Two breakfast cereal products that are currently enrolled in theNon-GMO Project, Barbara's Bakery's Puffins and Whole Foods'365® Corn Flakes, contained more than 50 percent GM corn . Meanwhile, the control, Nature's Path® USDA certified organiccorn flakes, contained only trace amounts of GM contamination (lessthan 0.5 percent). Another sign that American consumers are gettingfed up with being stonewalled on the GMO labeling issue is the factthat lawsuits are starting to crop up, accusing food manufacturersof deceptive and misleading practices over their "all natural"claims. Here are just a couple of recent examples: Frito-Lay is being sued by a New York consumer over their 'allnatural' snacks that are actually made using GM ingredients, suchas Tostitos and SunChips iv On August 31, 2011, a class action lawsuit was filed againstKellogg/Kashi® for allegedly misleading consumers with its"natural" claims. One Kashi® product in particular, GoLean®Shakes, is composed almost entirely of synthetic and unnaturallyprocessed ingredients, according to the plaintiff Why We MUST Insist on Mandatory Labeling of GM Foods As I said earlier, mandatory labeling may be the only way to stopthe proliferation of GM foods in the U.S. because while GM seedsare banned in several European countries such as Hungary , Germany and Ireland, in the United States, certain states arepassing legislation that protects the use of GM seeds and allows for unabated expansion! At present, no less than 14 states have passed such legislation.Michigan's Senate Bill 777 v , if passed, would make that 15. The Michigan bill would preventanti-GMO laws, and would remove " any authority local governments may have to adopt and enforceordinances that prohibit or regulate the labeling, sale, storage,transportation, distribution, use, or planting of agricultural,vegetable, flower or forest tree seeds ." While this type of legislation sounds like crazy nonsense to normalpeople, such bills are essentially bought and paid for through themillions of dollars Monsanto and other biotech companies spendlobbying the U.S. government each year. In the first quarter of2011 alone, Monsanto spent $1.4 million on lobbying the federalgovernment -- a drop from a year earlier, when they spent $2.5million during the same quarter. Their efforts of persuasion are also made infinitely easier by thefact that an ever growing list of former Monsanto employees are nowin positions of power within the federal government. Learn More about Genetically Modified (GM) Foods Due to lack of labeling, many Americans are still unfamiliar withwhat GM foods are. We have a plan to change that, and I urge you toparticipate and to continue learning more about GM foods andhelping your friends and family do the same. To start, please print out and use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide , created by the Institute for Responsible Technology. Share itwith your friends and family, and post it to your social networks.You can also download a free iPhone application, available in theiTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in theapplications. Your BEST strategy, however, is to simply buy USDA 100% Organicproducts whenever possible, (as these do not permit GM ingredients)or buy whole fresh produce and meat from local farmers. Themajority of the GMO's you're exposed to are via processed foods, soby cooking from scratch with whole foods, you can be sure you'renot inadvertently consuming something laced with GM ingredients.When you do purchase processed food, avoid products containinganything related to corn or soy that are not 100 percent organic, as any foods containing thesetwo non-organic ingredients are virtually guaranteed to contain genetically engineered ingredients, as well as toxicherbicide residues. To learn more about GM foods, I highly recommend the followingfilms and lectures: Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals Your Milk on Drugs - Just Say No! Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous Genetically ModifiedFoods Your Opportunity to Eliminate Genetically Engineered Foods from theU.S. In 2007, then-Presidential candidate Obama promised to"immediately" require GM labeling if elected. So far, nothing ofthe sort has transpired. Labeling of genetically engineered food is way overdue... Here'show you can get involved to rectify the situation: Whether you live in California or not, please donate money to this historic effort Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to activelysupport the California Ballot. It may be the only chance we have tolabel genetically engineered foods. Distribute WIDELY the Non-GMO Shopping Guide to help you identify and avoid foods with GMOs. Look for products(including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal to be sure that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMOcontent. You can also download the free iPhone application that isavailable in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching forShopNoGMO in the applications. For timely updates, please join the Organic Consumers Associationon Facebook , or follow them on Twitter . Look for in-depth coverage of the issue at the Institute for Responsible Technology , subscribe to Spilling the Beans , and check out their Facebook or Twitter . In the meantime, the simplest way to avoid genetically engineeredfoods is to buy whole, certified organic foods. By definition,foods that are certified organic must never intentionally usegenetically engineered organisms, must be produced withoutartificial pesticides and fertilizers and come from an animalreared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters orother drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fedgenetically engineered corn feed, although now that geneticallyengineered alfalfa is approved, grass-fed will not always mean theyanimals have not consumed genetically engineered feeds. vi Be assured that what happens in California will affect theremainder of the U.S., so please support this important stateinitiative, even if you do not live there! References: i The Vermont Legislative Bill Tracking System ii The Vermont Legislative Bill Tracking System iii Cereal Crimes, the Cornucopia Institute iv Natural Society January 31, 2012 v The Michigan Citizen, vi GMO Labeling. I am an expert from digital-colour-printing.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Membership Card Printing Manufacturer , X-banner Stand Manufacturer, Canvas Printing Service,and more.
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