Green City Market in Lincoln Park

Organic vs. GMO labels:  A Consumer's Right to Know

It’s Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and swarms of Chicagoans flock to the streets near the Old Town Triangle of Lincoln Park.  Summer is officially here, besides being the hottest day of the year with a record breaking 90 degrees out, local farmer’s markets are in full bloom with fresh produce picked from the day before. 

Visitors happily park blocks away and walk the rest with their strollers and reusable eco-friendly bags to the Lincoln Park High School parking lot, where a variety of Midwest vendors are selling brightly colored fruits and vegetables specially grown for this year’s warmest season. 

About a mile east, at the intersection of north Clark and west Menomonee street, the Green City Market, a non-profit created to support natural and organic farming, hosts its 12th annual farmer’s market, held every year at the beginning of May to the end of October.  

The Green City outweighs the Lincoln Park market vendor volume four to one, but both attract the same clientele.  Customers carefully ask the farmer’s how “fresh” their produce is, whether or not pesticides were used on their crops, and the overall steps it took for them to get it into their hands today.

“People are beginning to really question what’s in our food,” said Joelle Rabion, a certified holistic health practitioner who works as a health coach for the Good Food Better Life program in Chicago.  “We’re beginning to see a shift in people’s minds, that we’re all responsible for our own health and nutrition and understanding that the heavily processed foods may not be so good for us.”

However it’s easier said than done as Rabion points out the many opportunities for our cultures confusion in food. 

“Commercials and advertisements rule our society’s culture and our relationship to food,” she said.  “You can’t make money off of commercials telling people to eat healthy.  The doctors with their pharmaceutical pills certainly won’t sell themselves.”

The supermarket for example, is optical illusion of what U.S. food has become, Rabion said.  What looks like an abundant variety of produce, is actually a highly skilled scientific project concocted in a science lab more so than in a pasture of a farm.  Although nutritional labels, controversially mandated by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act in 1990, help acknowledge the ingredients of products, the ever-growing list of non-pronounceable food additives is starting to worry consumers.  A concern that has many nutritionists questioning its food is the monstrous conglomerate of GMO (genetically modified organism) products, also known as genetic engineering.  However the problem with genetically modified foods, there is no label required.

“A person could probably go crazy if they think about all of the products that are genetically modified,” said Erin Riley-Strong, the communications and marketing coordinator for Green City Market.  “But the truth is, it’s in the majority of products in the supermarket.  Americans eat it almost everyday without even knowing it.”

Unless labeled “USDA certified organic” or “Non-GMO,” produce purchased from a local supermarket was specifically derived from a science lab before being planted in the ground.  According to the Non-GMO project, a non-profit organization established in 2005 by the “People Want to Know Campaign” in Berkeley, California, more than 80 percent of conventional processed foods come from GMO crops.    

First initiated by Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992, the United States’ role in pursuing biotechnology was a top priority in scientific research.  Quayle declared, in a press conference on May 26, 1992, that the United States’ will remain the world leader in biotechnology as “long as we resist the spread of unnecessary regulation.”  The problem with the lack of “regulation,” however, results in disingenuous corporate interests over obligations of responsible agriculture.  

International best-selling author Jeffrey M. Smith, reports in his book, “Genetic Roulette – The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods,” that as crops were becoming larger in size and primarily owned by multinational corporations, farmers were becoming less involved in the growing process on their own land.  

Weeds then began to grow over mass crop acreage, causing a high demand in herbicide.  But as most herbicides are highly toxic, scientists had to create a “modified” version of the farmer’s crops.  While injecting its DNA with genetic proteins, one that’s specifically resistant to the herbicide toxin, the result was a thousand acre farm completely resilient to the herbicide sprayed amongst the crops.  A tremendous accomplishment in agriculture and biotechnology, but many farmers and consumers, says Smith, are disturbed by scientist’s “life” creation in a Petri dish without responsibly considering its affects on the environment or human consumption.  

Genetic engineering.  GMOs.  Biotechnology.  Fueled by anti-GMO campaigns, food documentaries and state leaders, the scientific terminology is starting to become a part of casual dinner conversations amongst Americans today.  And with majority of produce in U.S. supermarkets being created by genetic engineering, as reported by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser in the documentary, “Food Inc.,” Americans may have no choice but to stare at their BLT sandwich (maybe literally) in the face. 

Unlike 50 countries around the world, citizens of the United States have been unaware of their GMO food consumption for over 20 years because a GMO label isn’t required.

As reported by the New York Times, California will be the state to watch in November’s election concerning the GMO labeling debate.  Surpassing nearly double the amount of required signatures needed (971,126 to be exact) to qualify for the November ballot, “California cleared a crucial hurdle this month, setting the stage for a probable November vote that could influence not just food packaging but the future of American agriculture,” reported journalists’ Amy Harmon and Andrew Pollack for the New York Times.  

Illinois Representative’s Deborah Mell, Naomi D. Jakobsson and Kelly M. Cassidy are also hoping to stir a dialogue of GMO labeling with the Genetic Engineered Food Label Act Bill HB 1249.  If passed, it would require all “foods containing genetically engineered material or produced with genetically engineered material (to) be clearly marked with a label placed in a conspicuous place that indicates that the food contains genetically engineered material.”  Representative Cassidy, who is also a member of Illinois Environmental Health Committee and the Consumer Protection Committee, says this bill is an “overdue legal framework” that will only help consumer’s create healthier choices for themselves and their families.

