A Month Without Monsanto

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



A Month Without Monsanto
April Dávila wondered what it would take to cut the GMO giant out of her family’s life. She found that it was far more entrenched than she’d ever realized.

by April Dávila
posted Aug 24, 2010


In January of this year, while procrastinating on Facebook, I followed a link to an article reporting on evidence that there may be health effects associated with consuming Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) corn. Clicking on that link was one of those moments on which I look back and laugh. I had no idea how my life was about to change.

Monsanto’s Reach

The article I stumbled onto concerned a study done in 2009 by a group of French scientists investigating the safety of genetically modified food. Their results, as published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, pointed toward kidney and liver damage in rats fed GM corn.

I began to research where exactly Monsanto corn appeared in my family’s diet. With a little online sleuthing, I learned that in addition to producing the genetically modified corn, Monsanto produces several other genetically modified crops such as soy, sugar beets, and cotton. Many of these crops form the foundation of our diets: 70 to 80 percent of American processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients, according to the Grocery Manufacturers of America. A large percentage of the cotton in our clothes and homes begins in Monsanto's labs.

Probing a little deeper, I was surprised to learn that a company specializing in genetically modified plant crops also had an enormous influence on America’s meat industry. Sixty percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed America’s beef cattle. Additionally, Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is used to increase milk production in many dairy cows.

Tracing Foods Back to their Source

I decided to see if I could go the entire month of March without consuming any Monsanto products. I committed to an all organic, vegan diet, and reluctantly invested in a small organic cotton wardrobe. It was an experiment born of curiosity: I wanted to know just how deeply my life was influenced by Monsanto, a company I knew little about before that click of my mouse in January. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/a-month-without-monsanto

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Not to forget the high fructose corn syrup in many, many sodas . . . .

[hedgehog]

2. I have a private theory that the obesity epidemic in America is somehow

tied to Monsato.

[superconnected]

3. On the grocery store shelves always buy organic vegetables.

You don't have to go to any special store as most big grocery stores carry organic now and say so on the canned vegetables - they're right next to the non-organic vegetables.

My favorite salad right now(called South Western) is very filling - it's black bean and corn (both organic), you mix a can of each together and put it in your fridge.

I don't look at the cotton I'm wearing but I'm super aware of everything else. I don't like to buy eggs or cheese because of the way the dairycows are treated - and their hormones, as well as how the chickens are treated - never let out of the pen - claws growing into the wire. I won't support that. I'm a vegetarian and have been for a few decades so that helps but I still have to watch what shows up in any processed food - which I try to avoid. Milk - wouldn't even consider buying it.

Fruit is also really good - tomatos and melons etc, after a while of eating fruit you can't stand getting your sweets from processed food.

If you spend anytime reading about aspartame you probably won't be drinking soda. I'm surprised anyone drinks it still.

The skinny bitches guides takes apart food sources but even I can't handle it when they get into the animal abuse. They're very in your face about it - which is good, but not when you have to put the book down and not go further because it's too painful to read - and I don't even eat meat!