Our Gallup, New Mexico, experience started back in the small Navajo town of Leupp, Arizona.
There we met the Navajo farmer, Tyrone Thompson, who farms at the North Leupp Family Farms. Tyrone invited us to join him and several other people at the STAR school just outside the reservation. Among other things, he said the STAR school is the only U.S. school powered entirely with solar and wind power. He said many people would be there and we’d like what we saw.
Tyrone was right.
We met and interviewed people and they met and interviewed us. We met a baker named Josh who lives in Gallup. (You can buy his delicious bread at La Montanita Co-op in Gallup.) He told us he had a connection in Gallup who could line up a location for us to talk about our run and mission for a GMO Free USA. Sure enough, he put us in touch with Sydney who arranged for us to meet at the Work In Beauty House. Largely due to an email message Sydney sent out, we met with some 15 folks from Gallup eager to talk about GMOs and the real solutions to the problems caused by GMOs, modern agribusiness and monocultures. We learned that Josh, Sydney, and Michael work at the local Co-op. Michael and Chakra hung around after the discussion and set up a repeat performance at the Work In Beauty House for the following evening.
If there’s a moral to this story it might be this: Opening our mouths leads to good connections, discussions, and relationships. We’re now connected with good people in Gallup who have paved the way for further connections when we arrive and present in Albuquerque. Speaking of Albuquerque, we are scheduled to present at the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library (the Main Library) on Wednesday, March 12, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. We look forward to meeting a good many good people at the library Wednesday evening.
If you have questions or comments about our run, mission, or the library event, or if you can offer us a place to shower, do laundry, or park our trailer, please call Kris at 907-752-0447.
Thank you so much!!!!
P.S. The monument to the Navajo Code Talkers at Window Rock, Arizona, deserves its own blog. It’s a beautiful monument commemorating a fascinating piece of history. But, as usual we’re running late with miles awaiting us. So these photos of the monument will have to suffice for now.
“It’s a learning experience.” That phrase has come to be known as our Running For a GMO-Free U.S.A. mantra because so much of what we are doing as David and I run across the U.S.A. is a first time thing for us. Following are a few of the more important things I’ve/we’ve learned and/or relearned.
1. Kris is a good woman. As the lead support person on a rather grueling GMO Free USA run and mission with Olivia and two stinky guys crammed into a tiny travel trailer, Kris is one busy person! And as always, she takes care of business with grace and beauty.
2. Olivia is a hard worker with a great personality. While David and I are running, Olivia and Kris get stuck with a lot of the dirty work involving the truck and trailer. Olivia’s a natural at it. What’s more, even though she tells us she’s miserable and she’d rather be elsewhere, she is often humming and singing. Should I be concerned that the 13-year old baby of our family is singing about beer? “I got a little drunk last night.” “Can’t believe you’re really gone. Don’t feel like going home. So I’m gonna set right here. On the edge of this pier. Watch the sunset disappear. And drink a beer.” Or should I just join in with her and sing about Arizona’s and New Mexico’s favorite beverage? Either way, we love her spirit and energy.
3. David’s got a good heart. Sure David spends his days talking about the weapons and assassins associated with his favorite video games, but he also told me about how it bothered him when I konked a king salmon on the head.
4. David’s focused. Not necessarily focused on getting the things done that need to get done before running each morning like consuming a massive breakfast, filling water bottles, gathering gear, etc., but—in addition to video games—he’s totally focused on running. Running last year, running this year, running across the U.S.A., running with the cross country team this coming season, running in college, and his running career.
5. We can do this??? At age 15 and nearly 53, David and I are getting up to our weekly goal of 120 miles. It’s not easy, it’s exhausting, and we’re slow, but we’re getting there. Some days David runs out of gas while I’m still feeling strong and other days I run out of gas while David is still leaping over the shadows of oncoming traffic, but overall we make good running partners and we’re running our way across the U.S.A.
6. People are good and kind. As a professional counselor, I’m well aware that we humans can be real stinkers with each other, but day after day, we bump into great people who show us all sorts of love and kindness. People often stop on the road to make sure we’re okay. (Some stop to help the baby they think we’ve got in our jogging stroller.)
7. Pro-GMO activists are mythological creatures. I say that it jest. Of course there are real people out there who sincerely believe that poisonous chemicals and genetic modification are the only thing keeping billions of people alive, but we’ve not met any such creatures on the road yet.
8. There are two kinds of people: those who know about and oppose GMOs, and those who have never heard of GMOs. Again, this is only a slight exaggeration. After running some 741 miles, we’ve found that nearly everyone we meet knows nothing about GMOs, and those that do know agree that the “s” in “GMOs” stands for “suck” as in Genetically Modified Organisms Suck.
9. The chemical companies aren’t going away. Corporations exist to make money, even if that money comes from the intentional poisoning of people, communities, and the environment.
10. The U.S. government and the chemical companies play together in a large, crowded, and dirty bed. If this were not the case, we wouldn’t have to fight for GMO labeling because the government never would have approved the release of GMOs into the environment in the first place.
11. Faith without works is dead. We can pray and wish and hope until the organic cows come home that government and chemical co-conspirators will clean up their act, but the system won’t change until you and I change it.
12. Faith without works is dead, part two. We can’t possibly afford to quit our jobs and run for a GMO Free USA. We can’t do it on our own, that is. But we have discovered that a whole lot of people such as yourself support our run and our mission and, because of people like you, we can afford to run for a GMO Free USA. For that, we are eternally grateful!!!
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Brett and his 15-year old son, David, are currently running from coast to America coast promoting a GMO-Free USA. Brett wrote this blog in Gallup, New Mexico, enjoying a much needed day of Sabbath rest. Brett and David blog at RunningTheCountry.com. Support their run and mission at RunningTheCountry.com/donate.
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Rita and her dad picked us up and drove us back to the church in Ganado where we parked our trailer. I gave Rita the short version regarding GMOs. Corn and corn pollen are sacred to Navajo people. GMO corn threatens to contaminate Native corn varieties. I gave her a copy of my book, We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie.
She thanked me several times saying she was so happy she picked us up, that she and her daughter would definitely be digging into the GMO topic and my book. We thanked Rita several times for the ride. She didn’t know it, but today was one of my hardest runs. Day three of pain on top of the bone that runs from the big toe to the top of the ankle. I cut away parts of my shoe to relieve the pressure on the part that hurts.
Two of our perks in our Indiegogo fundraising campaign included Joyous Cartwheels and a Thank You video. We performed the cartwheels and shot the video in the high country outside of Flagstaff and now that we’re getting ready in enter New Mexico, I’ve FINALLY found the time and Internet speed to upload the video to YouTube.
Deep and sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign. $7,500 is a lot of money and we deeply appreciate everyone who contributed. The actual costs of our run, however, will top $40,000. If you support our run and our mission to promote a GMO Free USA, please donate.
If you’d like to host a speaking engagement, pot luck, book signing, please let us know. If you’d like to run a bit with us, let us know. We are also interviewing people regarding GMOs as we run across the country. If you’d like to be interviewed or line up an interview, let us know.
There is a lot going on right now regarding GMOs. Your contribution will help us help you get the truth out regarding GMOs. We’re running for sustainable agriculture, healthy food, and we’re running for you! We love all the support and love we’re feeling everyday, both on the road and on the Internet.
Have you ever covered one eye while speeding down a highway? The results are frightening and potentially life threatening. Why? Because we lack perspective when viewing the world through only one eye. Likewise, we lack perspective when contemplating the world with only one side of our brain. And we lack perspective when we deny or falsely understand the spiritual nature of life and our relationship with nature and with each other. Sadly and ironically, this final lack of perspective has grown so common in our modern American society that, for the most part, we wander blindly, hypnotized by our sight-giving screens and toys, unaware of our inner blindness.
In our blindness, we live our lives largely unaware or uncaring of the violence played out in our society and the violence committed by what used to be our government. Much has been written on the subject of interpersonal, intertribal, economic, international and environmental violence. For the purpose of this essay, I will focus on the practice commonly known as “genetic modification” or “genetic engineering.” These are the phrases used to describe the violent combination of unrelated species. They are the phrases of science.
Science is the default language we use to discuss and describe this unnatural process. Both pro-GMO and anti-GMO camps appeal to science for proof of their respective positions. There’s nothing wrong with the language of science, but science, in and of itself, can only take us so far in our understanding of matters relating to life. In order to more fully understand life, we must also include and honor the language of the mystics, the prophets, and the Shaman.
To the Alaska Native Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska as well as other Native peoples, the salmon is a sacred creature playing a large role in oral tradition, art, and clan, as well as the preservation of life. (1) When my Tlingit sisters and brothers learn that scientists have combined three different marine animals to create genetically modified salmon, they know at a spiritual level that no one has the right to alter and patent that which nature has freely provided for millennia.