“Consumers should be aware of foods containing or produced with genetically engineered material,” she said.  “I recognize the importance of allowing consumers to make knowledgeable and health food choices, and this bill is a great step in the right direction.”

According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, as Illinois is the leading producer of soybeans and corn, and ranked second nationally in the export of agricultural commodities, the passing of bill HB 1249 will also send a tremendous message for GMO labeling and an uprising in proactive consumer awareness and protection.     

“We have the right to know what’s in our food,” said farmer Dean Froehlich, a vendor of the Lincoln Park farmer’s market. 

A fourth generation farmer of Froehlich’s Finest Fruits and Vegetables from Berrien Center, Mich., Froehlich believes in “nature’s course” of creating food rather than “white coats” who are afraid to get their hands dirty.  “I’ve got friends who are in biotechnology and you know, I just don’t understand it,” he said.  “Why would you want to eat something that you have to drastically alter?  I wouldn’t eat it because I don’t know what’s in it.  It’s just not natural.”

Beth Eccles, co-owner of Green Acres Farm in North Judson, Ind., and vendor of the Green City Market, proudly continues her grandfather’s farming tradition by producing “naturally grown” heirloom vegetables, fruits and specialty greens. 

“I only heard of GMOs until recently,” she said.  “A lot of our customers were starting to ask, but no our food is 100 percent derived from a natural seed.  Those companies, it’s just getting to the point where you don’t know what they’re doing to the crops.  It’s scary.”

In August 2003, Monsanto, one of the top Goliath biotechnology companies in the world, paid off $700 million in damages for poisoning over 20,000 Anniston, Alabama residents.  For over 40 years, Monsanto had been secretly dumping mercury and PCB-laden waste into their local creeks without consulting a single resident or government authority.  Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group in Washington D.C., demanded and uploaded documents on the EWG website that showed Monsanto’s knowledge of poisoning the residents of Anniston, yet purposely sent internal memos to keep it a secret. 

A letter titled “Pollution” sent out to Monsanto sales executives on February 16, 1970, reads, “We will continue to make these products; however, customers will have to use their own judgment on continued use.  We can’t afford to lose one dollar of business.” 

When Monsanto was taken to court by the residents of Anniston, the Monsanto manager of environmental control, William B. Papageorge stated in the court document on March 31, 1998 that he saw no reason to “inform” the residents as it was “no different than a service station man telling his neighbors he has got motor oil on the curb by his service station.”

Since the settlement in 2003, Monsanto has claimed its products to be PCB and mercury free.  However many are skeptical of the companies intentions and current chemicals used to produce herbicide resistant crops today.  The new PCB, as reported last year by NaturalNews.com, is an herbicide called glyphosate, which is, according to a study by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides in Eugene, Oregon, linked to cause birth defects, DNA damage and cancer. 

“It’s being found in our rivers and rainwater across the Midwest, which is truly disturbing,” said Riley-Strong.  “Now it’s not so much about creating food, but about being economically and environmentally responsible.  These GMO companies have none of that.”

Environmental law firm, Earthjustice, has dealt with numerous environmental cases regarding herbicides used for genetic engineering crops.  Managing attorney for Earthjustice, Paul Achitoff is currently helping residents of Hawai‘i pass a GMO labeling bill. 

“Hawai‘i was once used as the biggest GMO testing ground in the world,” said Achitoff.  Covering over 2,000 acres of land since the early 1990’s, Achitoff didn’t know himself about the companies testing grounds until 2001.  “These companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, and Dupont have spent millions of dollars to keep people in the dark about their products.  Reason?  They don’t want people to know because they have a lot to lose.  Once people discover what they do to the crops, people may not want to buy their product anymore.”

Dr. Melissa Yee, an acupuncturist at the Kapi‘olani Health Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i and advocate for the anti-GMO corporation Seeds of Truth has conducted tests and research on GMO products. 

“We’ve had lab rats come back with results of infertility, kidney and liver failure, and intestinal issues,” she said.  “Tourists come and eat our papaya, because it’s one of our known popular fruits but they end up with severe digestive issues.  We see a lot of those cases in our hospital.”

On Monsanto’s official website, they claim that GM crops are “as safe as conventional (non-GM-derived) food” and studies from the Center for Environmental Risk Assessment, a non-profit created by biotechnology scientists of the International Life Sciences Institute Research Foundation (headed by Monsanto executives) show the “wholesomeness and nutritional value of GM crops.”  Achitoff sighs in disgust and strongly opposes their research.

“The testing that is done by Monsanto, it’s by scientists that they hire and pay. And there are a lot of ways that you can conduct a study with which you can make the results in your favor.”  Achitoff claims the lack of “regulation” by the government allows such tests to pass as “sufficient” when majority of the results are rigged. 

“People assume when they eat GMO foods, they think the government said it’s okay so therefore it must be okay,” said Achitoff.  “But the truth is the government has very little to do with it.  All of the GMO companies have yet to conduct a complete public study of their products.  Now doesn’t that tell you something?”

Just like cigarette packs and alcoholic beverages, Achitoff says GMO labeling will soon become “inevitable.”

“Its one of those things where for a period of time an industry gets away with something but sooner or later people demand it.  So sooner or later it will happen,” he said.

Meanwhile farmers such as Froehlich continue to produce their crops with as much care and devotion as if they were to sell it to their own families.

“You look around here,” said Froehlich, pointing to the families shopping around the Lincoln Park market.  “It’s about being honest and trustworthy to your craft.  I wouldn’t want to eat anything that I’m not sure of, so why would I sell it to someone else?”