Press Release
Contact Debbie Luican
[email protected]

Mission Viejo, CA, March 28, 2020 -  Moms Across America has received documentation from a supporter showing that the USDA program inspectors have been instructed to no longer regulate genetically modified organisms (GMO) in foods, including meat and egg products. The order reads, “IPP (inspection program personnel at the USDA) are not to verify whether establishments meet labeling requirements related to the NBFDS (National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standards).” The order states that January 1, 2022, the Agricultural Marketing Service will enforce compliance with NBFDS. 

Until then, FSIS not regulating meat and eggs for genetically modified foods in any way. The document states that the FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) will issue instructions of labels “in the future, if necessary.” Additionally the FDA has ceased food inspections which includes all other genetically modified foods.

Moms Across America has worked for years, with many other organizations and millions of people, to get labeling for genetically modified foods. The Obama administration passed a scant whiff of a law where companies would only have to identify genetically modified foods on their website or with a QR code or symbol on their packaging. The Trump administration was supposed to enforce the GMO labeling law. Instead, they have simply ignored it and currently, food manufacturers no longer have to disclose anything about GMOs, anywhere.

Genetically modified foods come with many health risks. Animals that ate GMOs in a Russian study were shown to be sterile by the third generation. GMO corn has been proven to have higher levels of toxins such as Putrescine and Cadaverine. The pesticides and herbicides, such as glyphosate, used in GMO farming have been found to increase the risk of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma up to 50%, increase growth of breast cancer, cause liver disease and kidney damage, cause female and male reproductive issues, and shorten gestation of human pregnancies, which can mean miscarriages and death. Health care costs related to these issues are crippling the US health care budget. Clearly, deregulating GMOs during a pandemic, or anytime, is not in the best interest of American public health and the future of our country.

Deregulating Genetically modified foods is in the best interest of Dow/DuPont, Bayer (Monsanto), and ChemChina/Syngenta, all major GMO producing corporations that donate to candidates and spend millions to lobby elected officials.

Moms Across America’s director Zen Honeycutt clarifies, “92% of Americans the Center for Food Safety polled wanted GMO labeling. Our government passed a law to require food manufacturers to identify GMO ingredients on their websites or packages. This act, of quietly directing USDA inspectors to no longer determine if food is genetically modified, is not the behavior of a leader of the free world, of a democracy. This is what a corporatocracy looks like. If our elected officials continue to allow the misrepresentation of the American people, they are a part of destroying democracy in America. A true democracy would have leaders who worked to provide access to safe, organic, and non-GMO food to all citizens, however, and not hide information important to public health.”

Moms Across America continues to remind food manufacturers and consumers, especially mothers who buy 85% of the food, “If we don't buy it, they can’t sell it.” Purchasing organic and non-GMO food is still an option for the people who can afford it. The problem is many cannot afford it, and this administration has just widened the gap of social inequity.  Honeycutt adds, “This removal of the identification of genetically modified foods in conventional food makes the importance of wider access to organic, non-GMO food and verifications like the Moms Across America Gold Standard even more urgent. ” Moms Across America continues to urge consumers to contact their representatives and make choices at the checkout which protect their families and country.

Moms Across America is a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities.