So disappointing....

To find that a product that you like is made by a company with total disregard for truth or concern for the world.  Cranberry juice from Ocean Spray, Larabar Bars, Ginger Beer from Knudsen...all regulars on the shopping list, but not any more.  All of the parent companies have donated to defeat the Label GMO Food Initiative (I-522) in Washington State.  When I have contacted the parent company, their consumer affairs department has sent me a response that is a slap in the face to any thinking consumer.  The latest was from Ocean Spray.

Their response to my concerns about GMO foods...

Thank you for contacting Ocean Spray.  As a grower-owned cooperative, food safety is a top priority for Ocean Spray and understands that some consumers have questions about genetically modified food ingredients.  While cranberries and grapefruit are not products of biotechnology, the sweeteners used in some of our products are from plants that are considered genetically modified. The use of genetically modified (GM) ingredients is not only safe for people and our planet, but also has a number of important benefits.

Many of the most influential regulatory agencies and organizations that study the safety of the food supply, including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Academy of Sciences, have found genetically modified food ingredients are safe and there are no negative health effects associated with their use.

GM technology adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful.

It is important for our consumers to know that this technology is not new. In fact, it has been around for the past 20 years, and today, 70-80% of the foods we eat in the United States, both at home and away from home, contain ingredients that have been genetically modified.  If the ingredient label on any food or beverage product contains corn or soy, they most likely contain genetically modified ingredients, as a very high percentage of those crops grown in the U.S. use GM technology.  In addition, a high percentage of other ingredients in the U.S., such as sugar beets, are grown with the use of GM technology as well.

Ingredients grown using GM technology require fewer pesticides, less water and keep production costs down.  In fact, GM technology helps reduce the price of crops used for food, such as corn, soybeans and sugar beets by as much as 15-30%.  In addition, one in eight people among the world?s growing population of seven billion do not have enough to eat, and safe and effective methods of food production, like crops produced through GM technology, can help us feed the hungry and malnourished in developing nations around the world.

Ocean Spray will continue to advocate for the continued safe and effective use of agricultural biotechnology to increase the food supply while lowering cost.  And we will continue to engage in an informative dialogue with our consumers so that they understand the safety, prevalence and benefits of GM technology and can make informed choices for themselves and their families.  For more information, we encourage you to visit www.factsaboutgmos.org.  Thank you for your interest in Ocean Spray.

Sincerely,



And Your Friends at Ocean Spray

My response to their response:

Dear Friends at Ocean Spray,

Oh my, you have drank the kool-aid.

So many "untruths" in your response below.

I don't even have enough time to go through this point by point.

However, I have to say that this sentence all by itself is astounding.

GM technology adds desirable traits from nature, without introducing anything unnatural or using chemicals, so that food is more plentiful.

Really!?  The reason for Round-Up Ready crops is so that more and stronger chemicals can be used.  But then perhaps you don't consider Round-Up to be a chemical.

And desirable traits from nature...do you think that we are all frickin' crazy.  Round-Up ready is a desirable trait for Monsanto, and certainly is in no way natural.

Adding fish genes to tomatoes...natural?  Yup, Mother Nature has a really funny sense of humor.  Eel genes in salmon, yup, as natural as can be.

And as for food being more plentiful, since the advent of GMO in the past 20 years (yup a really long time), food is not more plentiful because of GMO.

My husband just walked in and I asked him to read Ocean Spray's response.  He said, " And I had always had great respect for Ocean Spray."  Note the past tense.

Guess we will be buying our cranberry products from Vincent Cranberries and other growers who do not contaminate their nutritious cranberry products with the addition of GMO sweeteners.

We will, with deep regret, be spreading your response.  

Sincerely, 

Marilyn 

In a statement from the World Future Council, a network of global luminaries who "form a voice for the rights of future generations."

Almost twenty years after commercialization of the first GMO seeds, by far the most widely used are not engineered to enhance nutrient content, but to produce a specific pesticide or to resist a proprietary herbicide, or a combination of these traits. Even in reducing weeds, the technology is failing, for it has led to herbicide-resistant "super weeds" now appearing on nearly half of American farms.

Further evidence from around the world is showing how ecological methods dramatically enhance productivity, improve nutritional content of crops, and benefit soil health, all without leaving farmers dependent on ever-more expensive inputs. The United Nations, through its Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has documented ecological agriculture's potential in hungry regions to double food production in one decade. Chaired by former World Food Prize awardee Dr. Hans Herren, the 2008International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, developed by 400 experts and endorsed by 59 governments, calls for redirection of agricultural development toward such sustainable practices. Agroecology and food sovereignty are emerging solutions shaped and chosen by scientists and citizens worldwide.

Note that the World Food Prize mandate is also to recognize contributors to food "for all people," but GMO seeds make this goal harder to reach. Most GM crops are used for feed for livestock, processed food, or fuel -- products not accessible to hungry people. Moreover, the planet already produces more than enough food for all, and 40 percent more per person than in 1970; yet today 870 million people, still suffer from extreme, long-term undernourishment because they lack power to access adequate food. Developed and controlled by a handful of companies, genetically engineered seeds further the concentration of power and the extreme inequality at the root of this crisis of food inaccessibility. Monsanto, for example, controls 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop and 80 percent of the country's corn and cotton crops.

Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing.