Want to Stop GMOs? Stop Callling Them "GMOs", and Call Them What They Are

by Jor-El

There it is in the headlines: Governor Brown signs AB 2470 - CA Seed Law Bans Local Gov't from Adopting or Enforcing Ordinances to Regulate Seeds or Crops - i.e., NO GMO BAN IN CALIFORNIA

It's true. Monsanto has a new best buddy & bff in the governor's mansion. Meanwhile, county after county in California either ignores or pushes back against citizens who want to institute moratoriums or ordinances banning the planting of genetically damaged crops, in hopes of beating the new Jan. 1 deadline instituted by AB 2470.

Frankly, I'm tired of having the grass roots pure food movement be regarded as a bunch of irrelevant losers - especially when there is a Democratic super-majority warming the seats in Sacramento.

But on the other hand, we have allowed that to happen time after time, without learning from failure after failure. Let's get a clue. We aren't doing this right.

For starters, we use the industry's language in talking about their tampered seeds. We call them GMO, as if in the minds of voters that is a bad thing. Their seeds are Genetically Damaged - they admit this themselves, in explaining the methods they use, which are far from precise. They rip open and damage the chromosome, then implant the gene they want, then leave it there along with the injury. "Engineering" implies a precision placement, an improved function. This isn't engineering, it's just damage. At best, the "M" in GMO stands for "Manipulation".

Do you dumpster dive? No? Then why eat something that is damaged goods? Who wants to eat food whose genetic manipulation is solely to allow it to live under a cascading shower of Roundup and 2-4d? Food that is guaranteed to be saturated with contaminants?

We need to catch on to something: The American public is not a science class, it is a herd of sheep. Information & entertainment involving the current top stars get thousands of times more Twitter tweets and YouTube hits than anything else. Is that bad? Are we better than the people who want to ogle at the stars? It's just what is, and we'd better get on that bandwagon. A lot of ocelots and panthers were spared from hunting after a group of models and Hollywood stars hit the red carpet wearing fakes, and making statements about the poor endangered cats. Where are our spokesmodels? Where is our Susan Sarandon, our Leonardo de Caprio to warn about genetic damage & contamination, the scourge of Roundup?

We have a perfect additional bandwagon effect just waiting for us to use: Europe, the land of health care, solar energy, really good transit and employee benefits, also bans genetically damaged crops. Just another reason why we're behind Europe in doing the right things for the environment, and why we need to come to our senses. Buy European food, and it will be undamaged. We need to have people from Europe also be our spokespeople, about the reasons why life is better without the danger of Roundup-saturated, stomach-damaging food.

Until we stop being assuming the American public is a bunch of climate and genetics scientists, stop buying into the vocabulary of Monsanto, and start doing things that will shake and rattle the public, we will continue to be branded as losers, and we will be getting what we deserve. Unfortunately, millions of ignorant innocents will be unwittingly eating something they don't deserve.