Written & Directed by Jeremy Seifert
There’s nothing like kids to make you pay attention to health—both theirs and your own. After all, if something happens to you, who will look out for them? So after Jeremy Seifert and his wife gave birth to their third child, he began investigating GMOs, or genetically modified organisms.
Last year mandatory GMO labeling was narrowly voted down on the California ballot, largely due to $45 million in deceptive advertising by the biotech industry. But labeling is mandatory in 60 countries, so why so much resistance here? Just the fact that Monsanto threatens to sue any state that demands labeling should make you curious.
So it’s up to us, the consumers, to vote with our wallets at the markets. Thanks to resources such as this thoughtful film being released next month, we can at least make an intelligent choice to avoid GMOs, because you have to know where they’re hiding; unlike sugar, preservatives and a host of other questionable ingredients, it’s not written anywhere!
A few places they lurk: in 85% of all corn grown in the United States, 91% of soy (nonorganic tofu is not a healthy choice), 90% of sugar beets and 89% of cotton (the supposedly natural fiber). This means it’s in everything from ketchup to animal feed, and even in feed given to wild trout, so don’t think you’re ‘off the hook.’
Some farmers argue we need GMOs to feed the world, but tests over 30 years by the Rodale Institute say the yield is the same. In times of adverse conditions, organic crops actually fare better.
GM foods suppress the immune system, have diminished nutritional value and can create allergies. In addition, animal testing in France indicates that after half a lifetime—35–40 years in a human—horrific mammary tumors form (the only part of the film I wouldn’t want a small child to see), which might explain the surge in breast cancers. GMOs also damage the liver and kidneys and cause hormonal imbalance.
And if you’re squirming about the animal testing? Know that we humans are the primary lab rats in this grand American food experiment.
There is a ton more useful information in this well-done, nonpreachy film that somehow manages to be charming in spite of its message, so please do us all—especially the kids—a favor and go see it (opens in LA 9/20)
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1 Comment
We are going to do a film on GMO’s also and the people the running it. Wanting to cut the population. I can’t wait to see your film would love to go to the screening. David