In Navajo tradition, corn and corn pollen is sacred. Some people believe they are the descendants of corn. Corn pollen is used in various ceremonies and rituals. (2) For those who hold their traditions sacred, as does my Navajo farming friend, the unnatural combination of corn with bacteria and subsequent patenting is wrong. And the inevitable cross-pollination of such contaminated corn with Native corn varieties is also wrong.
And corn is to the Navajo and Hopi what taro is to Hawaiians. Imani Altemus-Williams writes, “Taro holds spiritual significance in the islands’ indigenous culture, in which it is honored as the first Hawaiian ancestor in the creation story.” Walter Ritte explains the relationship as follows in Facing Hawaii’s Future after scientists genetically modified their sacred plant. “It felt like we were being violated by the scientific community …. For the Hawaiian community, taro is not just a plant. It’s a family member. It’s our common ancestor ‘Haloa …. They weren’t satisfied with just taking our land; now they wanted to take our mana, our spirit too.” (3)
From an aboriginal perspective, the spiritually blind European Americans of yesteryear stole land, food, and water while denigrating or killing Native traditions, culture, and people. And now, hundreds of years later, spiritually blind scientists, business people, attorneys, lobbyists and politicians are enacting yet another wave of violence against heritage seeds, crops, and agriculture.
Like all forms of violence, violence against aboriginal seeds and agricultural traditions is violence against all humanity. What we do to others, we do to ourselves.
We have yet to understand the full extent of the consequences and potential carnage the Earth and her inhabitants will experience from genetic modification. But this we know: Because of genetic modification, natural plants and seeds are endangered. Those who promote the patenting and production of genetically modified organisms are also promoting the extinction of hundreds and thousands of natural species. Modern poison-saturated monocultures may one day make Ireland’s potato famine look like a light meal. When agribusinesses have pumped the Ogallala aquifer dry, the feeding-the-world lie will blow away with the remaining topsoil. And when the bees and other pollinators are dead, our children may not be far behind.
Just because scientists can use guns to shoot DNA from bacteria into our food does not mean that scientists should do so. Genetic modification is violent, imprecise, unpredictable and inherently dangerous. Scientists don’t know and can’t know what life forms their blasts will produce.
Most of us refuse to eat pet food because it is beneath our standards. Yet few of us know that both wild and domesticated animals often refuse to eat genetically modified “food,” not because it is beneath their standards, but apparently because it isn’t food at all. (4) Corporate millionaires don’t care as long as their patented non-food foods increase their profits.
Corporate-based science lacks the ethics to restrain itself. And as long as corporations control U.S. domination-based government policy, CEOs and presidents will push the global spread of genetically modified crops for profit and power as they see fit, whether through war as they did in Iraq with Order 81 or through “Free Trade” agreements as they did in Columbia with Resolution 970 or as they are attempting to do now through the Trans Pacific Partnership. (5) (6) (7)
GMO spinmeisters lies are now known for what they are: lies. GMOs have nothing to do with feeding the world. GMOs are the product of genetic violence and, at the highest levels, violent people use GMOs to increase their wealth and to control other nations regardless of the harm to animals, plants, soil, air, water, and human beings.
A United Nations report uses the language of science to state that small-scale organic farming will feed the world. (8) And even the pro-GMO USDA is using the language of science to finally question the risks and benefits associated with GMOs. (9)
In spite of the scientific evidence against GM agriculture, corporate-backed scientists continue to speed down nature’s highways scientifically and spiritually blind, blind to the destruction caused by their arrogance and reckless release of unnatural life forms into the environment.
Einstein stated, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” In a culture that reveres science, let us have the courage to reclaim and honor our spiritual selves and our spiritual connection to each other, to nature, and to the Earth. Let us temper science with humility and ethics, and let honest science inform our spiritual beliefs.
When we sit down to enjoy our food, let’s ensure first of all that it is indeed food, not a genetically modified imitation that animals refuse to eat. And let’s ensure that our food is not seasoned with Round Up, 2-4-D (half of the chemical composition of Agent Orange), or any other unholy and unnatural concoction the chemical companies insist we eat. Once we’ve done that, we have good reason to give thanks for our sacred salmon, corn, taro, and every other life-enhancing food we eat.
By doing so, we ensure that our money is used to support organic farmers and farming. We ensure the preservation of honeybees, monarch butterflies, and songbirds. We promote the health of soil, air, and water. And we honor our ancestors, our sisters and our brothers, as well as our posterity.
Let us give thanks for our food.
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Brett and his 15-year old son, David, are currently running from coast to America coast promoting a GMO-Free USA. Brett wrote this blog on the Navajo Reservation in Dilkon, Arizona. Brett and David blog at RunningTheCountry.com. Support their run and mission at RunningTheCountry.com/donate.
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Running into Flagstaff felt like our first major running milestone. And Flagstaff has treated us well. Thanks to Helen Selander, we had a speaking engagement at the East Flagstaff Community Library Saturday morning.
Thanks to our new friend Debbie Noel who connected with us at the Williams Visitor Center, we enjoyed good food, a beautiful place to stay, and we are now friends with Robert, Zach, Gary, and Barb. We bought a few needed items including new shoes for both David and me. And now we’re back on the road.
We shoot a lot of video while Running For a GMO Free USA. But we rarely have good Internet connections, so very little makes it to our blog.
Thanks to the generosity of a new good friend, we’ve got good Internet as well as good food, friends and a beautiful place to crash and rest up until tomorrow.
So while we’re in Flagstaff, I uploaded three random videos as follows:
The War Train–We’ve seen hundreds of trains between Huntington Beach and Flagstaff but only two trains that I would call a War Train. Take a look. Does this train outside of Needles, California, look like a War Train to you?
No GMO–There’s a stretch of road near Roy’s legendary gas station on Route 66 where hundreds of people have used rocks to leave their names in the embankment that lines the road. David and I left our own unique message.
GMO Free USA Kiss–Our daughter, Erika, and her hubby, Russell, spent the weekend with us recently near Arizona’s Grand Canyon Caverns. Erika ran with David and me and presented a GMO Free USA seed packet and message with a not-so-unsuspecting passerby. That’s not all she shared.
Our message to you is this: Thanks for your friendship and support!
See you on the road!
Running Route 66 has its ups and downs. On some days the miles come easy, and on others they never seem to end. Sometimes the road signs provide some unique photo opps. Believe me, I was less than pleased to discover that Flagstaff remained 89 miles away between two signs placed ten miles apart. As it turns out, both signs were wrong in our case because we took a long detour to keep us off Interstate 40. (Two or three different locals said we can legally run on freeways in Arizona, but I have an aversion to semi trucks, VWs, and every other projectile traveling at 75 MPH.)
I also have an aversion to GMOs, Turns out that I’m in good company. Bill Williams, the founder of Williams, Arizona, posed for a great GMO Free USA pic.
I’m no poet, but here’s my attempt at a Burma Shave type of poem:
Running Route 66
Takes some time
Enjoy the photos
And don’t fret the rhyme
Prior to the run, I naively believed David and I might be able to finish each day’s run by 10 am or so. Now, nearly four weeks into the run, we’ve found our feet usually haven’t hit the pavement until 10 am at the earliest. Yesterday was probably out fastest mileage at about 10 minute miles. That lasted for 16 miles or so. The 9 miles that followed were considerably slower. We were glad to see Kris and Olivia at when they pulled into the parking lot at dusk at the Keepers of the Wild Nature Park in Valentine, Arizona.
Speaking of Valentine, today is Valentine’s Day so it’s fitting that I thank Kris for the endless work she performs to keep us going. She’s got far more on her plate than any one person can or should be expected to do. In addition to taking care of our needs on the run, she’s working with folks back in Sitka to make sure things get done there and she’s phoning ahead trying to figure out where we’re staying each night down the road.
Recently, my cousin, Helen, volunteered to set up GMO free events in the towns we’re running through. Thank you, Helen!!! Looks like we’re speaking at a library in Flagstaff and we’re available for additional presentations, seed swaps, book signings, pot lucks, media interviews, etc.
As the youngest living person to run across the country, I’m convinced David’s got a future as a motivational speaker. David’s not as convinced as I. What do you think? Would you like to hear David talk about his love for running and lessons learned from tackling such an enormous undertaking?
In the mean time, we’ll continue to “Watch For Ice” as we run in balmy shirtless Arizona weather. We’ll take in the legend of historic Route 66, and we’ll take side trips like Hoover Dam when possible.
If you’d like to be part of our team, either from your home or with us on the road, please let us know and we’ll put you to work.
