Top Secret Writers – by Sally Painter
A Monsanto food list has been circulated around the Internet for the past three years advising consumers to boycott the companies listed as using Monsanto GMO products (1).
Some of those posting this list claim that Monsanto “owns” these companies, which is incorrect (2).
Any list composed of Monsanto GMO foods to avoid should reflect substantiated data that the company is specifically using Monsanto’s GMO food products. So far, all that is being shown is a list with no supporting documents.
Since food companies aren’t required to list GMO foods on labels, it’s nearly impossible to know for sure if a company is using GMO food products.
While it is highly probable that the companies listed use Monsanto corn, soybeans, rice, wheat or other GMO or GE product, without documentation accompanying the claims, it isn’t a given.
A Different Approach to Consumer Awareness
It is possible that the reason for the companies being listed is due to the amount of GMO products commonly used in the production of other food products. For example, if you buy a food that contains cornmeal, there’s a good chance the corn is GMO.
Instead of posting a long list of companies to boycott, it may be more beneficial to focus on the GMO crops and the percentages they hold in the overall crop production in the US. This can give a clearer picture of just how much of the US foods possibly contain some kind of GMO product.
The food ingredient could be:
- A corn product, such as corn meal
- High fructose corn syrup
- Corn starch or corn oil
- Soybean
- Rice
- Wheat
- Papaya (grown in Hawaii)
- Some squashes, although only a few have also been genetically modified
According to the USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) Economic Research Service report there are three categories of GMO or GE foods (3).
What to Avoid
HT Crops
“The adoption of HT (Herbicide-Tolerant) developed to survive application of specific herbicides that previously would have destroyed the crop along with the targeted weeds, provide farmers with a broader variety of options for effective weed control.”
2014 crop data for HT:
–> 89% of US corn acreage is HT.
–> 94% soybean acreage (soybeans have only HT varieties) is HT.
–> 91% planting of cotton is HT.
It should be noted that these GMO/GE crops are engineered to survive higher intensity and strength of herbicides. As a result, the massive spraying of herbicides has spawned “super weeds” that are resilient to the herbicides.
Bt Crops
“Insect-resistant crops containing the gene from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis)… These bacteria produce a protein that is toxic to specific insects, protecting the plant over its entire life.”
2014 Bt crop data:
–> 80% of corn plantings are Bt.
–> 84% of cotton plantings are Bt.
–> Soybeans haven’t been affected by insects, so no Bt varieties have been created.
Stacked Varieties
“These figures include adoption of ‘stacked’ varieties and corn, which have both HT and Bt traits.
–> 76% corn acres were plantings of stacked corn.
–> 79% cotton plantings were stacked cotton.
The USDA states that, “Adoption of all biotech corn accounted for 93% of corn acreage in 2014.”
The Non-GMO Project lists the US crop of sugar beets (used as a natural sweetener) as 95% of the crop being GMO. There are many other crops that have been genetically modified and are added to other food products (4).
Daily Finance lists several food type that have GMO food ingredients (5). These include:
–> Pre-made soups
–> “Frozen foods are often sweetened with HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup)”
–> Milk and soy milk are highly likely candidates for GMOs. Corn-fed cows are often fed GMO feed corn.
–> Sweetened fruit juices typically contain HFCS
Based on this data just for corn, cotton (cottonseed oil), beets and soybeans, there is a strong possibility that some, if not most of the non-organic food products purchased from a typical US grocery store contain GMO food ingredients.
References & Image Credits:
(1) TSW: Occupy Monsanto GMO Foods
(2) Collective Evolution
(3) USDA
(4) Non-GMO Project
(5) Daily Finance
Originally published on TopSecretWriters.com
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2015/08/a-monsanto-food-list-to-avoid/