Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMOs):

The Greatest Threat Ever to Humans and Animals

 "The new genetic science raises more troubling issues than any other technological revolution in history. In reprogramming the genetic code of life, do we risk a fatal interruption of millions of years of evolutionary development? Might not the artificial creation of life spell the end of the natural world?… Will the creation, mass production, and wholesale release of thousands of genetically engineered life forms…cause irreversible damage to the biosphere, making genetic pollution an even greater threat to the planet than nuclear or petrochemical pollution?"

 Jeremy Rifkin: The Biotech Century

---

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE

  

Political/Community Action

• Contact elected officials

As of the present writing, only about 50 Congressmen (out of over 400) have endorsed the GM labeling bill currently before Congress.  A similar piece of legislation is being introduced into the US Senate. It is vitally important that 100,000 or more letters be sent to Congress urging them to support these bills. It is best to write a personal letter, what has the most impact. Form letters are also available. Many health food stores carry them, or they can be downloaded at the Web site www.thecampaign.org. Make copies for your self and 5-10 friends and family members. Several letters may also be collected and sent in a single envelope. Emails can also be sent, but do not have as much impact or influence as postal letters. Even with form letters, adding a personal note explaining you views on the subject doubles the weight placed on the letter by legislators. At The Campaign's Web site, additional form letters are also available to the President, Vice President, political candidates, Department of Agriculture, EPA, and FDA - plus media contacts and major food companies. The media contact service on the web allows you to instantly reach hundreds of newspapers, magazines, radio stations and the like, in each of the 50 states - to tell them to cover this issue.

• Sign petition

A petition is also attached and further copies are available through the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) at www.purefood.org and at most local health food stores. The OCA petition calls for 30% of US produce to be organic by the year 2010. At the present rate of growth, 10% of European produce will be organic by 2005. Australia has already passed 10% and Sweden and Switzerland are not far behind.

• Vote

 Support political candidates that favor labeling and/or a moratorium on GM foods. At present two national political parties have already included the issue of labeling bioengineered foods in their platform - the Greens and the Natural Law Party. For more information visit www.naturallaw.org and www.greens.org/ny/.

• Join and volunteer to help activist organizations

 There are many activist organizations working on the GM issue. A few prominent ones are The Campaign, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Bioengineering Action Network, RAGE, Organic Consumers Association - and locally NOFA, the Greens, and Americans for Safe Food.

• Mobilize parents, students, and teachers

Contact school officials asking them to follow the example of the Berkeley, California district - eliminating GM products or offering organic food in cafeterias.

• Attend Forums and Conferences

 See websites listed were updates are available as to local events.

Consumer Action 

• Buy organics whenever possible

 Educate your family on this issue and buy organic products whenever you can.

• Communicate with Producers and Distributors

Call and send a letter to the largest companies that distribute GM foods. Ask them to change their policies (see a sample list below) A national consumer action plan is being coordinated by the People's Earth Network (see www.peoplesearth.com). For more information send them an email on their site - to be part of their listserve to contact companies. You can also reach the Network by mail at 35 Asticou Road, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 or call 617-522-9605. As a result and as of this writing, 17 companies have taken positive steps. This includes Hain's Food Group, the largest health food conglomerate along with Wild Oats and Whole Foods, the largest health-oriented supermarkets in the US. A sample letter to a corporation, which should be restated in your own words, might be :

Dear President,

I am writing to express my very serious concern about genetically engineered ingredients in your products. Research has shown many negative health and environmental effects such as ……what effects me and my family. Other companies have begun to take steps to eliminate these ingredients and I am urging you and XXXX Corporation to do the same.

• Contact Store Owners

 Join (or start) a local network of people, who individually or together contact nearby supermarket and food storeowners about the seriousness of this issue. Ask the owners to survey their suppliers for GM-free products, as well as their own private-label products - and to make a list of all GM free products available to their customers.

• Corporate Persuasion

Divest of shares in GM producing or distributing companies, or use shares for shareholder protests.

List of Largest US Food Distributors:

• Safeway 800-723-3929

• Frito-Lay 800-352-4477

• Kellogg's 800-962-1413

• Nestle's 800-452-1971

• Heinz Foods 888- 472-8437

• Healthy Choice 800-323-9980

• Kraft 800-543-5335

• Hershey's 800-468-1714

• Coca Cola 800-438-2653

• Nabisco 800-862-2638

• Quaker Oats 800-367-6287

• Starbucks 800-782-7282

• McDonald's 630-623-3000

• General Mills 800-328-1144

• Proctor & Gamble 800-595-1407

 Personal Action 

• Become informed

 Knowledge, understanding, commitment and resolve precede action. Attached are brief lists of resources - books, videos, tapes, conferences and Internet resources for more information on the issue of genetically engineered foods.

• Inform others

Share information, a video, book or tape about GM foods with friends and family members. Write a letter to your newspaper. Inform others through your personal WebPages and links. 

• Organic lifestyles

When we buy organic products we not only enhance our own personal health, but support businesses and farms committed to a clean environment plus not destroying the living web of nature.

 

Articles

 See the Web site of www.thecampaign.org, www.purefood.org, and www.sage-intl.org.

 

Email Updates

1) www.thecampaign.org (follow instructions)

2) ban-gef@lists.txinfinet.com (in the subject area type "subscribe")

3) listserv@iatp.org (in the body type "subscribe_biotech_activists")

4) debbie@organicconsumers.org (send regular email request)

 

Author-Related Websites

Jeremy Rifkin www.foet.org

Vananda Shiva      www.vshiva.net

Mae Wan Ho www.i-sis.org

Marc Lappe www.cetos.org

Organization Websites

Alliance for BioIntegrity www.bio-integrity.org

Australian GenEthics Net www.essential.zero.com/agen 

Binas ( Biosafety Info Network ) http://binas.unidos.org/binas/binas.html

Biodemocracy www.purefood.org

Bioengineering Action Network www.tao.ca/~ban 

Campaign to Ban GE Foods www.netlink.de/gen/home.html

Center for Food Safety www.icta.org

Center for Food Policy www.wolfson.tvu.ac.uk/reseacrh/food/index.html

Centro Internazionate Crocevia www.crocevia.org

Council of Canadians www.canadians.org

Council for Responsible Genetics www.gene-watch.org

Earth Island Institute www.earthisland.org

The Ecologist www.gn.apc.org

Ecoropa www.ecoropa.org

Edmonds Institute www.edmonds-institute.org

Environmental Defense Fund www.edf.org

Food First Institute http://foodfirst.org

Friends of the Earth www.foe.co.uk

The Genetics Forum www.geneticsforum.org.uk

Global 2000 ( Friends of the Earth) www.global2000.org

Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org

Indigenous Peoples Coalition Against

Biopiracy www.niec.net/ipcb/

Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy www.iatp.org

International Centre for Trade &

Sustainable Development www.ictsd.org

International Forum on Globalization www.ifg.org

Mothers for Natural Law www.safe-food.org

Natural Law Party www.naturallaw.org

Norfolk Genetic Information Net (ngin) http://members.tripod.com/~ngin

People's Earth Network www.peoplesearth.org

RAGE (Resistance Against GE) nerage@sover.net (Northeast)

RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation) www.rafi.org

Organic Consumers Association www.organicconsumers.org

Red interamericana de Agriculturas yDemocracia (RIAD) www.sustain.org/riad

SAGE (Students for Alternatives to GE) www.sage-intl.org

Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org/agriculture/biotech.html

Washington Biotech Action Council http://students.washington.edu/radin

 

 

GMO Home Page

951-303-3471   Mon-Fri  9-5 PST    email: frequencyrising@aol.com