Have you ever wondered what a "genetically modified" food is and what it means to eat it?

Did you know that it's in about 70% of the processed foods on grocery store shelves, foods like breakfast cereals, English muffins, ketchup and bread?

If a food product contains corn, soy, canola or cottonseed and is not organic, the chances are very good that it is genetically modified.  Is that bad?  We don't know because adequate studies were not done before they were approved and came to market.  Yet we eat them every day.  And we don't know what the long term effects might  be.

A GMO is a plant or animal that has been genetically altered by inserting a gene (piece of DNA) from one species (like a pesticide-producing gene from a bacterium called BT) into an unrelated species (like corn). 

Currently, it is completely voluntary for food producers to let us know if their products contain GMOs, and most that do, let us know only if their product does not contain GMOs. 

We have the right to know what is in the food we eat, and a grassroots effort is under way that would bring about transparency to our food supply here in California.  A ballot initiative has been drafted and sent to the state's attorney general's office that, if voted in next November, will require food producers to label products that contain GMOs.

There will be no cost to government or manufacturers to do this.  It will just be one piece of information added to the nutrition label.

Labeling these products will give us the freedom to make an informed decision about the foods we choose for ourselves and our family.

To find out more about the "2012 Right-to-Know, Label GMOs" initiative, you can:

•  visit these websites:  www.labelGMOs.org , www.responsibletechnology.org , www.centerforfoodsafety.org , and www.gmwatch.org
• contact us at:  LabelGMOsElkGrove@gmail.com
• come to a gathering of local volunteers (see events)