In Which Countries are GMOs?

New Zealand: No GM foods are grown there	Switzerland: No GM crops, animals and plants until 2013
Germany: No GM corn	Madeira: This small Portuguese island has a ban on GM crops
Ireland: GM crops were banned for cultivation in 2009, and foods containing GM foods can be voluntarily labeled as such	Japan: No GM seeds are planted in the country (but wild contamination from imported GM canola have been found growing near ports)
France: Asked the European Commission to suspend Monsanto's authorization to plant GM MON 810 corn, but the EU stepped in and blocked the ban	Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria and Luxembourg: All have bans on both cultivation and sale of GMOs

If you live in the United States and want to avoid GM crops, it isn't easy because they are already in commercial production – and GM crops are not labeled. According to the Non-GMO Project, GM crops already in production in the U.S. include:

Alfalfa (first planting 2011)	Canola (approx. 90% of U.S. crop)	Corn (approx. 88% of U.S. crop in 2011)
Cotton (approx. 90% of U.S. crop in 2011)	Papaya (most of Hawaiian crop; approximately 988 acres)	Soy (approx. 94% of U.S. crop in 2011)
Sugar Beets (approx. 95% of U.S. crop in 2010)	Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash(approx. 25,000 acres)	Animal products (milk, meat, eggs, honey, etc.) because of contamination in feed

What's all the fuss about?? GM crops:

• Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GE crops
• Can be toxic, allergenic and less nutritious than their natural counterparts
• Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety
• Do not increase yield potential
• Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it
• Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant "superweeds," compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops
• Have mixed economic effects
• Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity
• Do not offer effective solutions to climate change
• Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops
• Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes – poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on

According to their report, there are three potential sources of adverse health effects from genetically engineered foods:

1. The genetically modified gene product – for example, the Bt toxin in GM insecticidal crops may be toxic or allergenic
2. The GM transformation process may produce mutagenic effects, gene regulatory effects, or effects at other levels of biological structure and function that result in new toxins or allergens and/or disturbed nutritional value
3. Changes in farming practices linked to the use of a genetically modified organism may result in toxic residues – for example, higher levels of crop contamination with the herbicide Roundup are an inevitable result of using GM Roundup Ready® crops.

Dozens of studies have now provided scientific evidence that GE foods cause severe health problems, including multiple organ damage and cancerous tumors.

For Proposition 37, requiring Genetically Modified Foods to be labeled, to pass, we need EVERY vote we can to win in California, November 6.

The election is just over ONE week away.