Warning! May Contain GMOs

February 27th is the Global Day of Action to Occupy Our Food Supply. Occupy Big Food is very concerned about the failure by corporations and our government to label our foods properly. As it stands now, food corporations are not required to label foods that contain ingredients that come from GMO crops. This is largely due to the fact that corporations know warning labels on foods might turn customers off, or will at least spark questions in their minds — questions like, what’s a GMO? Should I be eating it? We believe our government should require GMO foods to have mandatory labels so that consumers can begin to make more informed decisions about what they’re putting into their bodies. Until then, what can we do? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Our food coop in NYC (the largest food coop in the country), with the help of the Non-Gmo Project, is taking another approach and is now requiring that foods be labeled “Non GMO” when free of GMO crops. Grocery stores across the nation could better serve their consumers and communities by doing the same.

We as consumers have a right to know. #F27 is only the beginning, spread the word.

Retailers click here for more information
Consumers click here

Did you know?

• Most processed and packaged foods contain GMOs, the most recent estimate is 70 percent
• GMO foods are required to be labeled in 15 European Union Nations as well as Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand. The US is one of the only major food-producing countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling GMO foods
• GMO crops have shown they carry significant and new environmental harms, including transgenic contamination of natural crops, wild plants, and massive increases in pesticide use
• Scientists warn that GMOs may: Set off allergies, increase cancer risks, damage soil fertility, produce antibiotic resistant pathogens, damage food quality, harm Monarch butterflies and beneficial insects such as ladybugs, create super-pests, super-weeds, and new plant viruses, produce dangerous toxins, increase the use of toxic pesticides, contaminate organic and non-GMO crops

 Monsanto: The world’s largest GMO company

Monsanto a Near Monopoly

• Monsanto is the planet’s largest seed vendor: 87 percent of the acreage dedicated to genetically engineered crops contained crops bearing Monsanto traits
• Monsanto controls more than 95 percent of the nation’s sugar beets, 94 percent of the soybeans, and 88 percent of the corn grown in this country
• Corn and soy are in everything. They’re in the animal feed in industrial farms and they’re in nearly every packaged and processed food and beverage
• Next time you pick up a package, if you see corn, soy, cottonseed oil, canola oil, or sugar and they are not organic, you can be pretty certain these are GMO crops
• Almost any food with oil in it is either Monsanto GMO soy, Monsanto GMO canola, or Monsanto GMO cottonseed oil The bottle that says pure “vegetable oil” is usually 100 percent GMO soy
• Soy protein (GMO, unless organic) is used in a variety of foods such as salad dressings, soups, imitation meats, beverage powders, cheeses, non-dairy creamer, frozen desserts, whipped topping, infant formulas, breads, breakfast cereals, pastas, and pet foods
• Soy protein is also used for emulsification and texturizing. Specific applications include adhesives, asphalts, resins, cleaning materials, cosmetics, inks, pleather, paints, paper coatings, pesticides and fungicides, plastics, polyesters, and textile fibers

Monsanto and US Government Ties

• The biotech industry has spent over half a billion dollars on GMO lobbyists in the last decade, and Michael Taylor, the FDA deputy commissioner for foods, was once vice president for public policy at Monsanto
• As of April 2011 81 Transgenic crops have been approved by the USDA and not a single request has been denied
• Monsanto gave $186,250 to federal candidates in the 2008 election cycle through its political action committee (PAC) – 42% to Democrats, 58% to Republicans. For the 2010 election cycle they have given $72,000 – 51% to Democrats, 49% to Republicans

