http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/organic-and-natural-product-labels/ A guide that shows you how to save money on groceries with grocery coupons Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:41:31 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/organic-and-natural-product-labels/comment-page-1/#comment-10779 Megan Thompson Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:58:28 +0000 http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/?p=561#comment-10779 Thanks for posting this. I do want to offer a clarification about GMOs. You note above that "Genetic modification is used to increase the yield or quality of various crops, or produce new or better enzymes and proteins." In fact, the GMOs that are currently in our food supply are bred mainly for 2 traits: 1) Insect Resistance. This is done by engineering Bt toxin into the DNA of the plant, so that each cell of the plant itself is producing concentrated pesticide. Studies are showing that the production of Bt crops is leading to Bt immune "super bugs," which lead the farmer to need additional, stronger pesticides, at an increased cost. 2) Herbicide Resistance. These "RoundUp Ready" crops, which comprise 75% of the GMO crops on the market, are designed to survive spraying of the pesticide RoundUp, while the weeds (and soil and water) around them are killed. Use of RoundUp (which a recent French study demonstrated to be lethal to human cells) has increased 15-fold since the introduction of RoundUp crops, since the entire field is now sprayed as a matter of course, rather than spot application as needed. The myth that GMO crops increase yield has been debunked repeatedly by peer-reviewed scientific research. Most recently, the Union of Concerned Scientist's "Failure to Yield" report (http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/failure-to-yield.html) show that GM crops generally have lower yields than their conventional counterparts. In summary, there are no GMO foods on the market that offer a benefit to consumers, or in the long run to farmers. GMO foods benefit the companies who are profiting from their sale. People interested in avoiding GMOs can look for a "Non-GMO Project Verified" seal starting next October. In a meantime, a list of companies participating in North America's first 3rd party verification for products designed to avoid GMOs can be found at http://www.nongmoproject.org/participating-products/ Thanks for posting this. I do want to offer a clarification about GMOs. You note above that “Genetic modification is used to increase the yield or quality of various crops, or produce new or better enzymes and proteins.” In fact, the GMOs that are currently in our food supply are bred mainly for 2 traits: 1) Insect Resistance. This is done by engineering Bt toxin into the DNA of the plant, so that each cell of the plant itself is producing concentrated pesticide. Studies are showing that the production of Bt crops is leading to Bt immune “super bugs,” which lead the farmer to need additional, stronger pesticides, at an increased cost. 2) Herbicide Resistance. These “RoundUp Ready” crops, which comprise 75% of the GMO crops on the market, are designed to survive spraying of the pesticide RoundUp, while the weeds (and soil and water) around them are killed. Use of RoundUp (which a recent French study demonstrated to be lethal to human cells) has increased 15-fold since the introduction of RoundUp crops, since the entire field is now sprayed as a matter of course, rather than spot application as needed.
The myth that GMO crops increase yield has been debunked repeatedly by peer-reviewed scientific research. Most recently, the Union of Concerned Scientist’s “Failure to Yield” report (http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/failure-to-yield.html) show that GM crops generally have lower yields than their conventional counterparts. In summary, there are no GMO foods on the market that offer a benefit to consumers, or in the long run to farmers. GMO foods benefit the companies who are profiting from their sale. People interested in avoiding GMOs can look for a “Non-GMO Project Verified” seal starting next October. In a meantime, a list of companies participating in North America’s first 3rd party verification for products designed to avoid GMOs can be found at http://www.nongmoproject.org/participating-products/

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