Dear Health Freedom Fighters,

The United States government continues to fight the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods in our country and around the world.

Last week the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO) held a meeting of the Codex Alimentarius in Ottawa, Canada. Codex Alimentarius means "the food code." The Codex Alimentarius is a global reference point for consumers, food producers and processors, national food control agencies and the international food trade.

Included on the Codex Alimentarius agenda last week were proposed recommendations for the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. These guidelines were supported by the European Union countries. However, the United States was successful in getting this issue tabled for another year.

If you would like to read more about the agenda of the recent Ottawa meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling, it can be found at: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/ccfl29/fl01_01e.htm

To read the actual proposed recommendations, we have posted the 27 page Adobe Acrobat document on The Campaign's web site at: http://www.thecampaign.org/codex.pdf

(The "Discussion Paper" on pages 18-27 will probably be the section of greatest interest to those of you wanting to research this further.)

As far as we can tell, none of the major media covered this news event. The only reference to the meeting we could find was a press release from the Grocery Manufacturers of America we have posted below. The Grocery Manufacturers of America opposes mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.

Craig Winters Executive Director The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

Answers

Earthmama, I'm so tired now that all I can say is "business as usual my friend"

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

GE foods are a big deal in the EU, but don't even make a blip on the screen here - yet. I think that will change tho. At least I hope so. It just seems so wrong tampering w/ the genetic code. Didn't any of those people watch 50's sci-fi movies? It was always "A genetic Mutation". Brought on by Radiation usually, But this is an area where life could imitate art w/ disasterous results.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

thanks for the info. earth Mama, One more reason to raise our own,I say. Tren

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Absolutely agree, Tren, but I don't think its enough to just raise our own. This issue could have enormous ramifications to the ecosystem of the entire planet. Every year we allow it to continue, the harder it will be to put a stop to it.

I feel the need to try to influence everyone I meet about this; we put flyers about it in all our website customers' orders, even tho it has little relationship to many of our products. We need people to get involved, write letters and emails, join groups, picket, boycott,and whatever else they can think of. Personally I don't believe its too late, and I refuse to lay down and let Monsanto and their ilk take over the world. Its fun and empowering to take action, and it engages the interest of the young people, who love to be involved in an 'anti-establishment' cause they can sink their teeth in.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Growing our own may not be enough, but it may be all we can do at this point. There are just not enough people who care, or who want to question the lies fed to them by the media.

I think what may save us ultimately is that industrial agriculture is incredibly energy intensive, and as fossil fuels become more scarce the costs of "conventional" food production will escalate. At some point, organic agriculture will become cheaper again. If the US Govt could ever formulate an energy policy rather than an economic policy this would probably happen sooner. In the meantime, guard those heirloom seeds, and do everything you can locally to keep the mutants out.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

The more I read about this (and other) stuff - the more desperate I am to find a place!!! I grow what I can, but am so new to the area and have so little room here, GRRRR!!!!

The ag papers have covered this a little, but they do it from the standpoint of 'why should we worry' instead of the way I'd like it to be covered.

I have occasionally been known to ask, and refuse to buy sometimes, but not nearly enough, I guess.... Or maybe not nearly enough people do this.

If the folks in the city are too stupid to be worried, and don't care to do anything - then they are more than welcome to these products. Without their support and active participation, all the letters, calls and emails in the world won't change this.

If anybody's got any ideas to begin enlisting more folks to projects like this - and others that SHOULD be of concern, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know!! I'll work anyway, but it should would be nice to brain-storm some ideas for gaining support without going bankrupt!!

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Well, this IS a generalization, Sue, but in my experience, it is the folks in the city that provide the market for organic/natural foods, and they're the ones who join the CSA's. Not ALL the people in cities, of course.

However, I know LOTS of people that live in small towns who have NO interest at all in how their food is produced. Sometimes I don't even think that flavor wins out over cost. And I'm not talking about people who are truly poor, just barely scraping by. There's always enough money in the budget for beer, fast food, snacks, and cigarettes -- which all give you the minimum value for maximum money (and some will kill you).

Most of those people would have room for a garden, and maybe a few chickens or rabbits. No interest.

