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Health & Fitness

Food For Thought on GMO's

What is in our food and what is our food made from? Many people in CT want to know.

California has emerged as a key battleground in the war over the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food. The fate of a November ballot initiative to require labeling of products containing GMOs is expected to influence outcomes in other states. Activists in Connecticut, who were disappointed to see a GMO labeling bill stymied in the last legislative session, will be watching the California debate closely.

Meanwhile, the American Medical Association released a statement in June indicating that it saw “no scientific justification for special labeling of bioengineered foods.”

“As a co-sponsor of the GMO labeling bill in Connecticut, I intend to continue fighting during the 2013 legislative session for more transparency on food labels. A legislative GMO task force is being formed to study the issue in greater depth, and I urge everyone to make their voices heard as this work progresses,” said Rep. Kim Fawcett. “Public opinion and advocacy are crucial to building support for this type of legislation.”

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GMOs are the result of a laboratory process that extracts genes from one species and inserts them into another to create desired traits, such as resistance to diseases and pesticides. And while there is debate over whether genetically engineered foods are safe for human consumption and the environment, one point is undeniable: GMOs have ushered in a remarkably swift and dramatic change in our food supply, unbeknownst to many consumers. Introduced just 20 years ago, GMOs are now in 80 percent of all processed foods. This is because so many packaged foods contain corn, soy, cottonseed, canola and sugar from sugar beets. These are the “big five” genetically modified crops.

Two of the leading advocates for GMO labeling in CT are Tara Cook-Littman and Analiese Paik, both of whom live in Fairfield. Tara is a certified holistic health counselor and former prosecutor, and Analiese runs the Fairfield Green Food Guide. They believe genetically modified foods should be labeled as such so that consumers can make more informed decisions about what to feed their families. Check out the Right to Know CT website to learn more about the labeling effort in CT.

Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Representative Kim Fawcett serves as the State Representative in Fairfield's 133rd legislative district to learn more about her work visit www.kimfawcett.com 

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