As a California native (Northern, to be exact... Bay Area to be ostentatious) I was deeply perturbed by the defeat of Prop 37, the food labeling bill that would have required food companies and retailers to label all genetically modified organisms and it's derivatives. Although it failed in passing, it did ignite a debate that has caught the whole nation by storm.
Up until that point, not many people paid attention to genetically modified anything. For myself, I ate organically and tried to reduce waste as often as possible. I purchased as often as possible, fair-trade, organic, and sustainable products. I grow my own vegetables for heavens sake! But, is it enough?
Apparently not.
As food activist Michael Pollan predicted it, "...Prop 37 has ignited precisely the kind of debate -- about the risks and benefits of genetically modified food; about transparency and the consumer’s right to know -- that Monsanto and its allies have managed to stifle in Washington for nearly two decades." Especially, with all the media attention, it's easy to feel like the topic has been sensationalized. It's easy to put it in into the far recesses of your mind right along that one reality chick and her singing baby daddy naming their baby after an intercardinal direction. Has GMO's and it's affects been exaggerated? Far from it! And, while it seems people are focusing on food labeling their is a much larger concern. We need to realize that it affects a multitude of things in our daily lives; clothing, lotions, feminine products, beauty care, diapers and cleaning agents. Since, it is considered a medical
Most people don't realize how deeply it affect us. For me, it seems like modern society is trying to poison me into submission. I LOVE make up, the femininity of it. The artistry behind it. The self expression. I had to ask myself however, what's in it? With the wealth of information on the internet these days it's not hard to find out. Did you know, there are over 100,000 ingredients that go into beauty products and only 10% of that has ever been tested for safety? We then in turn, slather these ingredients on our skin, put it in and on our mouths, put it into our bodies, and wear it on our faces! Is it hard to see the connection that breast cancer is the highest form of cancer in women with skin cancer following close behind?
In a recent conversation, one of my best friends and I got into a discussion about an article he found regarding GMO's in cotton. We got to talking about the various uses of cotton; clothing, cotton-balls, cotton swabs, diapers, pads, TAMPONS! That blended in with news reports a couple of years back where girls soaked tampons with alcohol and inserted it in their you-know-where to get drunk. About how drunk those girls got, some having their blood alcohol level so high, about easy it got into the blood stream. Our conversation came full circle, imagining the poisons of a GM cotton in our bodies!
After that conversation I began to research what tampons and pads are made of. I found it is actually made up of primarily synthetics like rayon (research how rayon is derived and how harmful THAT is to the environment)! The super absorbent powders in pads and pantiliners are actually polymers derived from crude oil!
And, you press that up against where again?
Dioxin is a chlorine bleach by-product and chlorine bleach is used to make them white. Do I have to ask again? (I have since switched to organic tampons and pantiliners)
Bt cotton so labelled for the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that is injected into cotton because of it's ability to be chemically harmful to moths, butterflies, beetles, and flies. It was deemed safe to use as it was otherwise found to be harmless to other forms of life. This theorem can easily be rejected however, being exposed for its falicies in a 2006 study done by Cornell researchers in China. It found it was ineffective against many cotton pests! Plant bugs, stink bugs, and aphids were unaffected thus causing the need to use pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton. This action caused less profits for farmers due to the costly price for GM seeds. (1) The high cost and life of a Bt seed also required farmers to purchase new seeds after one year! Many farmers in India have committed suicide for their inability to provide and maintain their farms for their families!
And, this is supposed to be cost effective, and better...how?
It's easy to be overwhelmed. There is a blogger, Kristine Cocchiarella, whose blog http://www.realfoodgirlunmodified.com/gmos-for-newbies/ can easily guide you through searching.
Also the Non GMO project is extremely helpful!
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| http://www.nongmoproject.org/ |
As is the USDA Organic labels.
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| http://www.usda.gov |
I've compiled a few of my favorite products:
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| Pangea Organics |
| Organyc |
| http://www.nepalesepaper.com/ |
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Chuck Pinnow founded Nepalese Paper 17 years ago, when Fair Trade was just "the right thing to do". His efforts have provided much needed employment to the valley of Kathmandu.
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www.zambeezi.com |
Zambeezi Lip balm comes in original, tangerine, and suncare (which uses zinc oxide the only fda approved sunscreen for infants under 6 months) By supporting this company you are supporting income to rural African villages, and creating sustainable alternatives to destructive logging and mining in the pristine Miombo forests of Zambia.
1. Susan Lang (July 25, 2006). "Seven-year glitch: Cornell warns that Chinese GM cotton farmers are losing money due to 'secondary' pests". Cornell University.
