February 11, 2009 2:58 PM

Figuring Out What's In Your Food

By
CBSNews
(CBS)  According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy food that has been genetically modified. But CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports that it's not that easy to avoid. While most packaged and processed foods do contain genetically modified ingredients, the labels don't have to say so.

Robyn O'Brien teaches her kids to keep a close eye on the labels of the foods they eat.

"In terms of labeling," she says, "they're not always comprehensive and thorough."

What concerns parents like O'Brien is not what's listed, but what is not. Particularly foods made with genetically modified organisms - or GMOs.

"My concern as a mother is, are these kids part of a human trial that I didn't know that I had signed them up for," O'Brien says.

Today, more than 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop is genetically modified - had its DNA altered to increase production and withstand chemical weed killers like roundup. Nearly three-quarters of all corn planted in the U.S. genetically modified.

Experts say that means if it comes in a can or a box and the label lists soybean oil or corn syrup as ingredients, odds are that it contains GMOs. Overall, 65 percent of all products in your local grocery store have DNA-altered ingredients...not that you'd know it by looking.

"The industry that makes genetically modified foods fought so hard to make sure that it wasn't labeled," nutritionist Marion Nestle tells Keteyian.

Nestle, a former FDA advisor, says this was a fight that boiled down to one basic fear.

"They didn't want it labeled because they were terrified that if it were labeled, nobody would buy it."

Robert Brackett is spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America.

"I think that consumers have that information available to them if they want to look for it," says Brackett, "You can find it on websites. You can go directly to the manufacturer."

When pressed by Keteyian to explain his organization's role in providing information to the consumer, Brackett said, "Well, it's our responsibility to make sure that the foods that are put in the grocery store shelves are safe."

The FDA and bio-tech giants like Monsanto say there's no evidence that GMOs are anything but safe, but food safety advocates ask: how would we know, if the food is not labeled?

"Labeling is the only way that health professionals are going to be able to trace if there is a problem," says Andy Kimbrell from the Center for Food Safety. "For example, if you're a mother and you're giving your child soy formula and that child has a toxic or allergic reaction, the only way you'll know if that's a genetically-engineered soy formula is if it's labeled."

The FDA does not require "disclosure of genetic engineering techniques...on the label," calling GMOs the "substantial equivalent" of conventional crops.

Baloney, says Kimbrell.

"There is nothing - nothing, substantially equivalent from a conventional crop to a GMO crop," he says. "And in every cell of these new GMO foods are bacterias we've never seen in food before: viruses, genetic constructs, antibiotic bugs that they put in there, laboratory contructs that they've put into every cell of these foods."

A new CBS News poll found that 87% of consumers would like GMO ingredients to be labeled, just as they are in Europe, Japan and Australia. Yet the U.S. Congress has never even held a vote on the issue, to give shoppers the opportunity to exercise their most basic right - to make a choice.

Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
Add a Comment See all 37 Comments
by Annanda111 January 20, 2011 2:59 PM EST
I hate GMOs. This is the most important issue to me politically. The person party that fights this gets my vote, so I can live to fight or human rights another day.
Reply to this comment
by meridian1957 January 20, 2011 12:32 PM EST
I just wrote a paper on GMOs and the research I did opened my eyes and horrified me. The process of creating GMOs is sloppy science at best, uncontrollable. Our FDA is a corporate puppet. There is a revolving door between Monsanto and our government. Monsanto even has an ex-lawyer of theirs on the Supreme Court! All the independent research on GM foods show them to be very dangerous. South Africa lost 25% of it's corn crop last year because of GM corn not producing kernels. Nearly all GM crops are developed to withstand Roundup, which increases the use of the herbicide and the US Midwest is starting to show the affects of repeated spraying. The GM process makes the mangled gene dominant, so once it is released into the environment there is no way to stop it spreading; and GMOs are so unstable that they can change from generation to generation.

In spite of all this, 80% of the processed foods in the U.S. contain GMOs. We are taking unwitting part in the biggest science experiment of all time!

I am amazed that CBS News reported anything about this. Monsanto has managed to buy off or bully the media for years. Good for you, CBS News!
Reply to this comment
by pbokma June 24, 2010 5:07 PM EDT
Please keep reporting on this story. I have 3 children all sick from allergies and food intolerances. SOmething is not right in what we are feeding our children. We made the all Organic choice, and are starting to raise our own food. We are speaking with our wallet.
Reply to this comment
by fleabag75 March 16, 2009 12:38 PM EDT
As I have said countless times, the average American male is more concerned about the quality of motor oil that goes into his car than the quality of food that goes into his body. And just think, the car is only temporary.
Reply to this comment
by AlwaysSmiling May 13, 2008 11:47 PM EDT
For brianbwb: "Sharing many of these concerns, Monsanto made a commitment in 1999 not to commercialize sterile seed technology in food crops. We stand firmly by this commitment. We have no plans or research that would violate this commitment in any way."

http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=59&item=136

Of the four that I checked (Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, and Bayer) only Monsanto has specified their position on the subject.

