
no species barriers, and will combine genes from 
fish and strawberries in order to extract a 
trait, such as long shelf life, color or ability 
to resist pesticides.

What most aggravates shoppers, she says, is that 
GMO foods are not required to be labeled as such, 
so it's difficult to screen them out of your 
diet. "I try to avoid GMO and I would feel a lot 
more secure if it were better labeled," says 
Kelly Cruser of Ashland, who is educated as a 
zoologist and has worked as an orthodontist. 
"It's in two-thirds of everything in grocery 
stores now and there are many important likely 
health consequences and very few studies to 
verify GMOs are safe."

The ability to fine tune her shopping skills 
required study -- and Cruser has learned which 
corn and tomatoes have been genetically modified. 
She buys blue corn chips (only yellow corn has 
undergone GMO) and Roma tomatoes, which are not 
among the engineered species.

On a walking tour of the Ashland Food Co-op, Hoy 
points out that, while GMO foods evade labeling, 
foods labeled non-GMO, such as milk from Umpqua 
Dairy in Roseburg, are required to carry a 
disclaimer saying the FDA has determined that "no 
test can distinguish" between the milk of treated 
and untreated cows.

Many popular ice creams and yogurts, long 
considered healthful, will not make the cut at 
the co-op, because they don't meet the standard 
of being free from bovine growth hormone, which 
is genetically engineered, says Rainbo O'Connor, 
chairwoman of the store's Product Safety 
Committee.

O'Connor had her management team read "Seeds of 
Deception; Exposing Industry and Government Lies 
About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered 
Foods You're Eating," by Jeffery M. Smith -- and 
recently pulled all canola oil out of the store's 
deli and substituted organic olive, grape seed 
and sunflower oil.

Because crops aren't grown in plastic bubbles, 
but get their pollen blown around by the wind, 
"it's getting increasingly hard to say something 
has no GMOs, but a good yardstick is "shop 
organic," she says, adding that anything that is 
certified organic, by definition, means it's 
GMO-free.

Terry Johnson, manager of Food For Less organic 
food department, Medford, says she's increasing 
her line of organic and non-GMO foods. "I wish 
they'd make them label the GMO," she says. 
Johnson says she doesn't like hearing that tomato 
and salmon-scale genes have been crossed to 
express stronger tomato skins.

Ashland Shop N Kart manager Eric Chaddock says 
his "very vocal and informed customers," more and 
more are demanding organic and non-GMO foods and 
"just because the FDA says something is safe 
doesn't mean it's safe."

Leading the charge against genetically modified 
food is Physicians for Social Responsibility, 
whose spokesman in Portland, Rick North, says, 
"GMOs have not been demonstrated safe for human 
health and the environment: " the more people 
know about genetically engineered food, the more 
they don't want them -- and they vote with their 
dollars."

State-by-state laws requiring labeling of GMO 
foods is unlikely to work, so PSR and other 
groups are focusing on a federal labeling law, 
says North. A state ballot measure requiring GMO 
labeling was defeated in 2002.

"It was a popular idea until Monsanto, which 
makes most of the genetically engineered foods, 
poured millions of dollars into Oregon to defeat 
it," North says.

While proven impacts of GMO food remain a 
question mark, Hoy remains unequivocal in her 
opposition, saying, "Nothing that's been 
genetically manipulated has been shown to be good 
for the consumer, more nutritious or easier to 
digest. They're not doing it in the interest of 
the consumer."

"There's no way to recall this genetic material," 
says Hoy, who worries about the persistence of 
GMOs in the environment. "I probably have it in 
me. How does it make me feel? Not very happy. 
It's getting harder and harder to eat food 
without more and more worry."

Foods most likely to contain GMOs
Fresh corn
Fresh papaya
Cornbread mix
Corn meal
Soy flour
Veggie sausages
Tortilla chips
Flavored tortilla chips
Puffed corn snacks
Meatballs, burgers with soy protein
Soy-based protein drinks and powders

Foods least likely to contain GMOs
Organic anything
If corn, try blue corn or sweet corn.
Roma tomatoes
Pop or candy with fruit or natural sweeteners, instead of high-fructose
corn syrup.
Potatoes are a good carbohydrate source, not GE as yet.
Anything labeled GMO-free
Food that's not processed
Popcorn