Can we live without Monsanto?

Going GMO free….

After reading about the possible health effects of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn April Dávila did some research and then decided to go “Monsanto-free” for a month. You can read her story at Yes magazine (a great magazine if you don’t know about it).

What she discovered was that this was not such an easy undertaking. I’ve written a number of times about Monsanto and how prevalent they are in the food supply, and now we learn not just the commercial food chain.

Even eating strictly organic may not avoid Monsanto’s reach. Monsanto owns the majority of seed lines and this includes organic seeds…shocking I know. So trying to go Monsanto-free posed a challenge since Monsanto’s organic seed could be the source of prepared organic food, or even fresh organic produce. There are still a few brands of organic food that remain independently owned and they seriously scrutinize their supply chain. Here is an amazing chart from the Cornucopia Institute that shows who really owns many of the most common organic prepared food products.

Did you know that Muir Glen and Cascadian Farms are owned by General Mills?

Or that White Wave and Silk soy products are owned by Dean foods?

Check out this chart it is pretty scary that the majority of organic food products are actually owned by commercial food mega-corporations.

In a recent story along these lines Seeds of Change, a very cool company that produces organic seed had its New Mexico offices and farm closed and the staff that was asked to stay, and chose to stay, are moving to the California headquarters of their parent company…Mars Candy! What will now happen to Seeds of Change seed line remains to be seen, but their farm here in Northern New Mexico is definitely being shut down.

We are exceedingly vulnerable when so many organic product companies have been acquired by mainstream corporations where the bottom line is what motivates, not a desire to really go organic and create all the benefits that can go along with that-cleaning up the environment, the water, providing good, safe jobs and creating community.

Eating commercial meat can also lead back to Monsanto. According to this article sixty percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed cattle. Monsanto patented and produced recombinant growth hormone (rBGH), which is used to increase dairy production, but there had been such a public backlash against it Monsanto had tried to sell this division in 2008 and they finally found a buyer …Elanco, a division Eli Lilly. Yup the pharmaceutical company now sells the growth hormone and you had better watch your ice cream, if it isn’t organic it may still have rBGH in it. Click here to join the rBGH boycott.

Take a peek at this good read that includes four basic guidelines for avoiding Monsanto products and that means avoiding genetically modified organisms. We don’t have to be a part of this human experiment…say No to GMO

Here is a great article fresh from the Huffington Post by John Robbins on rBGH in ice cream and more about Monsanto. It is a bit shocking when you get to the part about the man who worked for Monsanto, and then he worked for the FDA and just happened to approve rBGH for cows, and then he went back to Monsanto. And did I mention he is now back at the FDA…something’s fishy here.