My question is this. Did you read the websites that I provided as references? Or did you just discount them without bothering?

Have a nice day:-)
Patrick.
Reply to this comment
by rf35 May 13, 2008 3:41 PM EDT
Companies like DuPont and Monsanto are developing GM foods that produce sterile fruit, so the farmer cannot save a portion for replanting, once your land is infected with Monsanto''''s "terminator" foods, the farmers around the world will be forced to buy seed from Monsanto and DuPont.

They have developed GM corn, which any farmer knows is wind pollinated, then they sue farmers whose crops were infected by their product.

Posted by brianbwb at 02:12 AM : May 13, 2008

Well, which is it? Are they sterile or not? If they are suing farmers for having their corn pollinated by the GM corn, then it must be producing offspring, therefore it is not sterile. If it is sterile, the pollination is not causing more corn plants to be produced, no profit being made, and there%u2019s nothing to sue over.

For those of you worried that your food is making you allergic to something, go find a knows %u201Cpure%u201D source of seed and start subsistence farming! Weirdoes. The only thing you%u2019re allergic to is reason.
Reply to this comment
by pameladrew May 13, 2008 2:52 PM EDT
This is a watershed moment in American media who have carefully omitted any discussion of Monsanto and GMO foods since the first President Bush Administration.

For nearly a decade I have tracked the legislation, politics, science and spin surrounding these crops, the privatizing of the food supply and the connection to skyrocketing food allergies and illnesses.

In 2007 I released a documentary film to challenge the issues banned in America. The site has a wealth of information and trusted sources to use for those looking for accurate follow up. The web is filled with front groups by industry so look carefully for trusted sources.

There are many like Consumers Union who have established a record of truthfulness in their Consumer Reports that are good sites to begin with; no need to accept my view but do take my words of caution and know the source.

My links only make it a little faster and are in no way all inclusive. www.roundupreadynation.com

Knowledge is power, know what you are swallowing!
Reply to this comment
by pameladrew May 13, 2008 2:49 PM EDT
This is a watershed moment in American media who have carefully omitted any discussion of Monsanto and GMO foods since the first President Bush Administration.

For nearly a decade I have tracked the legislation, politics, science and spin surrounding these crops, the privatizing of the food supply and the connection to skyrocketing food allergies and illnesses.

In 2007 I released a documentary film to challenge the issues banned in America. The site has a wealth of information and trusted sources to use for those looking for accurate follow up. The web is filled with front groups by industry so look carefully for trusted sources.

There are many like Consumers Union who have established a record of truthfulness in their Consumer Reports that are good sites to begin with; no need to accept my view but do take my words of caution and know the source.

My links only make it a little faster and are in no way all inclusive. www.roundupreadynation.com

Knowledge is power, know what you are swallowing!
Reply to this comment
by nsf-ralph May 13, 2008 12:15 PM EDT
The issue is food labels that are (in FTC parlance) "truthful and not misleading." FDA has taken the unlawful position that since we all "know" (without any risk analysis testing) that GMO products are the "same" as natural products the Govt must not only refuse to mandate truthful GMO status labeling, but must also forbid "GMO Free" labeling, so we sheeple don''t make the "bad" decision of preferring what the CBS/Times poll shows we prefer....

Not logical. Not lawful either. Sandra Day O''Connor, writing for the majority in Thompson v Western States (2002) stated the law:

"We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."

What to do? Join the Natural Solutions Foundation eAlert list, the largest Health Freedom list in the world, at http://www.globalhealthfreedom.org

Also check out two Yahoo!Group forums:

Just Say No to GMO

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/no-genetically-modified-foods/

and

Morgellons-GMO

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Morgellons-GMO/

Ralph Fucetola JD
NSF Trustee

Th
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 May 13, 2008 5:12 AM EDT
Posted by patdickey43

There is an important point that you''re missing, pat.

Companies like DuPont and Monsanto are developing GM foods that produce sterile fruit, so the farmer cannot save a portion for replanting, once your land is infected with Monsanto''s "terminator" foods, the farmers around the world will be forced to buy seed from Monsanto and DuPont.

They have developed GM corn, which any farmer knows is wind pollinated, then they sue farmers whose crops were infected by their product.

Think for a minute about the consequences of a staple food monopoly on world food prices, and how healthy you will be when you cannot afford to buy the food at their price, and have no alternatives, because their infections wiped out other strains.
Reply to this comment
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