What's Eating Our Kids?

Common sense tells us that what’s eating our kids is what they’re eating. If they eat junk food, they will have junk bodies and junk feelings. An overburdened liver must struggle to detoxify the synthetic ingredients in processed food; a malnourished brain is more susceptible to the neurotoxic effect of “excitotoxins” (MSG and aspartame) that lead to emotional and neurological imbalance.

Sugar causes more than cavities. It also promotes mood swings and diabetes, among other serious health problems. Children are developing adult-onset diabetes at alarming rates because they have been eating sugar steadily since birth. One can of soda is sweetened with eight to 10 teaspoons of sugar. Diet sodas laced with aspartame (NutraSweet) made of wood alcohol and free amino acids are even worse; they cause sugar cravings and brain damage and encourage weight gain.

The newest threat to food comes from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Scientists have previously argued that GMO foods are the equivalent of organic foods because their chemical or genetic structure is the same. But that is no longer the case with GMO foods, where foreign genes are deliberately introduced and cause alteration to the genetic structure.

According to David Gould of Farm Verified Organic, a leading US organic certifier, “Our investigations from the 2000 harvest lead us to believe that virtually all of the seed corn in the United States is contaminated with at least a trace of genetically engineered material, and often more. Even the organic lots are showing traces of biotech "varieties” (cropchoice.com). Will Monsanto sue all the farmers involved and claim the whole corn crop as theirs in a 21st century form of feudalism?

Arran Stephens is the founder and president of Nature’s Path. He says his company has never included an ingredient in any of their foods whose safety has not been proven. He can’t understand why other companies are doing so.

“There has been no long-term human safety testing [on]. What little that’s been conducted has shown troubling results, including a possible increase in allergic reactions (discovered in Swiss government testing), a link to human cancer with bovine growth hormone, or rBGH (revealed by Health Canada). Potential extinction of Monarch butterflies is due to Bt poisoning from genetically engineered corn and intestinal lesions developing in rats fed on genetically altered potatoes are possibly caused by the viral promoter CaMv, commonly found in many gene-altered foods. This is the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“We trust in the common sense of individuals to realize that if the product says it’s certified organic, it has been made without GMO ingredients. I believe consumers have a right to know that 60 to 70 percent of the food in their supermarkets contain GMO ingredients according to food industry estimates. Mandatory labelling of all foods is the only way consumers will ever be able to tell.”

Mandatory Labelling

Donna Herringer, president of the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), is calling on all federal Members of Parliament (MPs) to support Bill C-287, which was introduced as a private member’s bill by MP Charles Caccia and calls for mandatory labelling of foods containing GMOs. “Sending this Bill to the Parliamentary Committee on Health would at least provide an opportunity for much-needed discussion on this issue,” she said.

Along with mandatory labelling, the CHFA is calling on the federal government to take a world leadership position in implementing a moratorium on the further planting of genetically engineered crops and raising of genetically engineered animals in Canada.

The association’s position states that “Genetic drift contamination of organic and other non-GMO crops, the rejection and loss of export sales of agricultural commodities to other countries which have banned GMOs and the lack of comprehensive long-term testing on this unproven technology are all valid issues in terms of our health and environment.”

Don Westfall, vice-president of Promar International, a Washington-based food and biotech consulting firm, does not beat around the bush. “The hope of the (GE) industry is that over time the market is so flooded (with genetically engineered organisms) that there’s nothing you can do about it, you just sort of surrender,” he said.

How do we address such a pervasive technology with such transparent goals? We have to remember that in the world of commerce, statistics rule. When we purchase organic products and shop in health food stores, the money adds up and the stock market takes note. It’s selective boycotting, the battle of the brands. In this case the brands we want are organic foods and products offered in health food stores by people that acknowledge “we are what we eat.”

Choosing Health

We have the right to make our own decisions on food choices on the basis of nutrition and not depend on advertisements by movie stars or athletic superstars. That right is in the form of food labelling. Reading labels and avoiding sugar, food additives and GMOs is one way to keep kids healthy. Labels presently display carbohydrates, sugar, salt, protein and fat, but they don’t list GMO ingredients. In order to protect our health, we must adopt the precautionary principle and extend the labelling laws to include GMOs.

Write to your Canadian Member of Parliament in support of the Caccia Bill, which is currently before Parliament. Without strong support, it will die, and we’ll all be the losers for its death. Sixty-seven countries now have mandatory labelling of GMO foods, and more are considering mandatory labelling as we speak. Why not Canada or the USA? Why do Canadians (and Americans) have to become a feeding experiment?

For more information on GMOs and the issue of labelling, visit your local health food store. During the months of October and November, health food stores will be accumulating signed petitions and letters to Parliament to let the government know that Canadians want to right to choose what goes into their mouths.

This two-month campaign will be launched on Thursday, September 26th from 7–10pm at the Crowne Plaza, 225 Front Street West in Toronto. At that time, Dr Carolyn Dean and a panel of the Canadian health food industry’s experts on health and nutrition will hold a symposium titled Families for a Safe Food Supply. For ticket information please call the CHFA at 1-800-661-4510 or visit the website at chfa.ca.