Who Is Behind That Organic Label?

Shit.

Ok, I thought I was an educated consumer in the area of food, especially organic. Recently, however, something prompted me to do some research into the food I was buying. I started off in search of companies who don't use ANY genetically-modified (non-GMO) ingredients. What inspired me to do this with a sense of urgency, besides my own intuition and common sense radar that says GMO BAD, was reading of a study that was done that involved a researcher/scientist, a lab and some potatoes. The Scientist grew his own potatoes in this lab, both of the regular variety and genetically modified. Upon harvest, he fed them to the proverbial lab rats. The results shocked him. The rats who ate the genetically-modified potatoes showed significant changes to their health, noticably smaller brains (!!) and damage to the kidney and liver.

!!!!!!

His conclusion was GMO products were not safe, or at least, he could not give them the safe to consume label. More testing needed to be done. Much more testing. As he concluded, "I would not eat these potatoes I grew." Refusing to comply with pressures from his superiors who wanted a different answer, superios who were pushing for the genetically modified movement, the Scientist was fired.

How's that for a bedtime nightmare story?

GMO foods have always made me nervous. Everything in me has given me the red flag warning when I first heard about this movement. It changes protein in the foods. No one can say for sure HOW the human body will respond to this effect. Studies that show the damaging effects on rats are destroyed. The FDA gave cart blanche approval for food manufacturers to use GMO ingredients in their foods several years ago, DESPITE the damaging, buried reports and DESPITE any real long-term studies.

Whatta they want? Human studies? Well then ok. Let Nina organize it. We have a huge number of political and business leaders who don't utilize their time responsibly or ethically. Let them take on the challenge. Let the nominations begin...

I digress...

I mean come on. We're not talking about a GMO golf club or computer. We're talkin' food here. That little thing we ALL NEED FOR SURVIVAL.

So I went on a mission to find the lists of non-gmo food suppliers. The most current I could find was in 2003. I can say with 99.999% certainty that the entire population of the US of A has been eating GMO foods. If this doesn't top and I mean top the list of crisis needing resolved immediately, I don't know what is. War can wait. Global warming. Political and biz corruption. This is our food production we're talking about. The FOOD WE EAT. What we cannot live without.

Christ...

Upon doing this research, I discovered something that made me feel, once again sick on the inside. Sick. Betrayed. Abused. Fucked. All without someone asking for a kiss first. All without someone asking for my permission.

Buying organic makes people like myself feel good inside. We feel we're supportin' the little guy. We're supporting the healthy food movement. We're saying "NO" to chemical and heavily processed crap and "YES" to good health, healthy food. Foods that SUPPORT our health rather than foods that damage it. Foods made by folks who care about the environment. I thought I was doing this when buying organic. I thought I was supporting the small business, dedicated to the health of its consumers and environment as priority number one.

Wrong.

I discovered many of the organic labels I buy are actually owned by Big Corporate food producers, such as Kraft, Coca-Cola and the like (ilk).

Check this out FMI.

And if that weren't enough...

Not only have I been very conscientious of the food I put into my body, I'm equally conscientious of the make-ups and lotions and shampoos I slather on my body. I've discovered an independent company that makes pure mineral make-up that is very friendly to my sensitive skin (contrary to the bare minerals and other celebrity-endorsed infomercial outfits who use some ingredients that can be irritating and damaging to the skin). The lotion I use comes from an equally small, independent company called earthworm herbals. The ingredients are pure and organic and absolutely positively NOTHING artificial. We're talkin' hemp oil, olive oil, aloe, chapparal, mugwort, chamomile and other REAL OF THE EARTH stuff. Zero colors. Zero perfumes. Amazing stuff. I love it and would not go without. The shampoo I use, made by a family owned company--rather large, but still independently owned, has very few ingredients, including none of the sodium laureth crap in it. Since I began using it, I've noticed my hair is so much softer, I often don't need conditioner, which of course is the same manufacturer of my shampoo.

And last but not least, on my lips, I use Burt's Bees products. They're great for moisturing my lips and they add the perfect touch of natural color. Again, I thought I was supporting a small, independent company.

Wrong again.

Burt's Bees is now owned by Clorox.

The bleach people.

The chemical people.

The bad for your skin, eyes, mucous membranes, people.

The bad for the planet chemical people.

FUCK!!!

When will this monopolization end? And why in the hell do these small businesses sell themselves out like that?

In the end, was it money and money alone they were really after?

I expected more from them. In the end, they weren't really part of the solution. While they may have begun that way, they turned into being part of the problem called monopoly. What was once an innocent child's game has turned into a nightmare. And I am royally pissed about it.