-->| What are actions that we can take to make healthy food accessible to all?
• genetically modified organisms. Reread the paragraph on page 17 that begins, "Instead of. . ." What do the authors mean by GMOs being the "ultimate wake-up call"? Do you agree? What is your impression about GMOs after reading Hope's Edge?
• Conscious consuming. In Chapter 8, what do the authors mean by "stirring the sleeping giant"? Do you agree with Paul Rice when he uses this phrase? If so, what actions could you take, or have you taken, in your own life to manifest this power?
Food citizenship. | | Bob draws a parallel with organic farmers, who have to carry the costs, for instance, of creating buffer zones between their fields and those using pesticides or genetically modified organisms. Totalitarian indeed.
A Visit to the Little Shop of Horrors
Bob decided to ensure that his factory is a leader not only in discouraging growth hormones, but in encouraging organic farming, too. In the past few years, he's been urging the farmers he buys from to forego chemicals. Now, almost half of the milk he buys is organic. |  The Turning of the Tide
The citizen revolt that took place in the United States in the late 1990s, when the USDA tried to establish a definition of organic that would have included genetically modified organisms, irradiated food, and food grown with toxic sewage sludge, changed the course of American agriculture. But even more powerful, and even more historic, has been the uprising that has been taking place globally against genetically engineered food. |  GMOs) until May 1999. But that was all about saving the monarch butterfly from GM corn pollen, not about human food safety.
It wasn't until the massive food recall prompted by StarLink®* corn that Americans were even alerted to the fact that they were eating GM foods everyday. Moreover, the American press was forced to question whether GM foods were safe. Up until then, the media had portrayed European resistance to America's GM crops as unscientific anti-Americanism. |  I pass on all genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and strongly encourage you to do the same. Some high oleic oils, however, are derived from hybrid, rather than GMO, seeds. Examine the oil label for the manufacturer's stand on GMO material.
• Refined To increase an oil's shelf life, its color, flavor, and aroma are removed through a multistepped, hightech refining process that uses toxic solvents, caustic soda, bleaches, and phosphoric acid. In addition, supermarket oils typically contain synthetic antioxidants and chemical defoamers. Sometimes these oils bear a health food label. |  Genetically modified (GM) foods or those containing genetically modified organisms (GMO) have been on the market for several years. You've probably eaten them without knowing it. Producers aren't required to identify these foods, although the Food and Drug Administration recently proposed voluntary labeling. Common GM food crops include soybeans, corn, potatoes, squash, canola, and papaya.
One of the goals of genetic modification is for scientists to change the DNA make-up of plants so they are more resistant to insects and weeds. | | In discussing the situation in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers emphasized that tests on laboratory animals are not sufficient to discover allergic reactions to genetically modified organisms.12 Only tests on humans can do that.
In this case, we were lucky. Knowing that Brazil nuts can be allergenic, Pioneer Hi-Bred undertook the tests of its own accord. |  There is no mandatory labeling in America for bioengineered foods or ingredients, genetically modified (GM) foods, or foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). (See section 35.)
?Not all additives must be listed.
?It is not mandatory for manufacturers to label prominendy foods containing peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, and certain other possibly life-threatening allergens.
?All products need not disclose the presence of specific artificial coloring unless the coloring has been proven hazardous to health (for instance, yellow dye FD&C No. 5, tartrazine).
? |  By 1997, 20 million acres of American farmland had already been planted with genetically modified seeds, and yet there was barely a news article about it.17
The next year was the turning point for Greenpeace, Bruno explains. In 1998, the French Conseil d'Etat, comparable to our Supreme Court, suspended authorization for the cultivation of genetically modified seeds. To arrive at this decision, the Conseil convened a group of ten laypeople—called a Conference of Citizens—and exposed them to a wide range of evidence and expert opinion, and then weighed their views heavily. |  S Morover, it is estimated that 60 percent of processed foods in the US now contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from soy, corn, and more than 50 other plants. Unfortunately, even certified organic foods may contain GMOs, according to the Or ganic Trade Association (OTA). Although OTA standards forbid the use of genetically engineered seed stock by organic growers, this standard is not routinely enforced. In addition, GE crops can cross-pollinate with fields of non-GE crops, including those that are being grown organically. | | How is it that little recourse is left for someone who doesn't want to eat genetically modified organisms, new-viruses, and bacteria, or vegetables containing genes from toads and fish?
It's shameful how often people have moved back and forth between high-level positions in government regulatory agencies like the FDA, the EPA, and the USDA and highly paid positions with biotech corporations like Monsanto and DuPont. Mickey Kantor, who was Secretary of the Department of Commerce and President Clinton's trade representative, became a member of Monsanto's board of directors. | | The problem of genetically modified organisms transferring their genetic traits to new organisms is not limited to the plant kingdom. More than 50 laboratories around the world are currently conducting research into transgenic fish. These labs are splicing genes from chickens, humans, cattle, and rats —into carp, catfish, trout, and salmon.8
One of the serious problems this practice is likely to cause is called "the Trojan Fish Syndrome." When you engineer human growth genes (or other growth genes) into fish, the fish that result grow far larger than normal. | | In 1999, London's newspaper, the Independent, announced that "European governments are drawing up contingency plans for a nuclear fallout-style emergency involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A five-point Emergency Response Plan has been formulated by the European Commission, designed to cope if genetically modified plants result in widespread illness or the death of wildlife. . . . The plan is designed to prevent a human health disaster and stop genetically modified plants from breeding wildly with native species. | | Meanwhile Monsanto and the other biotech companies are eagerly-developing all kinds of genetically modified organisms, hoping to bring them to market. How do we know if they're safe? David Suzuki says, "We don't, and won't for years after they are being widely used."64
It's not a prospect that helps calm the nerves and restore confidence in our collective future. And in fact it can seem incredible that these things actually are happening. Surely, I've wanted to believe, when the chips are down, they would never do anything that would jeopardize life on Earth. |  The information covered here does not include environmental toxins, genetically modified organisms, the influence of recreational or pharmaceutical drugs on the brain, or family or social issues that affect learning and emotions. I write only about food, but how very important it is.
One of the most famous Gallup polls was conducted in September 1989 when pollsters called up a cross section of Americans one evening to ask them what they were eating for dinner. Fifty percent of those people replied that they were having "frozen, packaged, or take-out meals. | |
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