Butter, Salt, and a Side of Poison

“Who wants popcorn?” My husband enters the room with two, blue bowls.

My son and I cheer. We lift up the blanket, pat the open spot on the cushion in between us and turn the movie on. “Did you add some butter and salt?” Our son asks as he dips his hand in the bowl and stuffs it. Little white puffs poke out from in between his fingers.

“I sure did.” But, we had no idea that we were serving him a side of poison.

I didn’t know my “Simply Salted” Orville Redenbacher popcorn was genetically modified. The packaging seemed so straight forward, with earthy colors and the word “Naturals” in big, brown capitals. I have been buying this tainted food for years and feeding it to my child. I make an effort to be a responsible shopper. I read my bread labels and pass on anything enriched, I never buy products with fake sweeteners and I try to stick to organic fruits and vegetables. My son is a picky eater so I purchased products that are lower in sugar. I thought a graham cracker or Wheat Thin was a decent snack because these were treats my mother gave me. I assumed, as most of us do, that the government is looking out for us. I was wrong.Our government protects the big, wealthy corporations, at the expense of our children’s health. Grocery stores across America are stocked with food that can make us ill. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Apparently, nature has gotten it all wrong because crops are now grown with the objective of adding or eliminating certain characteristics. For example, Monsanto developed a corn that is genetically modified with Bt Protein. When the insect feeds on this plant, their stomachs rupture. Monsanto claims that by the time the food gets to our tables it is safe. But, an article published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, in 2009, reported studies proving that when rats ate the GM corn, they suffered from organ failure. GMOs were introduced in 1996. Since then chronic illnesses have jumped from 7 percent to 13 percent. Food allergies, autism, reproductive disorders, and digestive problems are all on the rise as well. President Obama signed a bill, in April 2013, often referred to as The Monsanto Protection Act, granting Monsanto immunity from federal courts. It means that no one can stop them from planting GM crops even if they are deemed to be a danger to health or the environment. Bayer created a group of insecticides called neonicotinoids. These and other harmful Monsanto insecticides, are not properly monitored by our protection agencies and have been linked to cancer and the honeybee death rates. The label Colony Collapse Disorder implies somehow that it is a flaw in the bees themselves but this is as deceiving as Orville’s packaging. This year the honeybee death rate ranged from 40-90 percent across the United States.

Luckily for Monsanto, Harvard Microrobotics Lab has been working on its Micro Air Vehicles Project since 2009. They are making robotic bees to replace the real ones and it is said that Monsanto is using them to pollinate their crops. The use of both Neonicotiniods and GM crops are banned in Europe, but in the United States they are not even monitored. Monsanto has also formed a partnership with a drug company called Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.to create biopesticides. Alnylam also has advanced drugs for treatment of liver cancers and tumors. Monsanto produces the food that gives causes illness then partners up with the companies that cure it. Last week, I emptied out my kitchen cabinets. I was shocked to see how many things in my cabinets were Genetically Modified. We may feel powerless against the big corporations that run our government. But, we can take control of what we bring into our homes. Here are a few things to do that will keep you and your family safer. Bring this list of GMO products when you are shopping and share it with everyone you can. Stop supporting the companies that put profits ahead of the consumer’s well being. Buy Organic Certified organics are not allowed to contain any GMO. Fruits and vegetables have a number code on them organic always starts with the number nine. Keep GMOs out of your home garden. There are lots of places online that you can order organic seeds and ask at your local nursery where they got their seeds. Don’t be fooled by the deceiving catch phrases: whole grain, all natural, select harvest and real fruit. Avoid: Soy Lecithin is considered GMO, and sweeteners like aspartame, NutraSweet and Equal are derived from GM microorganisms. These ingredients are found in over 6000 products. Eat less meat and make sure dairy products are free from antibiotics. Never Buy: Aunt Jemima Aurora Foods Balance Bar Banquet Best Foods Betty Crocker Birds Eye Bisquick Boca Burger Cadbury/Sweppes Calumet Baking Powder Campbells Capri Sun Carnation Celeste Cheetos Chef Boyardee Chunky Coca-Cola Colombo Con Agra Country Time Crisco Crystal Light Delicious Del Monte Dinty Moore Dole Doritos Duncan Hines Eggo Waffles Famous Amos Franco-American Frappuccino Frito Lay Fruitopia Gardenburger (unless organic) Gatorade General Mills Ghirardelli Chocolate Graham Crackers Green Giant Hansen Beverage Company Hawaiian Punch Healthy Choice Healthy Request Heinz Hellman’s Hershey’s HI-C Holsum Honey Maid Hormel Hostess Hungry Jack Hunts Interstate Bakeries Jiffy Kc Masterpiece Keebler Kellogg’s: Kids Cuisine Knorr Kraft: ALL condiments and dressings Kool-Aid Land O’ Lakes Lay’s Ruffles Lean Cuisine Libby’s Life Saver Lipton Loma Lindia Marie Callender’s Mazola Minute Maid Morningstar Farms (unless organic line) Ms. Butterworths Nabisco Nature Valley Near East Nestea Nestle Nilla Wafers Nutter Butter Ocean Spray Old El Paso Oreos Ore-Ida Orville Redenbacher Pace Pam Parmalat Pepperidge Farm Pepsi Peter Pan Phillip Morris Pillsbury Pinnacle Foods Pop Secret Post Power Bar Preformed Prego Pringles Procter and Gamble Progresso Soups Quaker Ragu Rice-Roni Ritz Rosetto Frozen Pasta Simply Home Skippy Smart Ones Smucker’s: unless labeled “Simply 100% Fruit” Snack Wells SoBe Sorrento Stagg Stouffer’s Sunny Delight Swanson Tang Teddy Grahams The Country’s Best Yoghurt Toblerone Tombstone Pizza Tostitos Totino’s Triscuit Tropicana Uncle Ben’s Unilever V8 Voila Wheat Thins Baby foods: Beech-nut, Enfamil, Good start, Nestle, Similac, Isomil Bonus: Non-GMO Shopping Guide.