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The Easiest Way To Protect Your Health

Updated on March 12, 2013

As the saying goes “What you don’t know can hurt you”. Never has that been more true than now. Having information gives you, the consumer, power.

The easiest way to protect your health is to read product food labels, and then not buy those products that contain toxic and harmful ingredients. For example; if you are concerned about heart health, you would want to stay away from foods that raise your cholesterol. But you can only do this because labels are required to show you such information. If the food raised your cholesterol but the label didn’t give you this information, then you would be unwittingly harming your health and not know it.

Now imagine one example, that some foods you might be eating, or giving to your children, may contain harmful toxic pesticides, and they may be harming your health and the health of your family. Well guess what, that might well be happening with some genetically engineered foods, sometimes called GMO, or genetically modified organism. This is because some GMO’s produce their own pesticide, and then when you buy it and eat it, well you can guess what kinds of harmful effects can possibly happen if you eat pesticide. But how would you ever know if you were eating this certain food, if the food label didn’t let you know? That’s one reason why many people want to label all foods that contain GMO ingredients.


Below is a commercial for prop 37 which asks some very good questions, such as, if genetically modified food is "supposed" to be so good for you, then why are all the food companies hiding it from you? Why do other countries around the world have the right to know what is in the food they eat, but in America the food companies hide that information from you? If you were eating something that was harming your health, wouldn't you want to know?

Another good video to watch about this subject is called 'Genetic Roulette' the trailer of which is shown below.


What's At Stake


On one side of the issue are Millions of Americans just like you, who want to know what they are buying, and what is in their food. Seems like a pretty simple concept doesn’t it? Of course no one is saying that you have to read the label, but if you ever wanted to know what was in the food, say because you were allergic to something, then the label should contain this information for you, right? It’s so simple an idea that it seems like basic common sense doesn’t it? That’s what most Americans have shown in polls since early 2000. According to a MSNBC poll just last year, 90% of Americans agree that the food that they buy should be labeled whether it contains genetically engineered ingredients or not.

On the other side of the issue is big money conglomerates, who are more than willing to spend their money to flood the airwaves with lots and lots of misinformation to confuse consumers. You know what this is like. Don't be surprised if they hire big advertising agencies and use scare tactics mixed with half truths to trick you to vote no.

They will try to convince you that labeling foods that contain GMO’s will be too confusing. Seriously? I think people are smart enough to know whether or not they want to buy something. Just give consumers the information and let them decide for themselves what is best for them and their families. Are you confused when you look at a label and see how much sugar it contains? Nope. Are you confused when you read how many calories a food contains? Nope. Well all this little label is going to do is simply tell you if the food you are buying contains anything genetically engineered or modified. It couldn’t be more simple or straight forward.

They will also try to convince you that adding GMO labeling will cost you more money. The truth however is that it won’t. You won't pay one penny for any GMO labeling, just like seeing how much trans fat, nutritional information, calories, or carbohydrates are in a product doesn’t cost you anything. Companies typically change their product labels all the time anyway and it doesn’t cost you anything. Lets be real here, it’s just a label.

The companies are simply using a little bit of additional ink on their labels. Like when they may print on their product that it’s organic, only this little bit of ink on their label will give you the choice, and power, to know if the food you are buying contains any genetically modified ingredients. We’ll explain why this can be so important to your health in a minute.

More than 49 other countries already label products showing if they contain GMO ingredients. Most Americans feel that Americans should have this right too, because you have a right to know what you are spending your money on. You have a right to have honest labeling of the food you buy. Parents should have the right to know what they are feeding their children, grand parents should have that same right to know what they are feeding their grandchildren, and yes, you should have the right to know what you, and your loved ones are eating, especially when that food may be effecting your health.

Your right to know what is in the food that you eat, and ultimately your right to be able to control your health, your grandchildren’s health, or your children’s health, trumps a corporations right for mega profits. Bottom line, if you live in California then this is why you want to vote Yes on Prop 37.

Back in 2007, then candidate Barack Obama promised voters to support the right to know what is in our food. He said “We’ll let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified because Americans should know what they are buying”. President Obama, however, has thus far not kept that promise to the voters who helped put him in the White House, And he hasn’t listened to 90% of Americans who clearly want GMOs labeled. You can sign the following petition to help remind him of his promise http://signon.org/sign/michelle-obama-tell-presiden?source=c.url&r_by=5382364


GMO Mythbusters Video

Are GMO Ingredients Toxic?



