New Years Resolution For Family Health - Avoid GMOs

"Avoid eating genetically modified organisms( GMOs )," says expert Jeffrey M. Smith, who points to evidence of mounting health risks associated with gene-spliced foods.

Consumers of any age can improve their health with this one New Year's resolution: avoid GMO foods.

Smith urges consumers to cross off brands that contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, which are in 60-70% of foods sold in the U.S. The principle offenders are non-organic soy and corn derivatives and canola and cottonseed oils. Thus, Ragu tomato sauce would be off limits, since it contains corn syrup and soybean oil, but Light Ragu or Barilla brand sauces, which contain olive oil and no corn sweetener, are non-GMO.

"Consumers in the U.S. are being used as human guinea pigs by biotech companies, which rushed their GMOs to market without adequate studies and before the science was ready," says Smith. "Once Americans learn they are feeding these high-risk foods to their children, they will demand non-GMO alternatives."

In Europe, where consumer knowledge about GMOs is considerably higher, shoppers' concerns prompted food manufacturers there to remove all GM ingredients.

Smith sees this trend building in the US, with more and more healthy brands declaring ingredients "Non-GMO" on the label.

Smith's new book, Genetic Roulette: The documented health risks of genetically engineered foods, due out in the spring, links GMOs to risks such as:

• allergies
• immune system dysfunction
• potentially pre-cancerous cell growth
• stunted organs and
• death

"Many of the beliefs about DNA that were popular when GM foods were introduced ten years ago," he says, "have been proven wrong." Swapping genes between species turns out to have far more unpredicted dangerous side effects than we thought."

Smith also documents how several animals, when given the option, choose non-GM food over GMOs. These include

• cows
• pigs
• elk
• deer
• raccoons
• squirrels
• mice
• rats and
• geese

He says a non-GMO New Year's resolution will help people elevate their choices to match the wisdom of the animals.

“The FDA’s recent announcement declaring milk and meat from cloned animals as safe,” says Smith, “reminds us of their 1992 approval of GM crops.

When the agency’s internal files were made public years later, they revealed that the FDA’s GMO policy was dictated by corporate manipulation, not sound science. Warnings by government scientists were ignored by political appointees from the biotech industry.”

Smith adds, “And like GMOs, the FDA does not want labels on cloned food, thereby forcing the entire population into their dangerous uncontrolled experiment.”

Jeffrey Smith is the author of The GMO Trilogy and Seeds of Deception, the world's bestselling book on GMOs. He is the founder and executive director of The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) and a leading spokesperson on the risks of GM foods. Visit his website for eater-friendly tips for avoiding GMOs at home and in restaurants.

His forthcoming book, Genetic Roulette, documents more than 60 health risks of GM foods in easy-to-read two-page spreads, and demonstrates how current safety assessments are not competent to protect consumers from the dangers. He is available for media at media@responsibletechnology.org.

Click here to watch or download a preview of the video Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals.

More detailed information on GMOs