Girl Scouts and Girl Guides Take On GMO Cookies by Randy Ananda

Girl Scouts and Girl Guides take on GMO cookies

by Randy Ananda

Food Freedom News,   18 October 2013


Watch out when kids take up a cause; they can have more political pull than 1,000 bleary-eyed cynics.

This time, girls are getting in on opposition to genetically modified foods by demanding their organizations only sell organic – or at the very least, GMO-free – cookies.

In February of this year, Alicia Serratos of Orange County, California started a petition to get Girl Scouts of the USA to sell GMO-free cookies. She’s gathered over 10,000 signatures so far, and wants 100,000. Mostly, she wants GMO-free cookies

Maya Fischer of Victoria, British Colombia, liked what Alicia did and repeated the petition for Girl Guides of Canada. Already she has nearly 30,000 signatures.

“Girl Guides teaches girls about healthy living, respect for the environment & taking action for a better world,” explains the Canadian petition.

 

“In fact, the Girl Guide’s Motto that we both know off by heart is: ‘I promise to do my best, to be true to myself, my beliefs and Canada; I will take action for a better world.’ We are living up to this motto by campaigning for a better world."

 

“Now, we want the Girl Guides of Canada to live up to their own motto by removing GMOs and making cookies safe and environmentally friendly.”

Those cookie sales provide a million dollars toward summer camp in Enderby, BC each year (about 100 miles north of the US border), reports the Times Colonist.

The fundraising cookies use genetically modified corn, canola, soy and sugar beets.

“The idea is just gross,” Maya told TC. “Usually corn doesn’t make pesticides, for instance. Usually a tomato doesn’t cross with a fish. It doesn’t make sense.”

Unlike Girl Scouts USA, Girl Guides of Canada entirely ignores the question of pushing GMOs. But, the Girl Scouts USA website states:

 

“For the time being, we feel confident in the safety of all the ingredients in Girl Scout Cookies, including GMO ingredients.

That may be tragic, but the next statement is outright false, and straight out of the biotech industry’s talking points playbook:

 

“It’s important to note that there is worldwide scientific support that there are no safety concerns with the currently commercialized ingredients derived from genetically modified agricultural crops (GMOs) on the market—the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the American Medical Association all share this assessment. In addition, in the future, GMOs may offer a way to help feed an ever-increasing world population.”

That an organization as influential as the Girl Scouts would be so woefully misinformed (at best) demands response.

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Food Freedom News