If you’d like to donate, PLEASE DO SO! Donations continue to trickle in on our website and we’re in need of mucho mas dinero. Thanks to everyone who has contributed thus far!
So as usual, we’re getting a late start this morning from Valentine. But off we go with GMO Free USA seeds in our pockets and books in our seed stroller. The number one question we get when we talk to people about GMOs is this: “What’s a GMO?” We love the conversations, love sharing the seeds, and spreading some knowledge as we Run For a GMO Free USA.
Recently, we’ve had the rather cool experience of running on historic Route 66. Until now, I had no idea how much Route 66 means to some people. The attendant at Roy’s gas station in Amboy told us that Roy’s–the last remaining original building on Route 66–is swamped with people–mostly of foreign origin–who have traveled from around the world to experience the legend and lore of Route 66. Among other things, the site is often used for photo shoots and movie sets for which people pay several pretty pennies. We parked our trailer and stayed for a couple of nights across the street from Roy’s. Kris woke up on the morning of our departure inspired to do a photo shoot before we hit the road. Historic setting, brilliant morning light, beautiful model and click, click, click. Was good to get some kicks while David’s kicking butt and I’m getting my butt kicked on Route 66.
After being on the road for over two weeks,we are excited to–finally!!!–announce our run schedule. We are now fairly confident that–knock on wood–we can maintain a 20 miles/day, 6 days/week running schedule from now forward. If–knock on some more wood–that turns out to be true, then the following schedule should be fairly accurate. Keep in mind that we can travel off the run path–north, south, forward or backward in our trusty 1998 Ford truck to participate in GMO Free events as needed. We are available for GMO Free presentations, book signings, seed swaps, pot lucks, etc. We welcome opportunities to speak with the media, and we are actively seeking opportunities to interview farmers, scientists, etc. who have strong GMO related positions, whatever those positions might be. We love vegetarian home cooked meals and welcome the opportunity to stay with people when possible. We regret that we can’t meet with everyone, but we look forward to meeting with as many people as possible as we run for a GMO Free USA.
Thank you for your ongoing support of our run and mission. If you feel inspired to make a tax-deductible donation, please do so here. Thank you so much!
We started our Run For a GMO Free USA just over a week ago at Huntington Beach Pier. Thanks to everyone who showed up, introduced yourselves and cheered us on.
(David and I are joined by GMO Free Girl Scout cookie crusader, Alicia Serratos, and the ever passionate activist, John Diaz.)
Since that time, Kris and I keep repeating the phrase, “Well, it’s a learning experience.” That’s because virtually everything we’re doing is a first time experience.
David and I have never run 18 miles a day . . . day after day. And who knows if I’m going to be able to keep up with David.
Kris and I have never owned a truck and trailer. If you saw us trying to back up the trailer, you’d call the police to report our mid-day DUIs! And speaking of trailers, did it take anyone else 3 days to figure out how to get hot water out of the faucet on their maiden trailer voyage?
I’ve never been so tired at the end of yet another big mileage, big activity day that I skipped the shower (yes, cold) and just crashed onto the bed.
David and I have never been interviewed by a super athlete like Rich Roll.
And believe it or not, I’ve never owned a cell phone before . . . until now. Let alone a top-of-the-line sucky sounding Samsung. So sucky, in fact, that I had to reschedule a radio interview because Kris, David, Olivia and their non-sucky phones weren’t available at the interview time.
(Kathleen Hallal with Moms Across America joins Kris and Brett for a photo.)
Needless to say, Kris and I have never walked away from our jobs to help one of our kids—David— fulfill his dream to run across the USA.
And we’ve never committed ourselves fully to the GMO issue until now, trusting that like-minded people—many of whom we may never meet—will share of their means because they’re inspired by our run and mission, or more likely, they recognize just how desperately we need the cash.
We’re meeting with and talking to people everyday. On Saturday’s run to Banning, California, David and I stopped at a strawberry stand at the side of the road. The farmers—South Koreans—didn’t speak much English and at first they had no idea what GMOs stand for. But after they googled GMOs on their phones, they quickly understood. They gave us thumbs up and smiles in support of our run and mission.
Later that evening, long after dark, after we had finally completed the day’s run, we met a guy named Michael in a store parking lot. He told us that he manages an orange grove. From the way he spoke it was obvious he loved that grove. And he hated watching honey bees do the dizzy dance before dying the last time the grove owner sprayed the grove with RoundUp. He’s sick to his stomach that the owner is talking about spraying the place again to kill off the ground cover. I passed along a DVD copy of Howard Vlieger’s presentation regarding GMOs, RoundUp, inflamed pig intestines, etc.
(This guy’s face reminds me of GMO-fed pig intestines!)
I also gave him a couple of copies of my book, We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie. He’s hopeful that the DVD and the book will persuade the orange grove owner to show a little more love to her orange trees, soil and the environment.
Running everyday is the easy part of this experience. Kris and Olivia have the much harder job making sure that a million different details are taken care of while David and I are pounding the pavement. If Kris were getting paid for her work, she’d clock in 16-hour days for at least three different people.
(Life-time farmer Howard Vlieger joins David for a photo.)
Yes, our run is amazing and our mission is crucial. And we’ve sacrificed a ton to make it happen, including our full-time jobs. Our Indiegogo campaign is drawing to a close on January 31st. It will take a small miracle to reach our campaign goal. But we’re used to miracles. We’ve experienced miracles everyday in connection with our run and mission. And we’ve got faith that many miracles will yet appear as we run our way across the country. We’re asking you to be a part of another much-needed miracle right now. Join us! Run with us now by contributing to our fundraising campaign.
How many 15-year old kids can say they’ve been interviewed by Rich Roll, one of the fittest men on the planet? (Listen to the podcast here.)
As of January 20, 2014, David can say it. David and I had to stop our run at nine miles so we could be on time for our interview with Rich in Thousand Oaks—85 L.A. miles away from our run location on the Santa Ana River Trail.
Rich has a business relationship with someone working at Sideshow Collectibles and he records his Internet podcasts in the Sideshow building. Unless you have a life-size museum quality collectable Darth Vader statue in your living room, you’ve probably never heard of Sideshow Collectibles. Whether you’re teen-agers like David and Olivia or parents of teens, being surrounded by realistic statues and gorgeous posters is a pretty awesome experience.
Our one and a half hour interview with Rich flew by like it was nothing. Maybe that’s because we share similar interests like running and health or maybe it’s because Rich is just plain cool. Not cool because he can complete five Ironmans in eight days, but because he adores his wife and kids and he cares about other people and the environment.
After we finished the interview, we turned our camera on Rich. I couldn’t help but smile when Rich said he doesn’t know too much about GMOs, then, in three or four minutes, he summarized the bulk of the problems associated with GMOs.
One more point about Rich that, as a mental health and substance abuse counselor, I really appreciate. Not so very long ago, Rich was an active alcoholic. That’s not the part I appreciate. I appreciate that in his book, Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself, he openly shares his story so that other people have the opportunity to grow from his growth as he left alcohol behind. But even after Rich had his last drink, he continued with his addiction to the standard American diet until he woke up to the fact that he was on the road to an early demise. Long story short: Rich replaced the junky food with a plant-based diet and his junky lifestyle with feats of endurance that boggle the minds of even serious athletes.
After the interview, we faced death in the eye once again by driving the L.A. freeways back to Mother’s Market in Costa Mesa where Howard Vlieger shared his GMO-related experience as a life-long farmer and researcher.
John Diaz introduced us to the audience. (Wow! John is passionate about the GMO issue!) We said a few words, made new friends and shared some books. Beautiful event!
In summary, our nine mile run, 265 L.A. mile drive, big events, and 16 hours out and about made for a great day and finally ended with much needed sleep.
Getting together and speaking in front of an unorganized crowd that I did not know was a new experience for me. It was also pretty amazing that we were even able to make it. The first thing was that we were going to set out in our car on Thursday so we could have a bit more time to rest, but I got sick and later infected my sister so we had to stay in Utah a whole day.
The day to rest and sleep felt really good and it was very needed but because of it my whole family ended up struggling to get sleep. Then when we finally made it to Huntington Beach Pier exhausted hungry and thirsty. So after our speeches and farewells we were off, fueled just by adrenaline. It only took 7 or 8 miles to realize that it is almost impossible to run with only a few pieces of bread as fuel.
After the first run I felt like I could finally rest, but I was so wrong. After the run my family struggled to get to a hydroponic farm, then squeezed in a presentation with Howard Vlieger all with little food or rest. Getting home for a whole day of rest was one of the best feeling things that ever happened to us.
Writing about the first day of our GMO Free USA Run feels like squeezing a week’s worth of activities into one day because that’s just about what we did.
