(NaturalNews)
Author's Note The number 8 at the beginning of a PLU is not being used to identify GMOs. This from a recent article by Jeffrey Smith posted late Feb 2010 in Huffington Post. The 8 was proposed but never followed up on. Until Smith's recent post, all other sources used by the author were claiming the 8 tag for GMOs was in effect.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) states, "Genetically Modified foods have not been properly tested and pose a serious health risk. There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation." The AAEM also called for a moratorium on GMO's in food and for physicians to advise their patients to avoid GM foods. Since the massive invasion of GMO's into the food supply from 1996, chronic diseases and food allergies have doubled.
Now that President Obama has appointed Michael Taylor as Food Czar to his cabinet, the struggle is destined to become more difficult unless more consumers knowingly boycott GMO products. Michael Taylor was a vice president and chief lobbyist for Monsanto prior to his cabinet selection. Did you know that the stated aim of Monsanto is to own the patents for all the food crop seeds in the world? And now they're in the White House!
Why Avoid GMO Foods?From anti-GMO activist and best selling author Jeffrey Smith's recent
News With Views Internet article, "Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods," "World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further. After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans".
"Among the population, biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that 'children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems' related to GM foods. He says without adequate studies, the children become 'the experimental animals.'"
In addition to you and your family's personal health risks, the whole human race is endangered as Monsanto pursues it's stated goal of owning the world's food supply. Genetic engineering alters genetic codes of the DNA in organism by splicing in other genes from other forms of life, including other plant forms, insects, bacteria and even viruses. This creates mutant organisms and dangerously mutating genes, solely for sociopathic commercial demands on different forms of produce.
These commercial demands never consider the negative effects on human and animal health, nor the future of the food chain. Pollen pollution from GMO crop fields has already infected formerly pristine crops on small farms and indigenous farming groups. This pollution can cause permanent genetic mutations. And when Monsanto officials determine where these pollen drift pollutions occur, they sue the farmers of the polluted crops for patent violations! So farmers who avoid GMO planting are at risk.
As a matter of fact, there are several documents recovered from lawsuits and from the Freedom of Information Act that show FDA scientists had even urged long term studies before releasing GMO products. This was back in the early 1990's when the genome biotechnology industry was coming out of the closet. So how were they over ruled?
Along came Michael Taylor from Monsanto, you know, the current Food Czar guy, taking a key position in the FDA to create policy regarding GMO foods. The policy he instated essentially decrees that it's all food; there is no difference from any other food, and if the biotech company that created the GM foods say they're safe that's good enough! That FDA policy for GM food remains the same to this day.
Recovered documents from the biotech companies and independent testing prove that the GMO firms not only do very little testing, but they also often test improperly, cheat on the testing, and lie about the results! This junk science and PR lying is what gets to the mainstream media and press, via the FDA or even from biotechnology press releases. Meanwhile, research that prove GMO dangers is suppressed.
How To Avoid GMO FoodsAvoid the big four, which has become five now: The highly genetically engineered crops are
soy, corn, canola and
cottonseed. Add
sugar beets, which are now becoming GMO.
Most blended oils in North America contain canola and cottonseed oils. Use extra virgin olive oil instead. Avoid all soy products and oils as well. The healthy alternative is usually not so healthy after all, since most soy is GMO unless it is specifically labeled non-GMO.
Most corn is GMO. Items like corn flakes and corn chips are from GM corn. Corn based products, corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup appear on the ingredients labels of many processed foods. Corn in various forms is prevalent in the vast fast food supply that dominates our culture.
GMO corn is fed to cattle and other livestock. If you eat beef, pork or fowl, you are probably a second hand consumer of GM corn. So dig a little deeper and buy grass or alfalfa fed or free range livestock meats only.
Sugar beets are added to the big four to make it five. Now more and more sugar beets are GMO. Sugar from sugar beets is less expensive than cane sugar for refined sugar; therefore, it is popular with food processing groups. So if you haven't stopped using sugar or products with refined sugar, you might want to reconsider now.
