Say "NO" to the King of GMO

I've been stuck inside for two days because of work and rain, so there is no planting news to report (is that a collective sigh across the Internet I'm hearing?). The good news is that in the world of food, one is never lacking a topic. Today I opened a small weekly, The Auburn Villager and found a column by Bita Bullet (a pseudonym) talking about rising food prices and the crisis that continued increases pose for America. Food crisis. This is a common thread in articles and discussions these past few days.

My husband and I were looking at news photos after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and one of the photographs showed empty shelves at the market. Whether snowstorm or tsunami, natural disasters seem to trigger a similar response: everyone heads to the store so they can stock up on essentials. Food crisis.

I open my inbox today and see a newsletter from the Organic Consumers Association, and inside this newsletter, I read more about food crises, or perhaps how to avert crisis. The first article contained an excerpt and link to a United Nations report titled "Agroecology and the Right to Food." If you follow the link, you can read the full report for yourself, but let me give you a few of the findings. Implementing agroecological techniques, or environmentally sustainable techniques, in developing countries increased food production by as much as 79 percent. According to the report, such practice "also puts agriculture on the path of sustainability by delinking food production from the reliance on fossil energy (oil and gas)" (page 13) and allows food producers to better respond to challenges brought about by climate change.

This brings me to the next article and the reason for the post. There are also two articles about Monsanto and genetically modified crops in the OCA newsletter. The first article is urging readers to go a Month without Monsanto, and it continues by saying how difficult a task this may be, particularly if you don't already eat organic foods. GMO crops, of which Monsanto is one of the largest producers, if not the largest, proliferate in corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and alfalfa. OCA is urging people to contact their U.S. representatives to fight for truth in labeling so that consumers know when they are getting GMO foods, which is expanding into animal products if a company called AquaBounty is approved for the first GMO animal destined for our dinner tables.

What's the harm? Well, the truth is, no one really knows because independent scientific studies are few and far between. There is a suggestion that GMO's contribute to food allergens, but we don't really know. We do know that GMO products are hard to control, infecting organic crops, and sending small farmers into court if a renegade Monsanto seed winds up in their fields. Hmmm. What's wrong with that picture.

OCA is asking everyone to join in the fight and create a Million Against Monsanto Chapter for his or her Congressional District. Follow the link for more information.

It's easy to get discouraged when fighting against multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporations, but take heart with this example from Fast Food Nation: "In the Spring of 2000, McDonad's informed Lamb Weston and the J.R. Simplot Company that it would no longer purchase frozen french fries made from genetically engineered potatoes. As a result, the two large processors told their growers to stop planting genetically engineered potatoes--and sales of Monsanto's New Leaf, the nation's only biotech potato, instantly plummeted." (Schlosser 269)

That's because Americans said "No to GMO."