And the week leading up to the first day of the run was no less packed. Among a gazillion other purchases, Kris and I are now first-time owners of a new truck and trailer (new to us anyway). Until now, I’ve never had an interest in or need for big toys.
Our running team (Kris, Brett, David, Olivia and Angel) left Bountiful, Utah on Friday, January 17th at 10:40 am. We had originally planned to leave as early as Tuesday and as late as Thursday. David—the running inspiration of our team—woke up on Thursday feeling sick. And a new and needed camera (new to us anyway) that I had purchased on eBay more than two weeks previously, still had not arrived. Besides that, we just weren’t ready. So we put off our 709 mile drive yet another day, putting us at risk of missing our own run launch if we had experienced so much as a mechanical hiccup.
Our trusty 1998 Ford F-150 four-wheel-drive-gas-guzzling-monster-pulling-machine performed like a champ—and since it’s my first truck I can say it performed like no other truck I’ve ever owned. We stopped in Provo to grab a few last minute items, visit with our daughter Erika and her hubby extraordinaire, Russell, and to do the 4th or 5th radio interview in the last week. My brother Rob, his wife Stacey, daughter Madison and friend caught up with us in New Harmony just as we were leaving one of numerous gas stations on our drive. We hung out with Kevin and Laurie Smedley in Las Vegas. We stopped in Henderson and visited with former Sitkans Brad and Denalee Chapman. We loved their fresh homemade bread, home ground peanut butter and conversation. Denalee read from her soon-to-be-published book, Conquered, in which she shares her story of being healed from multiple sclerosis. I crashed for three hours while Kris stayed up and caught up with Denalee.
We got up at 2:00 AM with the naïve belief that we would arrive at Huntington Beach Pier by 7 AM where I could catch a bit of a nap before our big event got started. We made it to a beautiful RV park in Riverside, California where we parked our trailer, and then we drove the final 55 miles to Huntington Beach Pier arriving there at 10:30 am. Waaaay toooo close for our scheduled event launch time of 11:00 am!
There we met John Diaz, one of several people who have gone out of their way to make our launch and run a success. John had worked with other GMO free activists coordinating crucial details including getting banners made for us. Thanks, John!
People we had never met before presented us with gifts and well wishes. After getting to know each other for a bit, we stood with a beautiful banner in front of us and said a few words honoring the people who have been fighting the GMO battle for so long and talking about the purpose of our run. Then David, Alicia Serratos, (a 7 year old girl who wants to get GMOs out of Girl Scout cookies “because GMOs make bugs’ stomachs explode”) and I waded barefoot into the surf to officially start our coast-to-coast run. We ran back to the pier, put on our shoes, and, amid cheers from our supporters, ran down the bike path toward the Santa Ana River Trail accompanied by Alicia, her grandmother, and other supporters.
We then ran nine miles under a hot Southern California January sun. By the day’s end we had also managed to squeeze in interviews at Alegria Fresh, a hydroponic farm located in the Orange County Great Park and a presentation by Howard Vlieger (rhymes with trigger) in the city of Tustin. We didn’t make it back to the trailer until nearly 11:00 pm.
Lessons learned:
1. Running while recovering from a sickness is no way to start a 3000-mile run.
2. Running on three hours of sleep and chronic sleep deprivation is no way to start a 3000-mile run.
3. We’re not running alone. People and organizations have committed time and resources to ensure our success and our exhaustion does not further our cause for the long run. We need to take better care of ourselves (as I write this blog in the wee hours of the morning prior to today’s run) so we can actually run for a GMO Free USA today, tomorrow, and for many tomorrows into the future.
Thanks to everyone who is working to make it happen!!!
We still have a few more days before our on-line crowd funding campaign–Running For a GMO Free USA–crosses the finish line. If you’ve already contributed, we thank you! If not, now’s your chance. Your contribution will lighten our load and help us focus on our run and mission as we Run For a GMO Free USA.
We’re still a week and a half away from starting our transcontinental run at Huntington Beach, but I consider today, January 8th, 2014, a transformative day. When our clock chimed in the new day at midnight, I had already been up nearly 24 hours. 24 hours of packing, cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering. I realize now that those physical activities symbolize the packing, cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering I am nurturing within in my heart, mind and soul. And as I sweep away doubt, fear and negativity, I am left with the nearly forgotten taste of freedom. I remember that taste from long ago when, as a child, I played and breathed in the scent of Dad’s clean garden dirt.
Researchers have finally figured out what we all knew as children: sitting at desks all day is a pain in the butt. Our bodies are designed to run, play and explore, to climb mountains, to bear loads, to carry us far and to serve others. Play, purpose-honoring work and service produce love, joy, satisfaction and fun.
David and Olivia pulled Kris and me away from our packing just after midnight. “Come on, you guys,” they said. “Let’s go light fireworks.” Yes! let’s go celebrate! Today we step—no, we run forward—as a family. Prior to lighting the fireworks, we met at our fire pit where I struck the match that ignited years of ancient IRS baloney. Yes! Another celebration! While the time-peace-and-space-sucking torture devices burned, we moved to the driveway and set off several fireworks, including a final one that included blasts of sound, color, light and speed.
And thus begins our journey—our celebration. We can’t predict the full impact our run might have, but this we know: today, in this moment, we have grabbed life and are living it.
We are buoyed up and carried with the love and support we’ve received from long-time friends and new friends alike. Thank you! We run for you and your families just as much as we run for our own.
Approximately? Thanks to Google Maps and a few suggestions from knowledgeable friends, we’ve come up with a solid projected route. (Click on this link to see the route exactly as we see it on Google Maps, complete with different views and photos along the way.)
We’ll meet at Huntington Beach Pier on January 18th at 11 am. We’ll run the Santa Ana River trail for some 23 miles. A few of the major stops between the West and the East coast include: Corona CA, Yucca Valley CA, Flagstaff AZ, Albuquerque NM, Amarillo TX, Lake Meredith TZ, Borger TX, Wichita KS, Mansfield MO (the home of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, the seed company that is graciously supplying us with seed packets labeled “GMO Free USA”), St. Louis MO (the home of Monsanto, the chemical company that is not so graciously supplying our food with unwanted genetic pollution and toxic chemicals), Springfield IL, Indianapolis IN, Columbus OH, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, and Atlantic City NJ.
Kris, Olivia, David, Angel and I are flying to Salt Lake City on January 8th where we will prepare for our run. Our two biggest purchases will include a truck and trailer. *We will gratefully accept a suitable donated or loaned truck and/or trailer.* We are also looking for a jogging stroller that we can covert into a dog/Seed Stroller. (At the age of 14, Angel is too old to run with us anymore.)
We will then leave for Huntington Beach on about January 14th. (We are open to GMO Free events in Salt Lake City, Saint George, Las Vegas, and the LA area.)
We plan on running an average of about 18 miles per day, six days per week, reaching the Atlantic Ocean near the end of July. We are truly a Mom and Pop and family operation. If you want to visit or run with us, we’re going to put you to work. The short list of your potential duties includes: PR, fundraiser, logistics, school teacher, shopper, massage therapist, marital and family counselor, storyteller, clothes and dish washer, cleaner, vegetarian chef extraordinaire, mechanic, coach, cheerleader, doctor, nurse, dog groomer, photographer, editor, interviewer, interviewee, blogger, tweeter, giver and receiver of hugs, musician, poet, singer, dancer, and of course, fun-loving friend.
We plan on parking the trailer in one location for two or three or four nights at a time, leaving us free to travel away from the run route as needed.
Because we’re Running For a GMO Free USA, we are actively seeking opportunities to coordinate and schedule events with local GMO Free folks. Some possibilities include: seed swaps and presentations at book stores, schools, churches, libraries, book clubs, etc., potlucks, fundraisers, hikes, group runs, planting, weeding, watering, mucking, harvesting, swimming, and family-friendly partying, etc.
And of course we want to meet with farmers and record their experiences and various stories. If you’re a farmer and you think Roundup is the greatest thing since genetically modified apple pie, we want to meet with you. If your farming operation has been hurt by patented GMOs, lawsuits, and chemical-based agribusiness, we want to meet with you as well.
If you want to stage an event within driving distance of our run route, please give us a call. Kris’ cell phone is our main contact number: 907-752-0447. We’ll do whatever we can to help make it happen.
We’d love to leave several copies of my book, We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie, at every event and in every bookstore along the way. Books can be purchased directly from us or, if you’d prefer, you can buy the paperback or electronic version at Amazon or the paperback from Barnes & Noble.
We welcome and are actively seeking media and big-name interviews. (Yes, this includes you, Oprah!)
