Braux - GMO 101: a practical guide to genetically engineered food

GMO

A Practical Guide

to Genetically Engineered Food

By Chef Alain Braux, C.E.P.C., C.M.B.

B.S. Holistic Nutrition

Executive Chef and Culinary Nutritionist

Copyright 2014 by Alain Braux International Publishing, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any form of information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9842883-5-9

ISBN-10: 0-9842883-5-X

GMO 101 - A practical Guide to Genetically Engineered Food is a trademark of Alain Braux. Alain Braux International Publishing, LLC.

Disclaimer : This book has been written as an educational tool only. It is not a substitute for the informed medical recommendations of your personal physician or other qualified healthcare provider. The information within these pages is designed to help you learn about and understand your current health condition. My hope is that this book will allow you to have a better dialogue with your healthcare providers and make your life easier.

The publisher and the author of this book are not responsible for any products and services mentioned or referred to in this book, and disclaim any liability regarding the information offered in this book. They also disclaim any responsibility for any damage, loss, or expense to property arising out of, or relating to, the text in this book. If you have any doubts as to the validity of the information given, please do not purchase this book. Thank you for your understanding.

Before starting a lifestyle change, please check with your personal physician to make sure that the changes you plan to make are right for you. Sincerely, Alain Braux .

For information regarding this and other Alain Braux International Publishing, LLC books and speaking engagements, please contact Alain Braux through www dot AlainBraux dot com or at alainbraux at gmail dot com..

Proofreader: Gayle Morrow

Cover design by Tatiana Vila at Vila Design

Butterfly picture from Wikimedia Commons by Lokal_Profil

Back photograph by Athena Danoy

Manufactured in the United States of America. (September 2014)

H ave you ever read one of those really scary books? The kind that keeps you up at night but you just... cant... stop... reading it?

This could be one of those books.

Dependent on your mindset, the information provided in this book could scare you half to death. Of course, in my mind, I think people need to be scared out of their comfy and complacent foxholes that they have dug for themselves and look around at what is really going on. Anytime some uncomfortable truth is brought into the light, it seems much easier for people to simply stay in denial. Its too hard to think that maybe not everyone has your best interests at heart. Its easier to condemn the whistleblowers as conspiracy theorists. Its so much easier to rely on the headlines in the paper or the evening news with the oh-so-comforting information that a new study has just been done and you have nothing to worry about. A study that was commissioned and funded by the very people who have the financial interest in creating and selling these heinous products, but we wont mention that part. Shh.... Go back to sleep... Everything is okay...

We dont have that option anymore. Not if we want to live and be healthy. In my mind, genetically modified foods are a plague in this world that needs to be first recognized and then eradicated. Having stated my opinion, lets look at it from another angle. I do believe that GM foods were probably created with... lets not say good , but perhaps not bad intentions. With our growing populations worldwide I know that there is very serious concern regarding world hunger. Where I part ways with this is that I feel that the answer to world hunger is more actual food; not this Frankenfood that is being churned up out of a laboratory. Instead of putting in the time and spending research money on how to make food in a test tube, why did we not invest in growing more actual food? Did you know that the certification for GM foods is GRAS? Stands for generally recognized as safe. Would you order something off a menu whose strongest recommendation for it is that it is probably safe?

Some of my ideas as to why this happened will probably cause you to think of me as a conspiracy theorist. Thats okay. Wouldnt be the first time. As to the more open minded, you can grab your tinfoil beret and follow me down the rabbit hole with a few facts.

FACT: Sixty two countries label GMOs. The United States isnt one of them. If they honestly feel that GMOs are not a problem, then why do they spend millions of dollars defeating legislation that is not even asking for them to be removed; just labeled. If there is no problem, then why cover it up?

FACT: Its not just the wing nuts that are against GMOs. There is also a large and growing group of doctors, researchers, scientists and nutritionists that are seeing damage first hand. Although the studies that have been funded by the corporations creating these things (like Monsanto) say that theyre fine, the independent research is telling a far different story.

FACT: The most common implication of GM foods is digestive problems. According to data tracker IMS Health the combined sales of the two most common digestive medicines (Nexium and Prilosec) have gone from $6.2 billion in 2001 to $13.6 billion in 2009. Coincidence?

FACT: You cant patent a food. Anyone can grow whatever they like in their yard, keep some seeds from this years crop, and do it all over again next year without buying more seeds, which cuts down on profits. However you CAN patent a GMO and the seeds will not regerminate so that you constantly have to buy more. Good thing to keep in mind: If a food or food product is patented, there is a good chance that it has been genetically modified. You cant patent stevia, but you can patent Truvia...

FACT: On March 25, 2014, President Obama signed into law H.R. 933, otherwise known as The Monsanto Protection Act. This bill, crafted by Monsanto backed Sen. Roy Blunt, states that even if future research shows that GMOs or GE seeds cause significant health problems (i.e. digestive problems, allergies, tumors, cancer, anything), that the federal courts no longer have any power to stop their spread, use, or sales. Wow! Sen. Blunt even worked with Monsanto to craft the language in the bill. Plain old common sense dictates that if youre not worried about your Frankenfoods causing any future damage, why protect yourself so heavily? And why did this get signed over the protests of over 250,000 petition signing concerned Americans?

A link that is not (yet) established is to the rapidly rising numbers of incidences of Autism and Autism Spectrum disorders, like ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, and the like. When I started working with autism extensively in 2005, the rates were already going up in a meteoric fashion. Going from about 1 in 10,000 when I was in school and staying around that neighborhood for a long time, it seemed to start skyrocketing around the year 2000 or so. The rate of 1 in 166 children being diagnosed seemed catastrophic enough to me, but now, only nine years later it is 1 in every 68 children. 1 in every 54 boys. And although I know that there are other culprits at play in this tsunami, I cant help but believe that these GMOs which leave inflammation and leaky gut behind in their wake - are a contributing factor.