Getting a little off track here, but I firmly believe that people's palates have been deaded by all the chemicalized oddly flavored pseudo-foods on the market. Now they want us to eat Franken-foods too . . . . >:-(

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Gahndi," We must be the change that we wish to see in the world."

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2001

Earth Mamma, You know Earth Mama it seems that so many of us have given up.

I was born in Southern Ohio were my Dad worked for the Peabody Coal Company that striped Noble County away. Have you ever driven through mile after mile of silent, mourning land ,timbered, plowed and shoveleved ,by the largest catapiller ,in the world into piles of dirt.

The second part of my childhood I spent in southern Missouri, near the beautiful lake Pomme De Terre. As I grew to love this lake I listened to the stroys of the old timers telling of the buying out of the people by the Conservation , farms and homes , streams, valleys and hills were flooded in the making of the lake. Old Mr. Bryon( A great ole guy, I used to wait on him when I worked at Joyce's , he hung around with the Noodler's, )Oops;back to the subject!, Well ole Mr. Bryon was getting on with age and his mind wasn't allways working up to Par, and one day on his way home from Joyce's he took the old route back to his old farm, which now resided under the lake,where they found him the next day.

The Coal companys are still operating, there was a lovely little woods that used to call to me, full of ,reach to the sky pines with a bubbling brook. There were so many different kind of violets growing along the brook. Yellow, blue , purple and mauve. Have you ever seen the violet that has velvet leaves? I have never found it in any I.D. book, it is not in Newcoms, but it grew in some spots in Missouri and it grew along this brook, purple velvet , the most beautiful thing! Well a coal company bought this spot, I tried to save some of the unusual violets, the yellow ones now bloom in my garden, but the violet one died of heartbreak to be away from her brook and pines.That wonderful God filled spot isn't there any more , dispite the efforts of many promenent Southern Ohio envirmentel protesters.

Just recently some Gas company has decided that it must go through Ohio, cutting ,through the cleanest creek in the state,(has fish that won't survive without fresh water}. Putting a gas line through forests, fields, homesteads, .One lady I know is losing her spring, and spring house due to this. Many Many people are fighting this, the gas company just keeps going to a higher court, untill they find one that they can buy out. They have over 90 percent of the land that they need now.

So yes Earth Mama I have given up, I decidid that THEY are gonna take what they want dispite any tears of mine, I just gotta get out of their way, when they come. Today they are putting in new electric lines which will run across my front gardens, It's a bad time, the foxgloves are budding, how carful with those big booted , goal orientated, men be as they lumber over my bi, and perineals!

Ya know, I wanna pretend that I got the strenth to stand up and fight for our environment Earth Mama but I just dont have the faith that it will do any good!

But I think you are right, we should.

Well gals and guys I would spell check this so's I don't look like the two hillbilly that I am, but I 'taint' goin to, cause Hubbys up and it's time to go 'be'

Thanks for maken us think about this Earth Mama, you are right we should fight.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Except for the people I have met on the this forum and others I don't know one living soul who cares about any of this stuff, and it's doubtful they even know much about it.

There is a gas pipe line that goes right through the land where my greatgrandmother lived, where my few acres are, it's been there for about 30 years. It goes right through where the peach orchard and black berry patches use to be. The gas line people paid about $6 to my cousin that owned the land at that time, there was no choice about it going through there either. So if I want to live on the land that has been in my family for about 130 years then I have to live next to that gas pipe line. Same thing happed when the state put a highway right through my greatgrandmothers land years before that, she had no choice, the state wanted it there and there it went. I wonder just what the condition of that pipe line is now that its over 30 years old.

Guess I'm not too old to get involved. Thanks earthmama for the info,

Namaste,

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Just keep talking to people you meet in everyday circumstances.People do listen,even if they don't always agree.Some listen good. We've talked to alot of people abt. organic,and alot do see the point,once they are given the info.Little ripples can make big waves, when combined.Just keep talking.

Why can't we have GMO labeling? Because,folks no one would buy the products.Yes,even the "city folks" don't like the idea much.That was on part of the program on PBS that Jim mentioned.People just do not know how much of it is in our foods already.Give me labeling.That will kill the industry.That's why the companies are fighting it.

Push for labeling.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001

Good point, Sharon -- push for labelling!

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001