Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Dr. Mercola comments about GMO Foods

The next time you’re at the supermarket, you can use The True Food Shopping Guide to decipher which foods contain genetically engineered ingredients and which do not.The True Food Network, the grassroots network of the Center for Food Safety, compiled this essential list.

You can browse through the online guide according to food category; there are 20 in all, including:
Condiments
Dressings and salad oils
Tomatoes and tomato sauce
Baby food
Chocolate
The True Food Network was established in 2000 to stop genetic engineering of food and farm crops, and to create a socially just, democratic, and sustainable food system. They have 40,000 members. True Food Now

You may be surprised to learn that you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with genetically modified (GM) ingredients when you’re at the supermarket. This is because at least seven out of every 10 items have been genetically modified.In fact, the United States leads the world in GM crop acreage with 123 million acres in all (that’s close to one-third of the agricultural land in the United States planted with gene-altered crops). And the blight of genetically engineered crops across the globe continues to grow.

Worldwide, there are at least 222 million acres planted with GM crops, and the number keeps rising.Although the major food giants are carrying on with their claim that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, the research begs to differ. Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods:
GM peas caused lung damage in mice
GM potatoes may cause cancer in rats
Bacteria in your gut can take up DNA from GM food

They may be spurring the creation of weed-killer-resistant superweeds. Aside from the potential risks to your health, genetic modification known as “terminator technology” is now being used to create, you guessed it, seeds that “self-destruct.” In other words, the seeds (and the forthcoming crops) are sterile, which means farmers must buy them again each year (as opposed to using the seeds from their harvest to replant the following year, which is the traditional way). This, of course, means bigger profits for the food companies that are patenting GM seeds, and more money shelled out from farmers. Worse still, this practice could actually threaten the entire food supply because the sterile seeds may spread to nearby fields.

There is an incredibly important documentary on this topic that I urge you to watch yourself and then pass on to ALL of your friends and family. This should be required viewing for everyone that is living in the 21st century. It will open your eyes to the dangers of GM foods and do it in a way that is very easy to learn. It is one of the most important videos I have ever viewed.Again, you simply MUST watch this video!!It’s called The Future of Food. This documentary will help you understand the very real threat that ALL future generations face as a result of genetic engineering.

You may also be interested to know that I am actually working strategically with Jeffery Smith, the leader of the anti-GM movement in the United States, to facilitate the end of GM foods in the U.S. within the next two years.This shopping guide is an excellent start, as you can print it out and take it with you to the store so you can avoid GM foods like the plague.

Along with using The True Food Shopping Guide, you can also follow these tips to avoid GM ingredients:
Examine produce stickers on the fruits and vegetables you buy. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.
Buy organic produce as often as you can. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms.
Stay away from processed foods. Most of these contain corn and soy products, and most corn and soy are genetically modified.

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