GMO/Toxin Free USA
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When an organic product is introduced into the marketplace, there are hardly ever any issues.
Yet, when a novel and unproven GMO product is introduced into the marketplace, it is the complete opposite, and the script is generally the same — unfulfilled promises, unforeseen consequences, lawsuits, patents, secrecy and attacks on critics.
EARLY GMOS
We saw it first with Roundup-resistant GMO corn and soy crops, which were promised to feed the world.
Not only did they not feed the world, but according to the Glyphosate Global Study, use of the cancer-linked glyphosate has increased 15-fold since genetically-modified crops were introduced in 1996. Bayer and Monsanto have been subsequently hit with billions of dollars in lawsuit judgments.
Another cancer-linked herbicide, dicamba, has had its own issues.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said that this chemical has “torn apart the social fabric of many farming communities” due to the property damage caused by its spraying on GMO crops and the ensuing conflict between neighbors. It has even resulted in a murder.
GMO 2.0 — PRECISION FERMENTATION
What has since followed is GMO 2.0 animal-free “whey protein,” which utilizes a process that the industry often refers to as “precision fermentation.”
GMO/Toxin Free USA and Organic Consumers Association recently filed a lawsuit against Perfect Day, the producer of ProFerm — the GMO 2.0 “whey protein” used by brands such as Bored Cow and Myprotein — alleging material omissions and deceptive marketing of the product.
“The ProFerm product was marketed as bioidentical to cow’s milk, and that is simply not true,” said P. Renée Wicklund, co-founder of Richman Law & Policy, the firm that is representing the plaintiffs.
According to the Health Research Institute (HRI), which analyzed the product, ProFerm is only 13.4% cow’s whey protein and contains a fraction of the nutritional value of cow’s milk. It is missing 69 nutrients and has no omega-3 fatty acids or vitamins B2, B5 and E.
HRI also found that ProFerm contained 93 fungal compounds not found in cow’s whey, and the fungal proteins and compounds have never been part of the human diet and are unknown to science.
Interestingly, something similar took place with another GMO 2.0 product — the Impossible Burger — when 46 of its proteins were discovered only after a Freedom of Information Act request was granted.
According to Michael Hansen, PhD, senior scientist at Consumer Reports, “These 46 proteins have not been in the human diet before but are nevertheless being presented in the Impossible Burger, with no safety assessment having been completed for the protection of consumers.”
GMO 2.0 — GENE EDITING
The next generation of GMOs set to flood the market are gene-edited foods.
Gene editing uses modern biotechnology tools, often CRISPR or TALEN, to rearrange or delete a seed’s existing genetic code to achieve a particular outcome, such as a piece of fruit that doesn’t brown when cut open.
Yet, this hasn’t stopped countries or gene-editing companies from calling them “Non-GMO.”
“The argument that a gene-edited crop is not a GMO is factually incorrect. Statements such as these are misleading and misinforming consumers,” put forth Michael Hansen, PhD.
According to Megan Westgate, executive director of The Non-GMO Project, “Companies that make gene-edited foods have tried to apply for Non-GMO Project verification in the past and were denied.”