header-gmo

Organic Consumers Fund: Working to Protect You from GMO Food

Written by Chester Fiennes
Video

« Previous Next »

Grassroots movements like OCF or the one pictured are key to battling GMO villains like Monsanto Tomasz Bidermann / Shutterstock.com

Growers are naturally critical thinkers. We know that not everything the powers that be tell us is best for us is necessarily true. They want to tell us what we can or can’t grow, and lately they’ve been making it hard for people to inform themselves about the food they buy. That’s what happens when big business shacks up with government – the rights of the people fall by the wayside. As we’ve seen in recent articles, nobody is a bigger culprit than GMO pushers Monsanto. But we here at Rosebud Magazine are dedicated to helping you, the consumer fight back. Thankfully, we’re far from the only ones drawing a line in the sand.

There are many grassroots organizations out there trying to ensure consumer safety and make sure that people have access to truly organic food, but one group stands out above all – Organic Consumers Fund (OCF). These guys are doing incredible work. They have several anti-GMO and anti-corruption initiatives on the go, and they do an incredible job of staying on top of the latest in the food war in our culture.

According to their website, the Organic Consumers Fund “is focused on grassroots lobbying and legislative action to promote organic and sustainable food and farming, health, peace, justice, sustainability, and democracy.” In other words, they’re speaking about issues that matter greatly to growers.

Let’s be clear about something: when they say things like “health” and “justice” and “democracy,” they’re not just throwing around some terms that sound good. These are real issues in Big Agriculture’s GMO war on the consumer. Monsanto thinks you don’t have the right to know what’s in the food you feed your children and that their products shouldn’t be labeled as genetically modified. Indeed, they work to prevent such labeling. Worst of all, state governments have caved to corporate pressure despite the fact that the people overwhelmingly say they want labels. How on earth is that democratic or just?

One of OCF’s latest initiatives is to help push through GMO labeling laws in California. Reports state that over 80% of Californians want their food labeled, but Monsanto will spend millions of dollars trying to suppress any bill that requires GMO food to be labeled. To read more about the actions of the OCF in helping get the Food Labeling Act on the ballot and in the voters’ hands, head to this website: http://organicconsumersfund.org/label/

The fight for our rights as consumers and citizens is increasingly important. Billion dollar companies want to blindfold us and let us ignorantly feed our kids and ourselves whatever puts the most money into the coffers of the corporations. Thankfully groups like the Organic Consumers Fund are helping to educate the public, and Rosebud Magazine is right behind them, as we do our best to spread the word as well. We as growers have a leg up on the rest of the populace – we know how to grow our own food. It’s going to be more and more important in the future that people start growing - it’s the only way to ensure the safety of your food. In the meantime, the least we can expect is that we have access to information about what we eat. Join the fight, and tell your friends.