I read a great book and wanted to share it with you.

The name of the book is:

GMOs in Food:

What Every American Needs to Know

(Foodie Talk with Chef John and Anne)

[Kindle Edition]

 

Anne Newsome (Author) (available on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EN8E826/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb)

 

My Amazon Review:

This is an awesome way to introduce people to the information that we all need to know more about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).  The information is clear and concise and KEEPS YOUR INTEREST!  There are so many pieces of information inside that provide insight into WHY the FDA doesn’t have motivation to push for citizen education.  What is the risk in requiring company’s fully disclose what goes into their products?  Most citizens assume that testing is required for long term safety BEFORE a product goes to the marketplace, that is not an assumption we can rely on!  I don’t want to make assumptions that things are safe without a basis in fact, do you?  Why not require testing, why not require companies (big and small) to prove they are proposing a product that is safe?!  We can’t just rely on the old “nothing’s happened yet”…and base the use of a potentially disease causing product on that when we have the means to gather the information.  This book provides a great basis of the information based on facts.  I have more investigating to do but, don’t we all?!  Great book, good subject, well articulated and thought provoking!  (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EN8E826)”

 

Why did this interest me?

 

I used a homeopathic remedy a number of years ago to find an oncoming cold little did I know when I did that I was experiencing my sense of taste and smell for the last time.  That is right, I can’t smell or taste correctly.  Mostly I report things smell as I remember portopotty smelling, nice right.  The FDA didn’t regulate the homeopathic remedy and therefore didn’t have the “authorization” to pull the product, well enough people experienced the same symptoms that I did and guess what?  In an unprecedented move in June 2009 the FDA required this company (who will remain nameless, grrr-my blood pressure rises just thinking about it) to pull the product from the shelf, THANK GOODNESS.  However, on February of the same year (that is right 4 months AFTER I lost my sense of taste and smell) the product was deemed “too dangerous” to remain on the shelves.  Then, the product was reformulated and has now returned to shelves with a different “dosing mechanism”.

 

So the process of trying to not allow my loss to happen to another person began.  I trusted that a multi-national and multi-millon dollar “homeopathic” company  would care if 1 in 1,000 had an “adverse symptom”.

 

Thus began the beginning of my awareness education and activism regarding product information (some might call it paranoia; being hypervigilant, I call let  HEY I’M ALREADY DOWN 2 senses, DO YOU HAVE ALL OF YOURS?!)  So I decided that I wasn’t going to allow myself to be ignorant and I was going to inquire about things that concerned me, what did I have to lose?  Nothing!  Education and knowledge to gain!

 

I learned that cosmetics that are considered all-natural don’t necessarily have to go through a rigorous testing process in order to get onto the shelf.  I also realized that many people in America assume the “government is involved in everything”.   But it seems to me, that there are a lot of components of the government that encourage capitalism (I agree capitalism is CRITCAL AND KEY TO OUR ECONOMY) but what is the balance point between causing damage and rushing the product to market putting people at unnecessary risk?

 

 

Want to know more?

GMOs – A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. Organisms that have been genetically modified include micro-organisms such as bacteria and yeast, insects, plants, fish, and mammals. GMOs are the source of genetically modified foods, and are also widely used in scientific research and to produce goods other than food. The term GMO is very close to the technical legal term, ‘living modified organism’ defined in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which regulates international trade in living GMOs (specifically, “any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology”).

This article focuses on what organisms have been genetically engineered, and for what purposes. The article on genetic engineering focuses on the history and methods of genetic engineering, and on applications of genetic engineering and of GMOs. Both articles cover much of the same ground but with different organizations (sorted by organism in this article; sorted by application in the other). There are separate articles on genetically modified crops, genetically modified food, regulation of the release of genetic modified organisms, and controversies.-www.wikipedia.com)