There’s much controversy about genetically modified and genetically engineered food. Do you know what GMO really means and the impact it may be having on your food and health? Here are some of the basics:

A genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GE or GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes. This DNA is then transferred into an organism, giving it modified or novel genes. Transgenic organisms, a subset of GMOs, are organisms which have inserted DNA that originated in a different species.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Genetic modification itself isn’t new. It used to be done via selective breeding. This has always seemed a fairly natural method to cultivate the best of any plant or animal species. Remember grade school science class and Gregor Mendel’s pea plants? It was all about furthering the best, hardiest, tastiest genetic make up possible.

The discovery of DNA, however, has brought far more frightening and unnatural-seeming shifts in genetics, like the splicing together of plant and animal characteristics such as fish and strawberries.

“…the gene from a fish that lives in very cold seas has been inserted into a strawberry, allowing the fruit to be frost-tolerant.” (Source: Disabled-World.com and Mavis Butcher)

What About Choice

Okay, so eating strawberries with fish DNA is weird and may be objectionable to some. What’s more objectionable is that there are no labeling requirements allowing consumers to choose whether they want to eat GM or GE foods or opt out of the experiment. With the jury still out on the benefits of genetically engineered food, I’d like to have a choice thank you very much.

Steps to Avoid GMO/GE Food

There are things you can do to avoid genetically modified foods in your diet.

1. Get educated on which foods are typically genetically engineered and choose not to eat them
2. Eat 100% organic (sadly, organic may no longer guarantee non-GMO)
3. Look for products specifically labeled non-GMO and/or non-GE
4. Eat 100% grass-fed beef
5. Shop local and know your farmer

We may not yet be able to do away with GMO/GE altogether, but we can surely limit our support of the industry.

It seems a commonly held belief that the world can’t support the human population, but I’m not convinced. I’ve come to believe it’s more about access to food than it is availability of food.

Lisa Weasel, author of Food Fray addresses that very subject in a recent interview about genetically modified foods.

“When I was in Zambia I learned that a lot of the food aid issues there are really just transportation issues. The country has enough food but they can’t get it to the people who need it. Issues in India are economic in many cases. The country has enough food but people can’t afford to buy it even if it’s heavily subsidized.”

Read the full article at Cooking Up a Story.

Why?

Like many people, I used to think bottled water was a good idea. Maybe even better than tap water after scares like the deadly water contamination tragedy in small town Ontario. But after I’d done a little accidental research and then dug a little deeper there were some compelling reasons:

• Tap water must meet higher safety standards than bottled water
• It’s estimated that 85% to 90% of plastic bottles end up as landfill or floating in the ocean
• Re-using those bottles seems a decent compromise, but it’s highly unsanitary
• We’re running out of clean, drinkable water on this planet, and my region of the world is not immune

Don’t Take My Word For It

Bottled Water Isn’t Cool covers a lot of these reasons and more, in greater detail. And a quick search of the Internet will bring up an unlimited number of videos and articles. Here are a few resources to get you started:

Flow movie
Blue Gold movie
Bottled Water Isn’t Cool
More Benefits to Drinking Local Water
Creative Answers to the Question of Water
Drink Local…Water, I Mean

In the Organic Consumers Association recent article, The Organic Elite Surrender to Monsanto, details of the sordid little affair have now been made public.

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

Read the full article.

I guess even the best of organic companies can lose sight of their roots and sell out when fame and fortune go to their heads. What a blow for local and sustainable food systems.

Once again, with her characteristic clarity and simplicity, Annie has a tale to tell and this time it’s the Story of Bottled Water. This 8 minute video gives you the basic run-down of how we came to believe that bottled was better than tap, and in what ways this is not true.

The issue of bottled water is an important one. If you want to know more, select the “Water” category on LocalDelicious.com where you’ll find articles, movies, and links to related organizations and resources.

I Am Not Alone

First, the other day I was in a coffee shop and requested a decaf latte and a glass of water. My friend was paying so I didn’t notice until I arrived at our table that she had paid for a bottle of water. I then suggested she take the bottled water, if in fact she would drink it, and went back to the counter to request a glass of water. “Truly, I’d prefer a glass of tap water, no ice,” I said kindly. It was duly poured from the pitcher right in front of the server.

As I walked back to my table another patron asked curiously why I had insisted on tap water. “Because Vancouver has great water. Because it’s cleaner than bottled water. Because there are tons of plastic floating in our oceans. Because of the politics around our freedom of access to water. Those are a few of the reasons…” She applauded my insistence and we shared a bonding moment of appreciation for fresh, local, delicious, tap water.

Discover the Truth

Second, there are a whole bunch of other people throughout North America who are also concerned about bottled water and there’s a new documentary that proves it, Tapped. From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car? and I.O.U.S.A. comes another let’s-get-to-the-truth film about the bottled water industry. It’s a challenging topic, one with many faces including:

• The advertising and marketing scam of bottled water
• Loss of access to water as a basic human right
• Toxicity of the plastic bottles themselves
• Lack of adequate safety regulation of the industry
• The environmental impact of the used bottles

You Are Not Powerless

Tired of hearing about the problem, but feeling powerless? Stop being powerless! You can make small, easy decisions that support your health, your community, and your right to fresh, clean water.

For starters buy safe, reusable bottles (metal, glass, non-BPA plastic)… and use them. If I can do it, you can do it.

Then, check out the Tapped website for additional ideas and resources on how to be part of the solution.

My second, less tongue-in-cheek thought was, “Yikes, if it happens there, someday it could happen here.” Yikes indeed. Turns out, it might not be someday, it might be next week.

Among other concerns, first Bill C-6 and now the new Bill C-36 give Health Canada unprecedented rights to literally enter private citizens’ homes and businesses with no legal safeguards for those citizens. What’s wrong with this picture? Even known drug lords are innocent until proven guilty.

