BACKGROUND

Due to recent medical testing, I was informed that I can not tolerate any gluten and now must carefully inspect every food label for its ingredients.

Why is my body and millions of others rejecting wheat gluten? The reason is that wheat has a natural pesticide in it, called Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA). This lectin is a natural defense in seed and prevents it from being eaten by insects, yeast and bacteria. While heat will destroy most of it, low heat will not. Even in low doses is toxic to humans and accumulates in the body contributing to long term illness. The deadly poison ricin, is an example of a purified form of lectin.

From GreenMedInfo.

"WGA lectin is an exceptionally tough adversary as it is formed by the same disulfide bonds that make vulcanized rubber and human hair so strong, flexible and durable. Like man-made pesticides, lectins are extremely small, resistant to break-down by living systems, and tend to accumulate and become incorporated into tissues where they interfere with normal biological processes. Indeed, WGA lectin is so powerful as an insecticide that biotech firms have used recombinant DNA technology to create genetically modified WGA-enhanced plants."

This led me to investigate the possible impact of genetically modified organisms introduced into our food supply. If the foods that we normally eat raw and lightly cooked are being genetically modified to include this natural pest protection, we may be introducing a new health risk to millions. In addition, this will reduce the diversity of healthy foods available to our families rather than increasing them as GMO advocates claim.

HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE WE HAVE STATISTICAL DATA

We may not know the full impact of GMOs for decades. Consider how long it took before smoking was admitted as being dangerous to our health. What if there was no clear environmental factor like cigarettes and instead it was something invisible in the air or in our food? Without the ability to track GMOs along with other environmental variables, it could take a lifetime before we are able to gather the data to determine GMO safety. Regardless of what we think we know, I believe you will agree we have a right to see GMOs ingredients on food label so we can track any resulting effects.

OVER 50 COUNTRIES ALREADY REQUIRE GMO LABELING

Food you buy at a Walmart in Europe already has GMOs clearly listed on their labels. Yet, since 1992, the US government has supported extremely limited regulation on genetically engineered foods. It has allowed GMOs to be included in foods (even those labeled organic) with no disclosure to consumers or scientists tracking the effects of these genetically new substances. To know their impacts we must be able to track these new environmental variables. Yet, instead of taking the high road and facilitating scientific study in this huge growing pool of subjects being exposed to GMOs, commercial interests have prohibited our ability to track results of this experiment by lobbying against GMO ingredient disclosure.

With the amount of lobbying money at the disposal of corporate interest, getting regulatory changes to insure our safety will take more than just an act of Congress. It will take action by you and I as concerned citizens. Your signature on this petition will have an impact.

This petition is going to the top 10 grocery store chains in the U.S., with Walmart and Kroger being the top two in the world. Their websites and company information promote their leadership in sustainability. This is a chance for them to prove it. Hundreds of millions of us buy our food in these stores each week. According to an ABC poll, 93% of the public wants GMOs labeled. In order to track the impacts (both positive and negative) of GMOs, we must have transparency. With our government not requiring GMO labeling, we the customer must make our demands through direct petition. These grocery stores need to hear the combined voice of 1,000,000 consumers demanding transparency in our food supply just as Europe and a total of 50 countries require. While we can still support government mandated regulation of GMOs, (www.justlabelit.org ) this petition is a request for voluntary compliance to consumer demand NOW. Please sign our petition and share it with your friends on Facebook and via email.

After signing our petition, please click on the link below and send a message to FDA Commissioner Hamburg letting him know you are petitioning grocery stores direct due to our government's slow response. http://www.justlabelit.org Thank you so much for your support.