Our on-line fundraising campaign runs through the end of January. To date, more than 6,400 people have “liked” our campaign page, that’s tons more than any of the other popular Indiegogo Health related campaigns. As much as we love the “likes,” we still need A TON MORE MONEY to help us cover the costs of this run. If you’ve already contributed, WE THANK YOU!!! If you haven’t yet contributed, NOW IS THE TIME!!! If you can contribute $10, please do so. If you can contribute $100, $1000, or $10,000, please do so. Yes, our family-based USA run is a cool thing, but our cause and mission goes way beyond cool! When you donate, you’re donating to protect honeybees, monarch butterflies, song birds, living soil, clean air and water. You’re donating to protect the health and future of our children and life on this planet. THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL!!! DONATE NOW!!!
The tide is turning! People are waking up, but there’s still so much to do! Let’s make 2014 a year a truth and a year of victories. Let’s run together for a GMO Free USA and world!
“Golden rice will be good for everybody, but some people need it more. Our job is to make sure that [those] people have access to it, understand the value of it, and ask for it.” 1 – Dr. Gerard Barry
Golden rice is a genetically modified rice variety designed to produce beta-carotene, the precursor to Vitamin A. As of 2011, “The leader of the Golden Rice project is Gerald Barry, previously director of research at Monsanto.” 2 Sounding more like Monsanto marketer than scientist, Barry stated, “Golden rice will be good for everybody, but some people need it more. Our job is to make sure that [those] people have access to it, understand the value of it, and ask for it.” 1
Proponents of golden rice like Barry claim Golden Rice is the solution to blindness for chronically malnourished people. Chemical giant spinmeisters, political figures, and the media have claimed that every month we delay the commercial production of golden rice, 50,000 malnourished children go blind. The truth is this: golden rice doesn’t exist, or at least it doesn’t exist in the form that the industry would have us believe. Greenpeace reported in 2001 that golden rice provides so little vitamin A that “a two-year-old child would need to eat 7 pounds per day.” Adults would need nearly 20 pounds a day to meet current recommended minimums. Gordon Conway, the former president of the Rockefeller Foundation, which funded development of golden rice, said, “the public-relations uses of golden rice have gone too far.” Conway adds, “The industry’s advertisements and the media in general seem to forget that it is a research product that needs considerable further development before it will be available to farmers and consumers.” 3
Industry and media talking heads are not the only bodies that have gone to far. In 2013, Tufts University Daily reported that Tufts affiliated research on golden rice involving Chinese children was shut down after officials discovered that researchers had neglected to inform parents that Golden Rice is, in fact, genetically modified rice. Why would researchers violate the principle and practice of informed consent? Because they knew that telling people their yellow rice is genetically modified was considered “too sensitive.” 4
Ethics aside, the researchers claim their latest attempt to create golden rice meets half the daily minimum for beta-carotene. They further state that their findings remain valid in spite of their unethical research. If researchers have to lie in order to exploit children and their parents, isn’t it logical to assume they might also lie about their purported findings?
Regardless, let’s pretend as the industry pretends that golden rice actually exists and is ready for commercialization. What could possibly be wrong with it? Consider the following:
1. Rice, like all other life forms on Earth, is part of the collective commons of the Earth. In spite of U.S. patent laws, rice belongs to no one. No private entity has the right to claim it as its own. No private entity has the right to infect it with foreign DNA, even if the infection is allegedly for a good cause.
2. Like all other genetically infected plants, under current law Golden rice belongs to and is patented by stakeholders in the biotech industry. Some seventy different processes, all of them patented, are needed to increase carotene levels in rice. 5 Privately owned and patented crops are the antithesis to seed freedom and food sovereignty. Farmers won’t be free to save their seeds from season to season. They won’t be free to share their seeds from farmer to farmer. They’ll be required to buy new seeds every season. Current considerations would make exceptions to small-scale farmers, but limiting trade at all demonstrates that Golden rice is about ownership and profit, not about nourishing the people of the world who have the least ability to pay.
3. Rice and all other living organisms have defenses in place to protect against invasion and infection from foreign entities. In other words, plants and animals don’t want their DNA to be infected. Rice resists genetic infection just as our own DNA resists genetic infection. Inserting foreign genes into our DNA changes the very essence of who we are. Intentionally inserting genes from one species into another entirely unrelated species is an act of warfare against the natural order of life.
4. Biotech spinmeisters have successfully propagated the lie that Golden rice is nothing more than rice plus Vitamin A. Not true. As with other genetically infected plants, scientists use a gene promoter, as well as the Califlower mosaic virus and antibiotic resistant bacteria to ensure that the foreign beta-carotene successfully infects the rice. 5 In our age of antibiotic resistant bacteria, is it responsible to infect one of the Earth’s largest staple crops with antibiotic resistant bacteria?
5. In spite of assurances to the contrary, the process of genetic engineering itself is imprecise and the results are unpredictable. And the results are unstable and non-uniform from generation to generation. 5 Results from other crops have included novel proteins that have never existed in the history of the Earth. Genes up and down the DNA are switched on or off. We now know that genetically modified corn and soy poorly absorb nutrients. Canadian researches report that sampled non-GMO corn had 437 times more calcium, 56 times more magnesium, and 7 times more manganese than GMO corn. 6 Thus, Golden rice may eventually successfully increase levels of beta-carotene, but may also result in decreased levels of other essential nutrients. In addition, we have witnessed an increase in serious animal and human medical issues that highly correlates with the introduction and increased use of GM crops and associated poisons. Unintended human side effects of GM crops likely include novel toxins, increased allergies, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and endocrine disorders, as well as increased rates of behavioral disorders, diabetes, obesity and cancer. 7
6. The chemical giants and government regulators have fought GMO-related, informed consent for decades. They can’t provide accurate information about the risks and benefits of their products because 1. They don’t know the risks and benefits because they haven’t done the research, and 2. What research they’ve done is often corrupted by fraud, conflicts of interest and slick public relations campaigns. 8
7. Like all other GM agricultural crops, one variety of government and industry promoted Golden Rice would result in vast monocultures of GM rice fields. Native and heirloom rice varieties would be lost as a result. Monocultures have and always will be susceptible to widespread crop failure. Crop failure results in famine. Famine results in more malnourished people. Thus Golden rice has the potential to increase the very problem it purports to solve.
8. Like other GM agricultural crops, native and heirloom rice varieties as well as other plant life would be at risk of genetic contamination from golden rice. It could be argued that contaminating rice with beta-carotene is not really contamination at all, because beta-carotene is the solution to blindness and other physical ailments. But as previously discussed, golden rice is more than rice plus beta-carotene. It includes foreign viruses and antibiotic resistant bacteria. Regardless of the exact nature of the contamination, neither government nor privately owned corporations have the right to contaminate Earth’s commons. And once the contamination process has started, it can never be controlled, contained, nor recalled.
9. Like with other GM agricultural crops, genetic contamination would result in absurd claims of patent infringement. Thus, farmers who have been victimized by genetic contamination would be at risk of further victimization in courts of law.
10. Like all other GM crops, Golden rice would be worth less than traditional and organic rice varieties. How much less? “The 2000 release of Aventis SA’s StarLink corn cost as much as $288 million in lost revenue and a yearlong drop in the grain’s price . . . . The 2006 release of Bayer AG’s Liberty Link rice cost as much as $1.29 billion in lost exports, food recalls and other expenses . . . . Bayer in 2011 agreed to pay $750 million to about 11,000 U.S. rice farmers who sued the company.” 9 In November, 2013, China rejected 60,000 tons of US corn after they discovered it was genetically modified. 10 Golden Rice would simply be the latest and greatest GM crop responsible for the latest and greatest agribusiness financial disaster.
11. Malnourished people lack a variety of micro and macronutrients in their diets, including zinc, protein and fats. According to a Golden Rice case study from Iowa State University, these micronutrients are essential for the absorption of beta-carotene. In addition, “Those with diarrhea – common in developing countries – are also unable to obtain vitamin A from golden rice.” 11 So even if Golden Rice were a reality, malnourished people would absorb it poorly.
12. Many of the world’s impoverished people in Africa, do not eat rice at all, let alone Golden Rice. If poor Africans adopted Golden Rice as a food staple, it would have to be subsidized and imported making entire countries dependent upon outside governments and agribusinesses to feed them. We already know that when the U.S. government floods developing nations with subsidized cheap GMO commodities crops, it drives millions of local, small-scale farmers from their farms to urban slums and shantytowns. 12 These formerly productive and self-sufficient people would then join the ranks of the world’s undernourished people, and would not even be able to afford Golden Rice, let alone a balanced, nourishing food supply.
