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SUPERMARKET FOOD TOURS

True Food Website

Ten tips to remember
when you go to the supermarket
.

PART II

 

GMOs = Genetically Modified Organisms

 

6.

Cereal

  • Supermarkets carry many brands, often including their own store brand. If you don't want GMOs in their store brand corn flakes, you need to tell them - consumer pressure can work!

  • In Britain, consumers asked supermarkets to stop using GMOs in their store brands; today, virtually every major chain there has eliminated GMOs. Many say they will also stop using GMOs as animal feed, so their meat and poultry products will be GMO-free.

  • Kellogg's has told Europeans they will stop using GMOs, but here they say their cereals contain GMO ingredients. Companies like Nestle, Kraft, McDonalds and others also have this double standard.

7.

Back to fresh products

  • With no GMO-free brands, the best way to avoid GMOs is to buy fresh produce, other whole foods (nuts, grains, beans, rice, etc), and organic food as much as possible.

  • The same companies that have sold pesticides for the past 50 years are now selling GMOs. These companies say that pesticides are safe and environmentally friendly.

  • The evidence of the past 50 years shows that pesticides have been an environmental and public health menace. Recent studies show that herbicides and insecticides in the environment effect the immune system, hormone levels, and brain functioning, and that children are especially at risk.

  • Now the companies that brought us toxic pesticides are trying to genetically alter all of our food. They say that GMOs are safe and environmentally friendly. They say GMOs can replace pesticides. But they still sell pesticides, and now they link their toxic chemicals to GMO crops.

  • The real solution to pesticide use is truly sustainable agriculture. For example, organic production, which by definition excludes the use of GMOs. Organic farms:

8.

Organic food is popular

  • It is the fastest growing segment of the food industry: at 20% per year, the organic industry is a $6 billion a year business, growing faster than computers or telecommunications.

  • When given a choice between GMOs, conventional food, or organic food, most Americans said they would prefer organic.

  • Other than supermarkets, you can also get organics at farmer's markets or through community supported agriculture (CSA) projects, whereby farmers deliver fresh produce directly to a community or individuals. Check state or regional farm organizations for CSA farms in your area.

9.

Organic food can be more expensive but...

  • The health and environmental costs of pesticides in the U.S. have been estimated at as much as $4 billion a year. These are costs that we all pay through higher taxes, expensive health care, environmental clean-up, etc.

  • Chemical companies and industrial farms get huge subsidies from our tax dollars. Over 99 percent of government research and development funding goes to biotech and chemical farming. There is no level playing field for organic farmers.

  • If organics were supported like industrial farming, the price would go down and we would avoid the costs associated with industrial farming.

10.

GMOs are potentially more dangerous
than farm chemicals !!

  • Pesticide pollution is long lasting, but attempts can be made to clean it up or contain it.

  • GMOs, once they are released into the environment, cannot be recalled. Genes can't be traced or stopped.

  • The only way to avoid genetic pollution is to stop the release of GMOs. That's why Greenpeace calls for a ban on GMOs in our farms and food.

Source: True Food Website

GLOSSARY

brands: commercial names (marcas comerciales) poultry: chickens, turkeys and ducks (carne de ave)
produce: fresh fruits and vegetable grown for the market (cosecha de frutas y verduras)
menace: threat (amenaza, peligro)
brain functioning: brain working (funcionamiento cerebral)
fastest growing segment: commercial segment growing faster than others (segmento de más rápido crecimiento)

whereby: as a result of which (como resultado de lo cual los)
would go down: would fall (caería, se reduciría)
long lasting: existing for a long time (de larga duración)
traced: followed, discovered (analizados, investigados)
ban: an official prohibition (prohibición)

 

Click here to read PART I of this article.
Pulsa aquí para leer la PARTE I de este artículo.

 

MAS "SALUD Y BIENESTAR"   FORO   INICIO