Monday, November 1, 2010

Non-GMO Warrior: Jeffrey Smith


As you may, or may not, know this last October was the first ever Non-GMO month. The Non-GMO Project was sure to hand out Non-GMO shopping guides at local retailers and host educational events around the country that answered a very important question:

Why is non-GMO food important in the first place? Well, GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are created by various genetic engineering techniques to produce species with specific attributes (bigger/better/faster). However, GMOs are not proven to be safe for consumption, although they are widely distributed around the world in many foods you may be consuming. Interesting thing to note, GMOs are banned in Europe where people fought successfully to keep them out of the food system, but here in the US widespread common foods like corn and soy (including most corn syrup) are made from GMO crops.

One man, known by the world as the no-GMO guy, Jeffrey Smith has a lot to say about the matter. His organization, called the Institute for Responsible Technology, states that,

“Genetic engineers continually encounter unintended side effects – GM plants create toxins, react to weather differently, contain too much or too little nutrients, become diseased or malfunction and die. When foreign genes are inserted, dormant genes may be activated or the functioning of genes altered, creating new or unknown proteins, or increasing or decreasing the output of existing proteins inside the plant. The effects of consuming these new combinations of proteins are unknown.” But people can predict, and Mr. Smith in his best seller, Genetic Roulette, clearly outlines numerous health and environmental threats from GMO activity.

Jeffrey Smith, a long time friend of Sambazon’s, is joining our tribe of Warriors and you’ll be able to see his full profile on the Sambazon website in a couple weeks.

If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out the Institute for Responsible Technology.

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