13. Our food choices are deeply engrained in our food cultures. We all know how difficult it is to change food choices even among educated people of means. Imagine how those difficulties might multiply among the less educated. In the USA, we know that the poorest people often make the poorest food choices. In Asian countries, the color white is associated with beauty and prosperity. Brown is associated with opposite characteristics. Many Asian people may be no more inclined to eat yellow rice than you and I would be inclined to eat yellow snow. Even more unsavory than its yellow hue, Golden Rice is unsavory because it is genetically modified—so unsavory, in fact, that researchers knew their research and rice would be dead in the water if they actually informed subjects what they were eating. 4 But of course, denying consumers’ the right to know that they’re eating GMOs is the foundational principle upon which Monsanto and gang prosper.
14. Golden rice is a high tech multi-million dollar pie in the sky solution that pushes aside the reality of viable and inexpensive solutions available right now. If biotech companies sincerely wanted to prevent blindness today, they would have invested in currently available solutions.
15. The real gold in golden rice would be found in the profits Syngenta would reap from its patented golden rice sales. And like other GE crops, the environmental, political, legal, economic and medical costs would be passed along to the world. Greater profit produces greater power and greater ability to increase the scope, scale, and lethality of the chemical agro giants’ worldwide poisoning campaigns.
16. Golden rice is a Trojan horse that exploits humanity’s collective will to provide for the less fortunate among us. When countries open their hearts and doors to Golden rice, they leave themselves unprotected against the onslaught of other dangerous GMOs and accompanying poisons. We’ve already seen this scenario play out in Africa. When Kenya adopted GE-friendly regulations and introduced Bill Gates’ genetically modified sweet potato under the guise of humanitarian aid, the chemical giants followed with their poisons and commercial, patented GE crops. 2
17. Modifying rice creates the false impression that rice, one of the world’s largest staple crops, is deficient and in need of genetic modification. Not true. Malnourished people are not suffering diseases associated with malnourishment because rice has no beta-carotene, they are suffering because political and economic systems are deficient and in need of modification. Golden rice will not reduce poverty. Golden rice is not the magic bullet solution to poverty or blindness. The solution lies in the creation of just and humane political, economic, and agricultural systems. These systems must honor biodiversity, Agroecology and food sovereignty.
GMO-Free Events
Dear Editor: Our family officially launches our transcontinental run on Jan. 18 from Huntington Beach, Calif. David and I (Brett) will run while Kris and Olivia crew for the runners. We’re running for a GMO-free USA. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. We’ve got four run-related activities planned for this weekend:
1. Fund Run. Join us on Saturday, Dec. 14, at Moller field anytime between 9 a.m.-3 p.m. David and I plan to run some 100 laps. Join us for a lap or two! Kris and Olivia will serve non-GMO snacks, share info, and offer good cheer to all soggy runners. Donations are welcome.
2. Info booth at the Elvis Grind. If Elvis were alive (we’re not saying he’s not), this is what he’d say about GMOs: “T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Double Trouble, Hurt, A Mess of Blues, Don’t, I Feel So Bad, I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry, Don’t Be Cruel, All Shook Up, Devil In Disguise, and Return To Sender.” Like Elvis, we all believe “It’s a Wonderful World.” See you at the Grind.
3. Library Presentation. Sunday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. I will read from my book, “We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie.” Discussion will follow. We extend a special invitation to any and all people who take issue with our run and mission. Come and share your concerns. Books will be available upon donation.
4. Online fundraising campaign. If we don’t see you this weekend, we welcome your contribution online. Go to Indiegogo.com and search for “GMO Free USA” in the search box. Then click on and be amazed by our promo video produced by Owen Kindig. Thank you, Owen! Our campaign is off to a strong start. Your contribution will make it even stronger. Our success is your success because we’re Running For a GMO-Free USA. Call Kris for further information: 752-0447.
Brett Wilcox, Sitka
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Sitka Sentinel, December 12, 2013 Letters to the Editor
*EU chief scientist Anne Glover’s backing for GM condemned as “irresponsible”
*Independent researchers work double shift to address “red flags” on GMO safety
Press release, European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, 10 Dec 2013
The number of scientists and experts who have signed a joint statement[1] saying that GM foods have not been proven safe and that existing research raises concerns has climbed to 297 since the statement was released on 21 October.
Dr Angelika Hilbeck, chair of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), which published the statement, said, “We’re surprised and pleased by the strong support for the statement. It seems to have tapped into a deep concern in the global scientific community that the name of science is being misused to make misleading claims about the safety of GM technology.”
The statement indirectly challenges claims by EU chief science adviser Anne Glover that there is no evidence that GM foods are no riskier than non-GM foods.[2]
Dr Rosa Binimelis Adell, board member of ENSSER, said, “It seems that Anne Glover chooses to listen to one side of the scientific community only – the circle of GMO producers and their allied scientists – and ignores the other. Thus she is giving biased advice to the EU Commission. For a science adviser, this is irresponsible and unethical.”
New signatories to the statement include Dr Sheldon Krimsky, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University and adjunct professor in the department of public health and family medicine at the Tufts School of Medicine. Dr Krimsky said:
“As a GMO crop skeptic, I have a more nuanced view of adverse consequences than uncritical proponents. Adverse consequences of GMO crops are not restricted to keeling over dead after eating genetically adulterated unlabelled food (GAUF). My concerns include subtle changes in nutritional quality or mycotoxins, increasing food allergens, unsustainable farming practices, dependency on chemical inputs, lack of transparency in evaluating food quality and safety, and the transformation of farming practices into a modern form of serfdom, where the seed is intellectual property leased by the farmer.
“To demonstrate the safety of GMO products, one must begin by assuming that they can be harmful, and carry out sensitive tests that are capable of detecting harm. As with other technologies like aeronautics and nuclear power, those who manufacture the products must not be the definitive source of safety data. Because rigorous safety testing has not happened with GMO crops, I remain skeptical.”
Another signatory, Dr Margarida Silva, biologist and professor at the Portuguese Catholic University, said, “Even if researchers did largely agree on GMO safety, that doesn’t make them correct. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, it only takes one study to prove a whole theory wrong – no matter how many scientists believed in it.
“In addition, research has been mostly financed by the very companies that depend on positive outcomes for their business, and we now know that where money flows, influence grows. The few independent academics left must work double shift to address the vast array of unanswered questions and red flags that keep piling up.”
A third signatory, Dr Raul Montenegro, biologist at the University of Cordoba, Argentina, said:
“Usually, analysis of GMO safety fails to consider four main issues. One: GMO plants, seeds and byproducts contain not only residues of commercial chemical pesticides, but also insecticidal proteins produced by the plant, like the Bt toxin Cry1Ab. Two: each commercial pesticide contains a cocktail of chemicals that undergo chemical changes within pesticide containers, when mixed with other pesticides, and when released in the environment. Three: In GMO agriculture each crop cycle begins with a higher background level of commercial pesticides and insecticidal proteins accumulated in agricultural soil, people’s homes and gardens, and exposed people. Four: GMO agriculture adds unwanted biodiversity (GMO genes) in countries having less and less natural biodiversity as a consequence of deforestation, pesticides, GMO insecticidal proteins and uncontrolled flux of engineered genomes.
“Countries as Argentina and Brazil are paradises for GMO agriculture because their governments have not established monitoring systems for disease and deaths from all causes, along with monitoring of the accumulation of residues of pesticides and GMO insecticidal proteins in exposed people and the environment, and variation of natural biodiversity indexes. If these monitoring systems were in place, it would be possible to measure the effects of GMO agriculture. As things stand, the governments of these countries deny that there is a problem even in the face of numerous reports from the people who are affected and the doctors who must treat them.”
Source: Sitka Sentinel, http://sitkasentinel.com/7/2012-05-10-22-08-10/local-news/6587-sitka-family-to-run-with-message-across-u-s
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A Sitka family is hoping that a long run – and a new, self-published book – will make at least a small difference in the health of Americans.
David Wilcox, a 15-year-old Southeast champion runner, and his father, Brett, plan to leave in January for a run across the country from California to New Jersey.
Mom Kris and David’s sister Olivia are providing support for the 3,000-mile journey as the family carries a warning message about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the corporate giant Monsanto.
The trip was borne out of David’s stated desire to run across the country, becoming one of the youngest people ever to accomplish that feat.
His parents said the family was supportive of his dream.
“If one of us is doing it, we’re all doing it,” Kris said, but noted, “Olivia and I have no desire to run the whole thing.”
The Wilcoxes plan to stop along the way to meet with people, give public talks and give media interviews to spread their message and sell Brett’s book.
