Why we should be saying OMG to GMOs!

Author: Sandy Abram Date Posted:4 July 2016

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Walk passed any news stand and it’s easy to see who’s marrying who. Read the paper and learn all about the latest housing bubble (by the way, today it’s bursting!). But what about our food and what’s going on with GMOs? Well OMG…here’s a quick update on what’s been happening…you won’t believe it…

Secrecy and scandal

In March last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a report that said glyphosate, a herbicide produced by the baddies and readily used on food crops to kill weeds, was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans. Carcinogenic and food…no way!

In May, there were marches across 38 countries protesting the agricultural practices of Monsanto, the company that has introduced GM food crops and sells Roundup, the glyphosate-based weedkiller to which their GM crops are resistant. Ooohhh…

Both of these big events really didn’t as much as a mention in Main Stream media even though to me, I’ve always thought it was more important to know what’s in our food and whether our food contains additives, preservatives or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) rather than checking out Miley’s latest haircut?

The good guys

In every story there has to be some good guys and ours is no different. MADGE (Mothers Are Demystifying Genetic Engineering) are a really great source of information. Madge have some great info on GMOs including how to shop GM free. The True Food Network are also a great source of information on genetically engineered food and provide a good insight into the fight farmers have stopping Monsanto’s GM crops.

It gets murkier the more you delve into what’s happening with our trade deals too…

More secrecy

Have you heard about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)? I hope you have! If not Google it. GetUp!, The Organic Federation of Australia and many other organisations world wide have been doing a tremendous job getting this crucial, yet terrifying, information out into the public. In a nutshell it’s a trade deal that would allow powerful corporates (like Monsanto) to sue Countries Government's in SECRET if it affects their profits! I’m not only concerned about our food safety standards being threatened, but also the affect it could have on affordable medicines and the protections we have for clean water. Imagine how it could affect organic food!

So where to from here?

As you can see there’s so much going on that could affect our organic food standards. We need to keep the conversation going. We need to engage with independent media and like-minded groups (like us) as this is the only way we’ll be able to stay in touch with what we are consuming and what's really going on.

Finally, the one thing that really perplexes me is why we don’t have consumer choice by labelling products as genetically modified. I’m going to tackle that one in the next blog I write…

I'm definitely with the goodies - so no wonder I love and choose organic food!

In good health,

Sandy (Food Warrior)