More and more, we hear about the dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs),through media and social awareness. The United States has become one of very few countries to say no to GMOs and disregard the public’s outcry for labeling of this, possibly, dangerous phenomenon going on?with our country’s food supply. Many people have turned away from this?fight simply because they do not know what GMOs are and how dangerous they can potentially be to them and their families.??To get more information about GMOs and?to see what we are doing in the U.S. to combat this dangerous issue, Liberal America sat down, in an exclusive interview, with Moms Across America’s co-founder and activist, Zen Honeycutt.
Here is the interview transcript:
?Liberal America (LA):?Thank you for taking your time to interview with Liberal America today, Zen. Start off by telling us a little about you and about Mom’s Across America and their current focus.
Zen Honeycutt: I am one of millions of American moms who now grapples with life threatening food allergies or autism, auto immune disorders, asthma, diabetes or obesity. In fact 1 out of 3 of our kids now have one of these issues.
Moms Across America is a national coalition of unstoppable Moms. We are a non profit org in partnership with the CA Stage Grange, committed to empowering millions to educate themselves about GMOs, get them labeled, and offer GMO free and organic solutions. We are two OC Moms, Founder Zen Honeycutt and PANDAS Mom, Kathleen Hallal, who met during Prop 37. We noticed that our 3 boys each got better when they got off GMOS and we decided to tell the nation about it.
The Moms Across America March to Label GMOs happened in 172 4th of July parades in 44 states in 2013, raising awareness with thousands locally and millions nationally in a single day. Through the generous leadership of Moms and supporters in each hometown, we estimate tens of millions found out directly through the parades and through the Fox News coverage, CNN, and 120 media outlets who published the press release with a link to an open letter to Monsanto.
LA:?So many people see the GMO argument and simply turn away because they just don’t know what it is about. What do you tell people who ask you to explain what GMO’s are?
ZH: GMOs are a foreign protein that has been in our food since 1996. First in milk, then in corn and soy, a GMO is a genetically modified organism, which is the result of a scientific procedure where a protein from one species is injected into the DNA of another completely unrelated species. In the case of corn, it is a BT Toxin, which then renders the corn an EPA registered pesticide. The bugs that eat this corn end up dead because their stomach explodes from the toxin. This is corn that we are eating in 80% of our processed food. The other kind of GMO, like 93% of our soy, canola, alfalfa, sugar from sugar beets, some yellow squash and zuchinni and Hawaii Papaya, ?is called ? RoundUp Ready? and they are genetically engineered to resist the Roundup herbicide, so that the herbicide can be sprayed on our food crop and everything around it will die. The food crop survives because it is genetically engineered to do so; the thing is, that humans are not genetically engineered to withstand the active ingredient, glyphosate, and this chemical cannot be washed off the food. They also use glyphosate as a drying agent on many of our staple crops such as rice, wheat, beans, sugar cane and peas, so, unless it is organic, these and 160 varieties of our food crops are contaminated at levels far above what has been shown to be toxic to animals and cause breast cancer cell proliferation. For more information,?you can check out our Mom’s Across America list ?of the food crops that are allowed to be contaminated with glysophate.
GMOs and chemical farming are intended to make farming easier, but this has not shown to be the case. Many weeds are developing resistence, so herbicide spraying has increased 26% per year. Bee deaths have been linked to pesticides and we have lost 50% of our crucial food pollinators. Crop yields have shown to be less productive in many cases and scientist and doctors have linked GMOs and glyphosate (active chemical ingredient in Roundup) to Autism, allergies, auto immune diseases, allergies, Parkinson?s, Alzheimer’s , bi polar, miscarriages, infertility and sterility, obesity, diabetes and more. ?Scientists say glyphosate has been shown in studies to 1. Destroy gut bacteria, hence our immune systems, cause leaky gut? ( allergies) and inhibit the stomach ability to create tryptophan which is crucial in preventing diabetes, obesity, depression bi polar disorder, and more. 2. Inhibits the liver’s ability to detox allowing cancerous toxins to build up. 3. Breaks down the blood brain barrier and allows toxins into the brain like vaccine chemicals, pollution, pesticides/herbicides etc which can lead to autism and alzheimers. GMOs are simply not working. They are harming living things, including bees, babies and our children.
??LA: You and your beautiful family are, I am assuming, a GMO free family. What steps can someone take to become GMO free? Where can they begin to shop and what are they looking, or not looking, for?
ZH: We are as GMO Free as possible. Without labels and with 80% of our food being GMO, it is very challenging. But you can do it, it just takes making that choice every time and being prepared.
