GMO. Genetically Modified Organism. Sounds delicious right? Well GMO’s are currently found in a HUGE percentage of the foods we eat, particularly if we’re buying things from the supermarket that comes in boxes, cans, or bags.

A recent CBS News/NYTimes poll showed that 53% of people said they won’t buy food that has been genetically modified. Just the idea of GM foods can be pretty hair-raising… crossing strawberries and fish,  genetically altering rice to contain higher levels of Vitamin A, and of course, the most common use of genetic modification – plants that are resistant to Monsanto’s Round-Up pesticide (the pesticide kills all the bugs but leaves the plant “unharmed”). Almost 90% of all soybeans grown in the US are genetically modified, as are 60% of all corn, and 75% of canola or rapeseed oil. Corn and soy show up on just about every food label in the grocery store, and if it’s there, you can just about bet that it’s GM.

But the industry responsible for creating all these GM crops doesn’t want you to know that you’re eating them. They fought very hard to make sure that foods don’t need to be identified as containing GM ingredients, fearing that if we knew, we wouldn’t buy it.  So here we are, with 53% of people stating they won’t buy foods that have been modified, and having no clear way to identify them.

In the most recent Organic Consumers Association newsletter, a short article stated that Monsanto’s own website tells it’s employees to buy organic if they’re looking to avoid GM foods. But they certainly aren’t telling the general public that!

The best way to avoid GM foods? Eat organic foods of course, but more than anything, stay away from processed, packaged foods. These almost always contain GM ingredients and are almost always loaded down with excess fat, sugar, and salt, and loaded with preservatives and stabilizers that we really just don’t need. Shop from farmers you know, or get to know, at your local greenmarket. Don’t assume they’re organic or even using non-gm seeds. Ask them and be persistent.

“If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.”

- Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto, quoted in the Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994