I’ve always appreciated that we Canadians take a more reasoned, conservative approach to meddling with the affairs of our citizens. Or so I thought. Seems the reduction of civil liberties in the name of security may not be something we lament only for our neighbours to the south.

I want to have a choice about what goes into my body whether it’s water, food, or medicine. I’m bright enough to seek out options, I make choices, and I take the responsibility. My choice may not be your choice, but allowing it to be my choice is precisely the beauty that living in a democracy offers.

In my view, health regulations are meant to ensure I’m getting the truth about my options, not for someone to be forcing choices on me, without my having any recourse or external checks and balances.

I was recently asked by a reporter if I trust our health regulations. Well no, no I don’t. Not unreservedly. I mean, it was perfectly legal to put unhealthy goop on movie popcorn for decades until the public got wind of what it actually contained and raised a ruckus. Right? And it took the action of private citizens to bring the truth about cigarettes to light, didn’t it? (And still we have choice about cigarettes.)

I don’t know all the in’s and out’s about the new proposed Health Canada legislation (Bill C-36) but it’s worth learning more before it quietly passes into law.

National Health Products Protection Association
Health Canada Exposed
Shiv Chopra, Health Canada Whistleblower

I do know that we need to maintain our right to choice and our right to due process. Giving any government organization the right to operate above the law is a recipe for disaster. And it’s not democracy.

If you really want to go crazy, you can try a zero mile diet, a backyard garden. Or in some cases, the two block diet or the 5 ½ block diet (my choice, since that’s how far my community garden plot is).

More likely — and a lot less work — feeding your Eat Local addiction could be buying produce or preserves at a farmers market or craft fair. It might be supporting a local food retailer or buying via a CSA program (community supported agriculture) or food co-op.

Or even more simply, it could be as effortless as checking the label at the supermarket, and choosing products with a tell-tale red, Made in Canada maple leaf on the package.

Announcing the Look at the Label Campaign

Really, it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to sign a placard or worse, carry a placard. To be part of the Look at the Label Campaign, you just have to, well…look at the label. Find out how far your food has traveled to reach you, and choose options that are produced nearer to home. While you’re at it, you can look for additional benefits.

• Look at the labels in the produce section to find out where your fruit and veggies come from, then choose the ones from closest by and grown with the best farming practices. Choosing items that are currently in season will help support your local farmers year round.
• Read the labels in the bakery to find out which goods were made locally and which were shipped a great distance. If they’ve come a long way and have a long shelf life they’ll have had to be pumped full of preservatives. Real food, the kind with nutritional value, will rot. Pseudo food, does not.
• Examine the labels in the sauces and canned goods aisles. I’ll bet you can find the lots of local sources for your favourite flavours amidst the dizzying array of options.
• Check out the labels in the coffee and tea aisles. I can’t find coffee that’s grown nearby, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving it up! I can, however, choose locally roasted and/or fair trade beans that give farmers a living wage.
• Definitely look at the label in the meat department. Nearby sources are good, organic and grain fed are even better. Meat and poultry are prime sources of secondhand pesticides, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Face it, eventually, we eat what they’ve eaten.
• Be sure to check the label of eggs and dairy products both to ensure the animals have been raised humanely, and to be sure you know what you’re eating. For example, “frozen dessert” instead of “ice cream” on a label is code for “made with petroleum by-products,” which is just gross.

Michael Pollan said it best when he described his rules for buying food. If the ingredients are not something you would find in your grandmother’s pantry, don’t put it in your mouth.

Typically we think of industrialized food as mega farms that produce miles and miles of the same crop year after year using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Or factory farms housing thousands of cattle, chickens or pigs in close quarters that are fed growth hormones and antibiotics.

But what about water? If you buy bottled water, there’s an excellent chance it was pumped by the hectolitre out of some municipality’s ground water, at little or no cost to the bottling company, without thought for the impact to the local urban and agricultural community, then shipped a lengthy distance to a shop near you by one of only a handful of huge multinational companies who pretty much control the industry.

Hmmm, if that’s not the industrialization of water, I’m not sure what to call it.

Note: If you’re still drinking bottled water in the mistaken belief it’s better for you, you may want to go easy on the promotional hype and brush up on the facts about bottled water.

Related posts:

Creative Answers to the Question of Water
Drink Local…Water, I Mean
Who Owns Your Water
Enjoy the Luxury of Local, Drinkable Water
More Benefits to Drinking Local Water
Bottled Water Isn’t Cool
Industrial vs. Artisan Farming
Organic Eggs and Factory Farming

Wrong! It’s being proposed in the United States (for real) and (you guessed it) agri-business is behind it. The industrialization of food isn’t just a bad 1950′s experiment that we can easily amend. Big, powerful and heavy handed corporations have sunk their teeth into the profits to be made by monopolizing supply. And they are not going to let go easily, consequences be damned.

If I hadn’t seen this news television clip, I’d be certain someone was pulling my leg with the whole idea.

I don’t like to think of myself as a conspiracy theory kind of wingnut, but what do you say when it starts looking like maybe the wingnuts have got it right? It’s pretty hard to dismiss the video footage as conjecture or fear mongering.

I’m stunned, frankly. The impact of this kind of legislation on individuals’ right to access quality food, and food security in general, is breathtaking. In the bad way.

Learn more about Survive and Thrive, as featured in the clip, and if you have a US vote, you may want to send it over to the Stop S 510 Campaign.

Not convinced that your ready access to quality food is under threat? How about a guns drawn police raid at your local organic grocer? Good grief, what is the planet coming to? Can’t win the War on Drugs? Then switch to a War on Cheese!