- Meal Plan and budget. Don’t buy more expensive food if you cannot afford it, buy a different kind of organic food. For example, organic lollipops are much cheaper than boxes of organic popsicles as treats for a Cub Scout meeting.
- Bring your own food.? Pack organic birthday treat snacks for your kids to keep in a box in the classroom. Bring organic food to sports or birthday parties. Going to a BBQ? Be the one to bring the organic corn chips, organic corn tortillas and organic? Blue Sky soda, even the grass fed ?( non-GMO) beef patties if you can.
- Buy Organic and non-GMO. Look for the Organic symbol and the non-GMO Project verified symbol. Organic means non-gmo seeds and no pesticides/herbicides, but the allowable levels of GMO contamination is a concern. Non GMO Project means they have tested stringently for GMOs and allow only a very small fraction of cross contamination, but they do allow? pesticides/herbicides.? Together they are the gold standard for the cleanest prepared food you can buy. The best is unprocessed whole foods from your local famer’s market or CSA. Check out eatlocalgrown.com
?LA: This is not just a fight in the US, this is an international occurrence. What are some of the other countries doing to safeguard their citizens from GMO?s? What is the United States currently doing?
ZH: This is a global fight being fought primarily on USA turf because most of our food is GMO and we are the largest producers of GMO. Hawaii is ground zero because of their bountiful growing season. Their children are suffering terribly. In some schools, every kid has an inhaler and they believe it is because pesticides are being sprayed only 25 feet from their schools. Hawaiian residents are marching by the thousands. Main land Americans are also marching, contacting their congress, speaking up about TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership, which would allow corporations to sue entire countries for the right to sell them GMOs. The PEOPLE are rising up. The government is doing nothing. The media is doing almost nothing. The organizations like the FDA, EPA, and CDC are giving us zero responses to our numerous requests to test, stop and ban use of poisons in and on our foods. The food system may be broken, but the American people are now however. We are creative, committed and courageous. We will not stop. We will not give up. Moms Across America is international now and we are sharing the stories of what is happening with our children, where 1 out of 6 now have a development delay and 1 out of 2 are expected to have autism in the next 20 years. The world needs to know this and stop GMO contamination in their countries.
?LA: What big events does Mom’s Across America have planned for the rest of this year and how can people get involved?
ZH: Oct 7 is Child Health Day and we ask for you to sign and share our petition to the CDC and FDA.
Oct 16th-19th is the Moms Across America World Food day Community Outreach event. The idea is to all come TOGETHER at the March Against Monsanto, and then SPREAD OUT during the Moms Across America Community Outreach on World Food Day Oct 16th-19th. Pass out flyers at your schools on Oct 16th, World Food Day and continue to pass out flyers during the week to your senior centers, grocery stores, restaurants, churches, day care centers, neighbors and hair dressers?every where, during the rest of the week. Flyers are being sent for free to leader who hosted an event on our website. You can also down load and print your own flyers. Click on ?products? at www.momsacrossamerica.com
The July 4th is our second Moms Across America March to Label GMOs and our goal is to have 400 groups marching. We are targeting sign up day as Feb 14th because the love for our families will never end. Signing up early shows our sponsors we mean it and gathers local marchers to connect and support each other. The sooner we come together and empower each other to spread out and share the GMO awareness, the sooner we have health and freedom in America. Moms buy? 85% of the food, we can do it!
?LA: Open Forum (Anything that you think needs to be said that we didn’t cover. If you did not include links to your MAM pages please do so here as well.)
ZH: I would like every Mom to know that their child’s health can get better by eating organic and NON GMO. To every American: this is our country, these are children, and this is our future to create. It’s up to us and we can do it, one person at a time, one meal at a time and one interaction at a time?just ask that person before you ?Do you know about GMOs??.
Go to our Mom’s Across America website and click on “events” to get connected and take the survey to share about health and GMO’s related to you and your family. For great updated information on our fight against GMO’s as well as the ability to increase daily awareness in our social media networks, visit our Facebook page.
GMOs will continue to plague our food sources, ultimately leading for serious health issues for Americans, both young and old. Many countries, worldwide, have banned the use of GMO seeds and dangerous toxic sprays used on crops. However, the United States is still in a holding pattern, not only allowing GMOs to be used for our food sources, but also not providing the public with labeled products, for further understanding of what is being eaten. Companies such as Monsanto have a hold on the world’s seed production, and continue to create genetically modified food with little to no regulation from the United States government. Zen Honeycutt and her large group of supporters for Moms Across America are here to fight those laws, and inform the public on the dangers that are associated with the food being eaten everyday.
Watch this video from Mom’s Across America to hear first hand what the dangers of GMOs are:
Edited/Published by: SB
