Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Aliza" <realfood@wonderfulfarm.com>]

This is my local paper:o)  John used to be one of our clients when we had a 
custom digital lab.

We have a huge well educated population and the stores - the ones in Ashland 
at least - are having to go this way to compete.  we also have a huge 
thriving farmers market that runs 3 times a week - once in Ashland, once in 
Medford and once in Jacksonville - as well as one in Grants Pass which is 
farther north in the valley.

The really amazing part is that even in Ashland which is very educated and 
progressive, folks dont know the difference between organic and "natural" 
They think that the pork at ShopNKart is heathy because it says "natural" on 
the label.  My raw milk customers dont always even ask what I feed my 
animals - they dont even know what to ask.

I figure that is part of my work - to help folks start to know what they 
need to know and to get them to grow a tomato plant and maybe some 
lettuce:o)  The trick is to impact the more conventional population that is 
still shopping at Safeway and Albertsons.

Aliza
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <yarrow@sfo.com>
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" 
<livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:17 PM
Subject: [Livingontheland] avoiding GMOs


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
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