A handy guide for consumers are
PLU codes that are labeled or stamped onto fruits and vegetables. PLU stands for Price Look Up. The PLU codes are for input into electronic cash registers to determine prices for bulk items, such as apples and cabbage. The codes identify exactly what the item is with its current pricing, while giving the consumer a handy tag for identifying GMO produce.
Each PLU code has five digits. If the first digit is a 9, the item is organic. If it is an 8, it is GMO! Conventionally grown produce has a 0 for the first digit, but usually the 0 is dropped. So most conventionally grown produce will actually have only 4 digits on the PLU tag if you don't see a 0 at the beginning. The 8 gives you the worst of two worlds, GMO and heavy chemical spraying!
Those are your three main categories. PLU codes do not usually appear on packaged produce or items such as string beans that are too small to label or stamp.
Obviously, buying organic and from local farmers is ideal. Forget convenience. Buy bulk and eschew packaged foods. So what if you have to soak legumes the night before cooking them. If you buy locally, through a local health food store or at a farmers' market, you can determine by direct communication how the crops were raised.
Need more details? You can download a free, very detailed Non GMO Shopping Guide (pdf) created by The Center for Food Safety here:
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfmThe Genesis of GMO Madness[
The following passage is excerpted from "Commentary on Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods", By Edem Srem Sept. 2, 2009 GBC News]
The history of controlling the food industry in the world by the then American Government in 1973 under President Nixon started by introducing the "Food for Peace" programme which was led by Henry Kissinger, Nixon's Secretary of State and National Security Adviser.*
According to the New African Magazine, Kissinger controlled absolutely the US foreign policy and summarized his activities as "Control oil and you control nations, control food and you control the people". His idea of capturing the worldwide food industry started with the introduction of what was termed as the gene revolution. [
End of article excerpt]
That gene revolution evolved to the biotechnology industry in food. Under Bush senior, biotechnology was given the deregulation green light possibly more than any other industry. Connect all these dots to Michael Taylor's revolving door passages from corporate (Monsanto) to government (FDA) and back again to Monsanto then tapped as Food Czar.
The picture becomes apparent: the thrust to completely control food world wide is being pursued by an alliance of USA government policy and multi-national agribusiness and food processing corporation ambition. Don't expect government to come to the rescue!
Grass Roots Activism Too Shut Down GMO FoodsThe agenda for controlling the world food supply through patented GMO seeds has hit a few glitches, thanks to the word getting out and food consumer boycotts. Monsanto's target for accomplishing this was up years ago! But of course, they haven't given up.
Monsanto is a multi-national company that created PCB's, Agent Orange, Aspartame, rBGH, Terminator Seeds and Round Up weed killer, for which GMO crops were created to withstand its heavy spraying, creating more toxic chemical residue to the GM crops than even conventionally grown crops. Would they care about anything but their food fascism control agenda? With Food Czar Monsanto Mike in the White House, they have their point man in position.
What Jeffrey M. Smith, Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and author of
Seeds of Deception and
Genetic Roulette proposes is that enough people get educated and boycott GMO products to diminish market demand. This can create a tipping point, where the balance of supply and demand shifts enough for the market place venues to drop GMO products.
He claims this has been achieved in the USA with rBGH or bovine growth hormones. And thanks to an honest scientist, Arpad Pusztai, who lost his lab funding for exposing GMO dangers in Scotland, the EU is GMO free.
The same link provided above for the GMO Shopping Guide leads to the Institute for Responsible Technology where Jeffrey Smith's powerful, live 84 minute power point presentation on the whole GMO situation is available free.
Sources:
Institute for Responsible Technology (for Non GMO Food Guide and J. Smith free video presentation)
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfmDoctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods by Jeffrey M. Smith
http://www.newswithviews.com/Smith/jeffrey125.htmOrganic Vegetable PLU Codes
http://www.cffresh.com/trade_info/plu_codes_veggies.htmlGMO Free Ebook by Greg Ciola (scroll down list to find Greg's book)
http://www.thenhf.com/suggestedbooklist.htmlCommentary on Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods
http://gbcghana.com/news/27886detail.htmlAbout the author
Paul Fassa is dedicated to warning others about the current corruption of food and medicine and guiding others toward a direction for better health with no restrictions on health freedom. You can visit his blog at
http://healthmaven.blogspot.com
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