Coming soon: the next genetically modified (GMO) anti-food.
Whether it’s your kids’ soccer snack, your breakfast beverage, or a key ingredient in your favorite smoothie, oranges and orange juice are promoted for their vitamin C and sold under the guise of nutrition. The fascinating history of this nutritionally mediocre fruit may be about to change once again.
Popular oranges aren’t the nutritional hero we’ve been sold:
Although touted for high levels of vitamin C—an antioxidant vitamin not made in the body but also essential for proper immune function, to absorb iron, heal wounds, and can even help prevent heart disease—the truth is that other fresh vegetables are far superior sources of vitamin C as well as beta-carotene, another antioxidant found in oranges but also much higher in other fresh vegetables.
The heroics and reputation of oranges (and lemons and limes) are because sailors living on whole grains and dried meat developed scurvy—a disease of weakness, malaise and depression, anemia, gum disease, easy bruising and swelling and that can and did lead to death. Citrus fruits simply lasted longer than green leafy high vitamin vegetables on ships without refrigeration. This utility gained oranges their vitamin C reputation; they are not the source of choice for many reasons: mainly that being hybridized for very high sugar content causes thyroid and adrenal stress.
Shoppers beware: Oranges the next GMO?
Because a disease called “citrus greening” is decimating orange groves across the country, there’s been a lot of talk about genetic engineering (GE) as the “only solution”—notably USDA researcher Ed Stover pushing transgenics as the “best possibility” for the industry, and Marylou Polek, vice president for science and technology at the Citrus Research Board, touted it as “the only long-term solution”.
Because “citrus greening” is a bacterial disease carried by an insect that feeds on orange trees and is devastating crops in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and California—virtually all U.S. orange growers—genetically engineering resistance might be appealing. But experience and research show this will not last. Especially with oranges where new cloned trees take 15-30 years to mature, more than enough time to develop bacterial resistance.
Genetically engineered labeling laws still don’t exist.
Which supermarket foods are genetically engineered? This is probably the most urgent question in public health. Opinion polls show that up to 90 percent of the American public wants GE foods labeled. But despite this overwhelming demand, almost no foods on U.S. grocery shelves reveal their secret, genetically engineered ingredients.
Under pressure from biotechnology industry giants Monsanto and Dow Chemical, our government has not required the labeling of genetically modified GMO foods. Industry rarely voluntarily identifies them, fearing, probably correctly, that the majority of Americans would avoid GE foods if given a choice. As a result and unlike other countries around the world, the U.S. public has been deprived of its right to choose whether to buy and consume genetically engineered foods.
True Food Shoppers Guide to Avoiding GE Food
Luckily, there is a True Food Shoppers Guide to Avoiding GMO Foods. The first of its kind, first published in October of 2000, the original Shoppers Guide launched the True Food Network! The Guide is designed to help reclaim your right to know about the foods you are buying, and help you find and avoid GMO foods and ingredients.
Get the free Shoppers Guide to Avoiding GE Foods:
- Get the iPhone app for iPhone or iPad
- Get the Android app
- Browse the Shoppers Guide online
- Or you can email the office@centerforfoodsafety.org to order a printed pocket Guide
Last updated: January 2014
The Center for Food Safety Guide was compiled based on company statements sent to CFS and consumers; statements posted on company websites; and companies enrolled in the Non-GMO Project’s Non-GMO verification program. As ingredients change frequently, always check the packages–even of foods you buy often–to be sure to avoid non-organic at-risk ingredients on products not labeled as Non-GMO.
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