I just flew in from Chicago...and are my arms sore [cue rim shot!] So goes the old Borsch-Belt, Catskills-comedian, stand-up line. Yesterday, I walked from the Watchung Reservation to Highland Park...no small feat [pause while reader catches pun]. Okay, enough silliness - let's get down to the business at hand and the centerpiece of Sustainable Living Roadshow's Right2Know Tour, namely, the R2K March – a Mobilization for GMO Labeling. It kicked off last Saturday, October 1, at the Flatbush Food Coop in Brooklyn and after an official launch event at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park, the three dozen marchers crossed the Hudson into Jersey City en route to Washington, DC, where the march will conclude at the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a distance of 313 miles, or roughly 20 miles a day.
While SLR employs a healthy dose of humor in its edu-tainment, GMOs are no laughing matter. If you knew what I now know, you'd be appalled.
Get ready to be appalled.
80% of all processed food contain one or more genetically engineered organisms. Whether in corn, soy, sugar beets, cotton and alfalfa; or all too common ingredients – ascorbic acid, corn syrup, xanthan gum or maltodextrins – they're hard to avoid. Unless consumers are given the choice.The point exactly.
There are two major traits associated with GE (genetically-engineered) crops. The first involves altering the DNA of plants so they will survive an otherwise deadly dose of Roundup, a potent weed killer. Plants are then said to be Roundup ready. The second attribute, accomplished by splicing in a gene from bacillus thuringiensis, a soil bacteria, is a plant's ability to secrete the insect-killing Bt toxin from every cell.
During the course of the last few days, I've had the pleasure to speak with Joseph Wilhelm, one of many foreign nationals here in America to put their best foot forward in unity. He is the German-born, Co-Founder and President of Rapunzel, producer and distributor of organic, non-GMO, food products.
Starting in 2007, and again two years later, Wilhelm was instrumental in organizing and leading marches to draw attention to and gather petitions calling for a government mandate for mandatory labeling of GMOs. The first march took place in Germany, lasting 43 days, covering 850 miles. Over 150,000 signatures were collected on a petition which was delivered to the Agricultural Ministry. In the second, an appeal was made to the European Union (EU), the route of the march from Berlin to Brussels. The proof of their efficacy is in the pumpernickel pudding...in Deutschland, region after region have banned GMOs.And just over three weeks ago, the EU banned from general sale honey contaminated with GMOs. The EU, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand are part of an ever-growing body of countries now enforcing the labeling of genetically-engineered (GE) food. The United States stands apart from this worldwide trend.
Why should this concern you. Simple. You are what you eat. America is already the most overfed, under-nourished nation in the world. Fast food is killing us. Obesity, hypertension, heart disease, food-borne allergies. What more evidence do you need?
Enter genetic-engineered foods, already implicated in the 50% increase in soy-based allergies. To date, nearly all studies looking at the health consequences of GE food have involved animals. The results? It does not look good. These experiments have found high infant mortality, low birth weights, organ damage, and abnormal cell growth. Perhaps the scariest finding thus far, though, this from the only published study of humans and reported by theInstitute for Responsible Technology is evidence genes from GE foods can transfer into stomach bacteria and continue to function.
As I am putting the final touches on this entry, the R2K marchers have just showed up at the Whole Earth Center, a non-profit, multi-faceted nexus for slow food. And even though I sat this one out, having worn out some shoe leather yesterday I know firsthand what is means to not just talk the talk, but really walk the walk.
The illustration on one of the posters being carried on the march shows a guinea pig pushing a shopping cart filled with corn chips. And while there are opinions on either side of this issue, there is one things upon which we can all agree.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
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