Agent Organe produced by both Monsato and Dow Chemicals, was used to defoliate jungles during the Vietanm War. I know men that were in that war who face heart failure and brain disease due to it. If we know this stuff creates serious illnesses and we know it has a profound negative impact to our health, why do we still approve its use on our food crops?
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Here’s how you can get involved:
If you live in California and are willing to attend a short training session and then start collecting petition signatures (you will be part of a team of 2-4 people) for the California Ballot Initiative, sign up here. (For more information see: The California Ballot Initiative: Taking Down Monsanto.) Also remember to share this information with family and friends in California!
Whether you live in California or not, please donate money to this historic effort.
Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to actively support the California Ballot. It may be the only chance we have to require the proper labeling of genetically engineered foods.
Distribute WIDELY the Non-GMO Shopping Guide to help you identify and avoid foods with GMOs. Look for products (including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal to be sure that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMO content. You can also download the free iPhone application that is available from the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.
For timely updates, please join the Organic Consumers Association on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter
Look for in-depth coverage of the issue at the Institute for Responsible Technology, subscribe to Spilling the Beans, and check out their Facebook or Twitter.
You can also join the Non-GMO Project on Facebook, or Twitter
In the meantime, the simplest way to avoid GM foods is to buy whole, certified organic foods. By definition, foods that are certified organic must never intentionally use GM organisms, must be produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and come from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed, although now that GM alfalfa is approved, grass-fed will not always mean GMO free. You can also look for foods that are “non-GMO verified” by the Non-GMO Project.
Story at-a-glance
Dow AgroSciences (a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals) has developed a new generation of genetically modified (GM) crops — soybeans, corn and cotton — that are engineered to resist an herbicide called 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), which was a major ingredient in Agent Orange
Once the 2,4-D resistant seeds are released, it will mean farmers will be spraying massive amounts of the herbicide onto U.S. farmland; health effects linked to 2,4-D include birth defects, blood, liver and kidney toxicity
The 2,4-D-resistant crops are being touted as a solution to Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops, which have triggered the creation of super weeds; however, the new crops will likely only add to the problem of herbicide resistance, while even greater amounts of herbicides are sprayed onto U.S. farmland, exposing millions to their harmful effects.
You have until February 27, 2012 to comment on Dow’s application for “non-regulated status” of its 2,4-D-resistant corn. This is a rare opportunity to let your opinion be heard that you do not support products that will increase the use of this toxic chemical once used in Agent Orange.
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