Dear Kind People,
The Organic Consumers Association needs our help.
Please read this letter, and if it makes sense to you, please copy, paste, format as needed, print, and deliver to your grocery store manager. Better yet, deliver a letter to the manager of all grocery stores in your town. Be sure to make it personal, as in "Dear Mr. Smith" or "Dear Ms. Jones." If you don't know the name of your grocery store manager, please pick up the phone, call the store, and ask. It's that easy.
Please, it's time for action; for those of you adverse to making a scene, this action requires no scene-making. Thanks in advance for helping.
No more dinking around with our food, ok?
With Love and Gratitude, Lynn Byrd, The Byrdfeeder
ps - it's a long letter, but this issue is long, like love is long. Life? Really, not so long. What's a long love letter in the scheme of a short life? Edit as you please.
ps - it's a long letter, but this issue is long, like love is long. Life? Really, not so long. What's a long love letter in the scheme of a short life? Edit as you please.
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Dear (your grocery store manager's name here),
As one of your regular retail customers, I want to thank you for providing a selection of clean, safe, and healthy organically-certified products in your store, especially as current food marketing practices make it difficult to know how to shop healthfully for my family.
According to ongoing research by the Organic Consumers Association, only 4% of total sales in conventional grocery stores are organic. So called "natural" foods now make up 8% of all sales, but these products are produced with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and often contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). "Conventional" foods dominate the grocery marketplace with 88% of sales; unfortunately, most of these products undermine public health and contribute significantly to the destabilization of our environment.
Like you, I am a consumer concerned about my family's health and the health of our planet. I feel strongly that we all have an inalienable right to know where the food we purchase comes from, how it is grown, and what is in it. Up to 90% of U. S. soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, and sugar beets are now genetically engineered and routinely incorporated into non-organic human and animal foods. These products require no labels or safety testing. As a consequence, approximately 80% of current non-organic grocery food items contain GMOs.
The number of current scientific studies suggesting the dangers of GMOs are growing everyday. Studies suggesting their safety are usually paid for by the corporations who sell the products of concern.
Considering the growing public health and environmental concerns of GMOs and Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), I ask that labeling clearly identify processed foods or animal products carrying any level of non-organic soy, corn, cottonseed oil, canola, sugar beets, alfalfa or GM growth hormones with a label or shelf sign that says, "MAY CONTAIN GMOs."
Also, please identify all meat, dairy, and eggs that come from CAFOs, where the animals are confined and fed GMO grains, with a label or shelf sign that says, "CAFO." In other words, unless a product is certified organic, or bears a certification seal from the Non-GMO Project, I want it to bear a sticker that says, "May Contain GMOs" or "CAFO."
Also, please identify all meat, dairy, and eggs that come from CAFOs, where the animals are confined and fed GMO grains, with a label or shelf sign that says, "CAFO." In other words, unless a product is certified organic, or bears a certification seal from the Non-GMO Project, I want it to bear a sticker that says, "May Contain GMOs" or "CAFO."
Please join the growing group of ethical retailers and voluntarily adopt these Truth in Labeling practices. I ask you to inform your "natural" food vendors that you support the placement of "May Contain GMOs" stickers on their products. Please also inform your meat, dairy, and egg suppliers that non-organic products derived from animals reared on GMO grains or raised in intensive confinement will from now on bear stickers that identify them as "CAFO."
Retailers adopting Truth in Labeling practices will stand out as ethical leaders in the marketplace, gaining new customers and increasing the loyalty of present customers. Please join the nation's organic consumers as we move to label GMOs and CAFO foods so all consumers can make informed decisions. The health of my family and yours depends on it.
Thank you again for providing clean, safe food for my family, and for your support of a healthier planet. I look forward to your response to this letter.
Sincerely,
Bless you for being a Food Activist!
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