“While we’re on the road, we’re going to visit farms and farmers and document their stories,” Brett writes on his Indiegogo fundraising site, which launched today. “What do they think of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), patented seeds, Roundup and other poisons? We’re going to hold meetings, give presentations, and talk to the media.”
He adds: “We’re not going to tell people that they have a right to know what’s in their food. We’re going to show them why they need to know what’s in their food. We’re going to expose the fraudulent stories pumped out by the corrupt chemical giants.”
Running sends an additional message of the importance of exercise in a healthy lifestyle. “For us, it’s all one and the same,” Brett said.
If David successfully completes the trip, he will be the second youngest person to run the entire way across the United States on foot. (The Wilcoxes learned recently that a young man accomplished the feat in 1928.)
But before the family departs Sitka in January, there is still a lot of work to do, Brett said. That includes fundraising to cover the costs of their trip, and publicizing Brett’s new book, “We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie after Lie.”
The family kicks off its efforts today with an online crowd-source fundraiser through Indiegogo.com. Under the name “Running for a GMO Free USA,” the Wilcoxes hope to raise at least part of the estimated $50,000 they will need for the seven-month journey. Brett said at press time today that he was pleased with the strong start to the campaign.
The second event is a book signing 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 7 at Old Harbor Books.
“We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie after Lie,” is about the contradictions Brett has found between what the corporate giant claims and what he has found to be the truth. He plans to follow up with a second book.
A “Fund Run” is planned for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 14 at Moller Field, where David will run a “marathon” (100 laps) around the Moller track. Sponsors are invited to sponsor David with donations per lap or with lump sum contributions.
“Or you can stop by and run,” Brett said. He added that there will be an information booth there as well.
Kris said the family sees the cross-country run – and effort to share information about GMOs – as both an individual and collective endeavor.
“People are supporting an individual, but hopefully supporting something that will affect everyone in a positive way,” she said.
“We feel it’s a critical mission,” Brett said. “It’s the future of agriculture in America and the world.”
The Wilcoxes will host an information booth at the Dec. 14 Monthly Grind, and Brett will give a reading from his new book 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at Kettleson Memorial Library.
The Wilcox run across the country will start in Huntington Beach, Calif., and proceed along Route 66 then along the American Discovery Trail. There will be stops in St. Louis, Mo., the home of Monsanto, and Washington, D.C., before ending at Cape May, N.J.
The website for the run itself is www.runningthecountry.com
Needless to say, we’re excited about our transcontinental run scheduled to start on January 18th, 2014, from Huntington Beach, California. We’ve been talking, planning, preparing and, of course, running, for more than a year.
A lot has happened in that year. Through his love of running coupled with a lot of hard work, David transformed himself into the 3A regional cross-country champion in Southeast Alaska. Through my love for good food, the environment and a lot of hard work, I wrote and published the book, We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie. (To date, more than 3,000 people have downloaded We’re Monsanto.) And together, the vision of our run and mission has become more clear.
We are more than just a father and son running duo with an amazing family support team. We are more than just a family that cares about good health and healthy food systems. Every time we talk to people about our run and mission, we see the excitement in their eyes and we hear it in their voices. We are doing what every family longs to do: we’re living our lives to the fullest, running in pursuit of big dreams, and working to preserve our common heritage found in the Earth’s abundance for our children and future generations.
Because we share the same mission with virtually all people around the world, our run is everyone’s run, and our mission is everyone’s mission.
As we’ve opened ourselves to the yet untapped potential of this run, positive and passionate people have stepped forward and contributed in unique and valuable ways, some with skills, some with time, and many with donations.
We’ve been amazed at the love we’ve experienced. As one local health-conscious business owner handed me a generous donation, she said, “Brett, if you need anything at all while you’re on the road, I’m the first person you call!”
And I am honored and grateful to count Owen and Beth Kindig as good friends, mentors, cheerleaders and supporters. When you watch the Running For a GMO-Free USA campaign videos, you’re watching the fruit of Owen’s labors.
We are confident that many other people–such as yourself–will recognize the value in our run and mission. We are confident that you’ll check out our Running For a GMO Free USA campaign, and that you’ll feel inspired to support our run and our mission.
We, in turn, promise to support you in our mutual support for sustainable and healthy agriculture, the Earth and her inhabitants.
David and I both prepared for the Big Run today. He by gathering pledges for our Fund Run and I by running to the Medvejie Fish Hatchery. Both of us enjoyed the morning. David found our neighbors to be generous and kind.
Some donated for the run, others donated for the mission, and perhaps others donated just because David is such an amazing young man. I’ve created a Thank-You-For-Your-Generous-Pledge page to acknowledge the many people who are helping to turn our goal into a reality.
I had originally planned to run around Beaver Lake, but the sun was so bright and promising that I ran to the Hatchery instead, letting me absorb as much heat and light as possible.
The GPS tracking software I am using produces maps, graphs and charts that — for this over the hill guy — are mind blowing in their detail and sheer beauty.
Today’s run was over 16 miles. We need to be in top condition for the Fund Run on December 14th. We plan to run over 100 laps that day for at least the distance of a marathon: 26.2 miles.
Thanks to everyone who pledged today and will pledge in the next month!
In return, we pledge to do everything we can to inform people about the numerous problems associated with genetically modified organisms and the biotechnology industry.
A coast to coast thanks to everyone who has donated and will donate to our Fund Run and our transcontinental run. We want to publicly acknowledge the people who are helping to turn our epic run into a reality.
Following our two pledge tables:
1. Fund Run pledges/David’s laps. We would love to see the pledge/David’s lap total reach at least $100.
2. Fixed Amount Pledges. This is for people who would rather donate up front regardless of the number of laps David and I run on December 14.
Pledges/David’s laps (pledge amounts included for people who want to see the numbers)
First Name
Last Name
State
Pledge/lap
Grandma
Wilcox
UT
$2.00
Rob & Stacy
Wilcox
UT
$1.00
$3.00
Fixed Amount Pledges (pledge amounts omitted for people who want to be discreet)
I thought I would be the youngest person ever to run across the USA until I found out that a slightly younger 15-year old boy named Tobias Cotton ran across America in 1928. Although we are both running across the country to help people, he was doing it to save his family from poverty, and my goal is to save people worldwide from the horrors of GMOs.
When Tobias’s dad got injured while fixing a car, the family was left in poverty with no way to make money. They would have been left that way if Tobias hadn’t heard about the $25,000 prize for winning a trans continental race nicknamed the Bunion Derby. After convincing his family to let him run he was one of 198 competitors, and one of five African Americans competing.
Near the end of the race his dreams were destroyed, after running over 3,000 miles he finished in 35th place. Tobias’s dreams seemed to be ruined until William Bojangles Robinson heard about this tragic story. Mr. Robinson who played a part in the musical, “Black Birds” organized a performance in Tobias’s honor, where all of the earnings went to the Cotton Family. Later he was awarded a diamond studded gold medal for completing his run.
Initially, when I discovered that I wasn’t going to be the youngest person to run across America I was disappointed, but when I heard the story of Tobias Cotton, I decided that it was fine with me that someone like Tobias beat me as the youngest person to complete this run.
About a year ago, Kris and I finally decided we would do everything possible to help David fulfill his dream of running across the USA. Since that time, we’ve been working hard to prepare for the run. A big part of the preparation is fund raising. We’re confident that our family and friends around the world are going to shower us with a whole lot of love and loot because we’re running for a cause we all believe in: sustainable agriculture, GMO food labeling, and seed freedom!
Photo Credit: Jordan Zellhuber
We’ve got a few fund raising ideas up our sleeves. One of the most exciting ideas is our Running The Country Fund Run. On December 14, 2013, Sitkans are meeting at 9 am at the track at Moller Field. We’re going to run laps around the track until 3 pm. Between now and the Fund Run, we’re talking with anyone and everyone who would like to pledge a dollar amount per lap. David and I will likely run more than 100 laps.
If you don’t live in Sitka, you can still participate in the Fund Run in one of two ways:
1. Pledge to donate a certain amount per lap to David or me. No amount is too small or too large. We’ll happily accept your pledge. Just comment below, message us, email, call, text, send smoke signals, loft a carrier pigeon, or whatever floats your boat.
2. Print out the front and back PDF pledge sheet, gather pledges, and go on your own Fund Run wherever you live. Keep track of your distance with a GPS watch or Smart Phone. 1/4 mile equals one lap. No more than 6 hours running allowed! After you’re done running, collect the pledges and send them to Sitka.
We’ll have refreshments and prizes at Moller Field. If you’re running in Zimbabwe or the Antarctic, you’ll have to take care of your own refreshments. But even if you’re in Zimbabwe or the Antarctic, we’ll make sure you get a prize or two if you raise fat wads of cash or run a zillion laps.