Monsanto’s Creations

• Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) is now owned by Eli Lilly and has come under fire from Breast Cancer Action for links between the consumption of hormone-tainted animal products and rates of breast, colon, and prostate cancer
• Monsanto brought Agent Orange to the world, a highly toxic, cancer-causing herbicide used in the Vietnam war. Veterans who were exposed to this herbicide have suffered terrible consequences such as rare cancers, skin diseases, multiple sclerosis, birth defects in their children and psychological disorders
• Monsanto invented polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are such toxic chemicals that their production has been banned virtually worldwide and according to EPA data, Monsanto consistently ranks as one of the largest corporate generators of toxic emissions into the US environment. Meawhile PCBs continue to endanger the health of marine mammals, birds, humans and even entire eco-systems
• Monsanto has made Roundup, its most successful herbicide. Human exposure to Roundup has resulted in nausea, skin and eye inflammation, bronchial constriction and nervous system disorders
• Monsanto made Alachlor, a pesticide, which the Environmental Protection Agency considers a carcinogen, has caused lung, stomach and nasal tumors in lab animals and has contaminated over 46,000 US drinking water wells

 Monsanto and the Environment

• The Mississippi River has suffered from the company’s pollution. Its Illinois plant discharges an estimated 34 million pounds of toxins annually into the river. Its Iowa plant which produces alachlor and butachlor, releases at least 265,000 pounds of chemicals per year directly into the Mississippi
• In 1991, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office fined Monsanto one million dollars for illegally discharging 200,000 gallons of acid-laden wastewater from a plant and failing to report the release immediately
• In 1990, Monsanto paid 648,000 dollars to settle charges that it allegedly failed to report significant risk findings from health studies to the EPA as required under the Toxic Substance Control Act
• In 1988, Monsanto agreed to a 1.5 million dollar settlement in a chemical poisoning case filed by over 170 former employees of the company’s Nitro, West Virginia facility
• Monsanto is responsible for more than 50 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites, attempts to clean up Monsanto Chemical’s formerly uncontrolled hazardous waste sites

A sampling of common foods that most likely contain GMO ingredients

Kellogg’s: Rice Krispies // Corn Flakes // Frosted Flakes // Special K // Apple Jacks // All Bran // Pops // Crispix // Froot Loops // Mini Wheats // Raisin Bran // Pop Tarts // Eggo Waffles // Morning Star Veggie Burgers // Morning Star Vegan Veggie Burgers // Morning Star Chik’n Nuggets // Morning Star Veggie Sausage // Keebler Chips Deluxe // Famous Amos Cookies // Carr’s Table Water Crackers

Kraft/Nabsico: Chips Ahoy Cookies // Capri Sun // Boca Burgers // Cheez Whiz // Cool Whip // Corn Nuts // Crystal Light // Country Time // Honey Maid Graham Crackers // Jell-O // Kool-Aid // Kraft Singles // Lunchables // Maxwell House Coffee // Miracle Whip // Fig Newtons // Oreos // Oscar Mayer // Philadelphia Cream Cheese // Planters Nuts // Polly-O //Ritz Crackers // Snackwell’s // Teddy Grahams // Triscuits // Velveeta // Wheat Thins //

Frito-Lay: Lay’s Potato Chips // Doritos // Tostitos // Cheetos // Fritos // Sun Chips // Cracker Jack // Rold Gold Pretzels // Ruffles // Munchies // Stacy’s Pita Chips // Smartfood Popcorn //

Quaker Oats: Quaker Oats Oatmeal // Life Cereal //Oat Bran // Quick Oats // Instant Oatmeal // Natural Granola // Chewy Granola Bars // Rice Cakes // Grits // Wheat Germ//

Nestle: Nesquick // Butterfinger // Crunch Bars // Kit Kat // Nescafe // Buitoni  // Lean Cuisine // Hot Pockets // Stouffer’s // Coffee-mate // Carnation // Juicy Juice // Nestea // Dreyer’s // Haagen-Das // Nestle Ice Cream Campbell’s Soup: Condensed Soups // Chunky Soup // Select Harvest // Healthy Request // Pace // Pepperidge Farm // Prego // Swanson // V8

What are you doing to Occupy Our Food Supply on F27? Let us know!