As I recall, G.M.O.’s were first introduced in 1994 with a “delayed-ripening” tomato that innocently entered the marketplace. Delayed-ripening? How long does it take for a tomato to ripen…one, two, three days? That should have been a red flag as to what was to come. It wasn’t that this engineered hybrid benefited the consumer. The idea was sold to the farmer as a way to prevent tomatoes from rotting during transit, and the farmer in question was no longer “Old MacDonald.” It was the MacDaddy’s of the agricultural industry. Armed with USDA subsidies, they began divesting the family farmers of their livelihoods with the slick poise of carpetbaggers. One need only follow the money to see just how far up the food chain it went.

Systematically, over time, transgenic species began positioning themselves in the produce section and supermarket aisles—a stalk of corn here, a box of cereal there— who would notice? They covertly blended into the landscape like mutant aliens. Their mission? To inject their altered genes into our bio pathways.  Although I doubt this was the intent of the lab scientists who engineered these Frankenfoods— they were just doing their job— but it leaves us to view our food sources with a suspicious eye.

Little, if any, independent research is available, and what is posted was funded by the agricultural industry, and it doesn’t take a degree in biogenetics to know what side the results were buttered on. What’s the remedy? Become informed. Stand-up and say “No” to G.M.O.’s. Organizations such as  IRT, Institute for Responsible Technology, European Network of Scientists, and Earth Open Source, offer guidance for legislative recourse and in-depth information.  In the meantime, check-out the Scorecard to see which of your state’s legislators have your back when it comes to initiating food safety policies. If you haven’t already done so, SmartLabel is one of many apps you can download to scan food products for the possible use of GMO’s not listed on the label. Or support your local farmer’s market. I’m old enough to remember when eating organically grown food was the norm and didn’t cost extra. It isn’t too late to return to those days and take back our inalienable right and that of our children’s and future generations, to eat unadulterated food the way nature intended.