Support us, make a pledge, run with us!
Thanks for helping us make a positive difference in America’s food system!
I haven’t been keeping up with my blogs, but that doesn’t mean I am any less excited for this amazing thing we are going to be doing. First of all I would like to talk about this year’s Cross Country season.
Throughout the course of the season I improved a lot and did really well, but I can’t say I did it all on my own. During my whole stay in Utah this summer my Uncle Rob and his cross-country team let me train with them.
They didn’t only let me go to their practices, they let me go to their High Altitude Running Camp. All of their hospitality and willingness to help me with what I wanted to do was really nice.
I would especially like to thank my Aunt Stacy for making vegetarian versions of what we were eating at the camp. All of that would probably be considered pre-season.
During this year season my team and coaches pushed me enough to improve over a minute during the season. After all of that I managed to get first in regions and 15th at state.
My team also did really well, we won regions, and got 5th at state. I would like to thank all of you that made this season such a success for my team, as well as me.
It feels so weird but now cross country is over I suddenly have a lot of time to do more distance training for my trans-continental run.
Even now every once in a while I get excited about how soon this is going to be.
Sometimes I do get nervous about how long we will take or if I will get hurt, but with how I am training now I feel like I am going to be fine.
Jeff and Sabrina Nelson are the folks behind vegsource.com and the Healthy Lifestyle Expo. The information they share on their website and Expos have radically improved my life for over a decade. Thank you!
(Brett and Dr. Klaper. Aside from our beautiful bald heads, the best part of this photo is that we’re both wearing running shoes!)
This year I had several great reasons to attend the Expo in person:
1. The Expo is held in Los Angeles. David and I are starting our transcontinental run from L.A. in less than three months. Being in L.A., gave me a chance to check out the best and safest routes to run through the L.A. jungle. (I’d take the Tongass and its bears over L.A.’s jungle any day of the week!)
3. We can’t do this run alone. The Expo gave me the opportunity to let people know what we’re doing.
So now that the Expo has come and gone, here are a few of things I learned about our mission:
1. Virtually everyone loves the fact that we’re actually doing something—and something epic at that—to stand up against Monsanto and gang.
2. People are excited to buy We’re Monsanto.
3. People are open and generous in sharing their support.
And of course I learned and relearned a few things from the Expo speakers. The thing that stands out most in my mind is this: You can’t change one thing without changing many things. In the context of GMOs, that means scientists can’t insert a gene from one species into the DNA of another species without creating a cascade of unforeseen and unpredictable side effects. Those side effects happen at the level of the plant DNA, within the plant, multiple plant interactions, plant and animal interactions, and the entire ecosystem.
It’s time for pro-biotech scientists to tell the truth. You can’t combine the naturally occurring Bt bacteria with corn and call it Bt corn. Once you’ve put the two together, the result is neither Bt nor corn. It is radically modified. You’ve turned food into a pesticide and we now have good evidence to believe that the gene that produces the Bt toxin in the corn transfers to human gut bacteria turning our stomachs into living pesticide factories. The effects run up and down the food chain and throughout the ecosystem.
Everything and everyone is connected and interrelated. What we do to one, we do to all. The following words of Jesus come to mind: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)
While unleashing genetically modified organisms into the environment results in unforeseen, unpredictable, and dangerous side effects, eating a whole foods plant-based diet results in countless beneficial side effects from within our tiniest cells to the health of the entire planet. The results of a whole foods plant based diet are a living testament to the fact that it’s the diet humans are meant to eat.
I am grateful for the many good people I got to know this weekend, but I must mention a few by name.
I enjoyed eating dinner with Dr. Klaper one evening. The next day, as part of his presentation, Dr. Klaper spoke highly and at length of our transcontinental run, We’re Monsanto, and our mission to raise awareness regarding the unsafe nature of GMOs. Thank you, Dr. Klaper!
As a result of Dr. Klaper’s words, a man named Bill Buerge approached me at lunch. When he learned I was sharing a room with 19 other bunkmates he invited me to stay in the Tower Room of The Mermaid in Topanga Canyon. Bill is an artist and illustrator whose work has been published in several big-name magazines. He’s taken his artistic talent and turned The Mermaid into a showpiece home/bed and breakfast/event center/peaceful sanctuary. He has also applied the artistry of a whole foods plant based diet into his life and is enjoying the profound and life changing results.
After spending the night at The Mermaid, I enjoyed my final run in California’s sunshine (until January!) on a ridgeline above Bill’s home. When I returned, I met Bill’s partner, Gail, and enjoyed her open and generous spirit and passion for homeopathy and her intense desire for a peaceful/non-GMO/non-violent planet.
All in all, the weekend was tremendously validating! We are all connected. We are all related. David and I will not be running the country alone. Kris and Olivia will not be crewing for us alone. We will be buoyed up and strengthened by many people who will attend to us in person and by countless others who will run with us in spirit.
Thank you!
(These images are in reverse order, so we’re starting out with photos from my stay at The Mermaid in Topanga Canyon. If you like the images from the Expo, you’ll love the Expo DVD.)
On October 16, 2013, The World Food Prize was given to three biotech scientists. The following is what I wrote about this particular travesty in my new book, We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie. We’re Monsanto exposes 50 of Monsanto’s favorite lies. More than 3000 people downloaded We’re Monsanto in the five days leading up to the March Against Monsanto on October 12, 2013. Order your Kindle or paperback copy now!
Lie #5: 2013 World Food Prize Recipients Help Feed the World with GMOs (1)
The World Food Prize has been described as the agricultural equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. So when Monsanto’s Executive Vice President takes the stage with two other scientists known for their biotechnology breakthroughs to receive the World Food Prize, it’s a big deal, right?
The U.S. State Department thinks so. “Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the keynote address at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State” honoring three recipients “for their pioneering efforts and their tremendous contributions to biotechnology and to the fight against hunger and malnutrition.” (2-3)
Kerry’s speech read like Monsanto propaganda lifted directly from its website. Among other things Kerry said, “It is simply true that biotechnology has dramatically increased crop yields.” Then he went on to describe how biotechnology will feed the world’s burgeoning human population. (3)
But what do we discover when we pull the curtain on the U.S. State Department and the World Food Prize?
Monsanto.
Monsanto is so enmeshed with the State Department that Natural Society’s Anthony Gucciardi describes the State Department as a Monsanto marketing wing. Using tax dollars, the State Department markets “Monsanto internationally with promotional marketing DVDs and pamphlets.” (4)
And Monsanto is one of several sponsors of the World Food Prize. In other words, on June 19, 2013, Monsanto’s marketing team leader at the State Department announced that Monsanto gave a Monsanto scientist a Monsanto award for promoting Monsanto biotechnology. (5)
Impressed?
Neither were 81 members of the World Future Council, “a network of global luminaries who ‘form a voice for the rights of future generations,’ and/or Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, often called the Alternative Nobel.” In a formal statement, this distinguished body said, “In honoring the seed biotechnology industry, this year’s World Food Prize—to many, the most prestigious prize in food and agriculture—betrays the award’s own mandate to emphasize ‘the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people.’” (6)
If John Kerry were reading their message, he might say that it is simply true that biotechnology fails at every front. GMOs do not enhance nutritional content, they don’t increase yield, but they do grow super weeds, they make farmers dependent on patented seeds and chemical inputs, they increase farmers’ dependence on fossil fuels and limited mined minerals, they require excessive water use, and they burden cash-poor farmers with debt. Many of the 270,000 Indian farmers that committed suicide between 1995 and 2012 did so due to crushing debt after they adopted Monsanto’s products and poisons. (6)
The World Food Prize is supposedly given to recognize contributors to food “for all people.” GMOs don’t meet the criteria because most GMOs feed animals, cars (as fuel), or are added to processed and packaged foods, products not accessible to hungry people. (6)
World Food Prize? How about the World Food Control Prize? World Food Domination Prize? World Food Monopoly Prize? World Food Catastrophe Prize? World Disgusting Food Prize? There would be an element of truth in any of those.
If you prize sustainable agriculture, farmers’ rights to save and plant seeds, and the right to know what you’re eating, then you and your money won’t be keeping company with the likes of Monsanto.
While in California, I will be actively seeking contacts, individual and corporate sponsorships, and enjoying Southern California’s sunshine.
If you are interested in meeting with me to discuss our run or my popular new book (over 3000 downloads in five days!!!), We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie, please get hold of me.
Email: brett (at) runningthecountry (dot) com
Phone: 907-623-7297
We’re going to need a lot of financial support to complete this run. And because we’re running to promote sustainable agriculture, GMO food labeling, and seed freedom, we are certain many good people like yourself will contribute to our success and to the betterment of our world.
