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GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM (Photo credit: live w mcs)

That soy beverage you drink every day because you’re a vegetarian may actually be cross-bred with bacteria.  The “natural” corn flakes you eat every morning may not be so natural after all – the corn in those flakes may have been genetically engineered with other species.  The question over how much of our food in the U.S. has been genetically modified is now going mainstream and could be on the ballot in your state this November.

According to a front-page article in the New York Times today (Dispute Over Labeling of Genetically Modified Food – NYTimes.com.), grass roots efforts are urging ballot measures to force food manufacturers to label foods that contain GMO’s or Genetically Modified Organisms.  GMO’s are more than just “the selective breeding process used in nearly all crops,” according the NY Times, GMO crops “contain DNA derived from bacteria.”

Although experts tell the rest of us that GMO’s pose no harm, the controversy is not going away.  Rather, it is our right to know what we’re ingesting in our foods that’s critical.  GMO’s are already required to be labeled in Europe.  But commercial farmers and biotech companies are fighting labeling here because labeling “might lead consumers to reject genetically modified food…without understanding” it, according to the NY Times article.

In California, a labeling initiative will most likely be on the ballot in November having “cleared a crucial hurdle this month,” the NY Times says.

For a list of foods that contain GMO’s go here:  List of GMO foods.

For a list of non-GMO foods go here:  Center For FOOD SAFETY – you can also download a free Food Shopper’s Guide and an iPhone app.

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