That is the big question, but unbiased clinical studies are starting to show that it very possibly is toxic. Do you want to play Russian roulette with the foods you eat? If it’s organic then it does not contain GMO ingredients, and you are safe, but eating only organic food can be expensive. Did you know that many countries ban GMO’s from their food supply? Why? Well some studies show that GMO’s may be linked to toxic health concerns. Some studies are pointing in the direction that GMO foods may cause such health concerns such as organ damage, reproductive issues, immune dysfunction, accelerated aging, and insulin disorders, just to name a few. With so much at risk shouldn’t you have the right to know what foods you buy contain GMO’s? For more up to date scientific information regarding GMO foods see the documentary "Genetic Roulette" located here;

“United We Stand, Divided We Fall”


In 1799 Patrick Henry said “United we stand, divided we fall” and for Americans never has that been more true than today on this issue. Polls show that over 95% of Americans want GMO products labeled. However polls don’t make laws, but YOUR Yes vote on this issue can. Information is power, and knowing what is in the food that you eat may save your life, or the life of a loved one.

The issue of your right to know what is in your food, and also the issue of being able to control your health by knowing what is in the food that you buy via a label is alive and well from sea to shining sea. The video below says it all:



You should know that wherever you live in America that this issue (California Prop 37) was important to you and your families health, because if this would have become law in California, then the food manufactures would most likely would have had to label ALL food, in every state, as being a GMO product or not. It would make the manufactures look too suspicious if they didn’t. Many of these same companies make healthier versions of this food for sale in other countries. This short video explains it in more detail;



Robyn O'Brien at TEDx Austin

Remember, California’s economy is larger than all but eight countries in the world. That’s pretty big, and as they say, “as California goes, so goes the country” so a win in California’s labeling laws could effect everyone for the better. If you don't live in California then you can still help to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. The more people that know about this issue, the better it is for all Americans. Your health is your most precious asset, and you have a right to protect it.

To be fair most people simply don't know that they've been eating genetically (engineered) modified (GMO) food for many years in this country. A growing number of scientists now have concerns about the possible health risks surrounding GMO food, but some companies still sell it. A perfect example is Walmart. Earlier this summer, Walmart quietly started selling Monsanto’s genetically engineered sweet corn that believe it or not has a pesticide right inside the corn. We’re not talking about a toxic pesticide that you can wash off, nope, this toxic pesticide is actually INSIDE of the corn! That’s right, you read that correctly, the pesticide is actually part of the corn itself at the DNA level. The corn is actually engineered to contain “Bt” toxin. The scary part is that in a recent study the Bt toxin was actually found in human blood samples. For more information about this see, this article: http://www.naturalnews.com/032407_Bt_insecticide_GMOs.html

So when you or a loved one eats the corn - you - are - eating - PESTICIDE. Don’t you think that you or a loved one has the right to know this very important health information? Most people in this country have voiced their feelings that yes, when GMO food is in something that they eat, it should be labeled as such. As a consumer you have rights. That’s why a petition has now been started nationwide to tell Walmart to label this corn as being genetically modified. If you want Walmart to label the GMO food that they sell, then you can simply sign the petition located here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/898/625/174/

It’s not just some food companies fighting against your right to have your food labeled as GMO, it’s big chemical and pesticide companies too. Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, BASF, DuPont and Syngenta to name a few. Ask yourself, why are they spending over a Million dollars to defeat your right to have this labeling law? Ask yourself why are the corporate giants trying to hide potentially dangerous ingredients in our food? Why are they so afraid to let you know what is actually in the food they are selling you? Why are they so afraid to let you know what products contain GMO ingredients?

The easiest way to protect your health is to learn about how the food you eat is effecting your health. Learn the facts about foods that contain GMO's which many in the field believe could potentially effect your health, and spread the word to your friends, co-workers and loved ones. One thing is for certain, you have the right to know what is actually IN your food.

This isn't about banning GMO's from your food as many other countries have already done. This is simply about saying on the foods label that it contains GMO's, so that you can make a more informed decision about buying that food. And here's the really frustrating part, these very same food manufactures are already including this GMO information on the labels of food that they export to other countries. Don't you deserve to have the same information about your food, as others in other countries do? It won't cost you any more money to have this label, it simply gives people more information about the food contents.

Big corporations know that if GMO food labeling is passed with your yes vote in one state, that it's only a matter of time before the entire U.S. has mandatory GMO labeling laws. That's why they are willing to spend millions on ads that contain misleading propaganda to trick you. Big corporations have lied to the public before. They're in business to make money. Remember when they said that DDT was safe? Well guess what, it isn't. They swore up and down that Agent Orange was harmless. Now we know better, and that It's not harmless.

They said that cigarettes were perfectly safe, and even used doctors in their propaganda campaign to make you think that it was safe to smoke. But now we all know that smoking is not safe, and that's why every pack of cigarettes warns you about smoking health risks. And now they are trying to convince you with more junk science that GMO's are safe. Are you going to gamble with your health and blindly believe them? It's true, what you don’t know can hurt you. Never has that saying been more true than now. Wouldn't you like to know what is actually in your food? It's just a label, but one that might actually protect your health.


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