June 2023 Newsletter

 

June 2023 Newsletter

We are back! After a hiatus over the last 3 years and with all the challenges and changes that we faced as a collective, we are still here and now we are finally closer than ever to publishing our GM-Free True Food Guide!

See the articles following and how the threat of Genetic Engineering is ever growing. We want to fight this all the way, but we can't do it without your financial support.

We have a reinvigorated team of passionate GM-Free volunteers and advocates helping us to spread the word and stop this genetic modification mania that seems to be gripping humanity across so many spectrums.

DO you WANT a Shopping List of 200 or more GM-Free products you can buy to substitute the GMOs you may have in your current diet?

Well we're putting it together right now!

And right now we need to raise $25,000 to be able to publish it in 2023.

If YOU want a GM-Free True Food Guide and believe more people need to know about GMOs and how to avoid consuming them, PLEASE consider giving to help us publish this Guide.

The GMFAA Management Team warmly welcome our new volunteer GM-Free True Food Guide – Project Coordinator and our Newsletter Editor. As we re-launch the project, we pull together the many sources of information that we have, to bring you a Guide for GM-Free Shopping in Australia. This online guide will be published on our website in a downloadable PDF and printable format, so you can take it shopping with you or share it with friends!

Please consider a tax deductible donation if you can, and help us keep increasing the number of products in our Guide and to keep fighting for GM-Free.

Say NO to GMOs by sending us photos of the labels of your favourite GM-Free Foods to add to our list at truefood@gmfreeaustralia.org.au

 

400% Increase in allergies

US Food and Drug Administration warns GMO developers over food allergy risks

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for food safety, has written a letter to manufacturers and developers of new plant varieties who intend to transfer genes for proteins that are food allergens (including allergens from foods identified as major food allergens) into new plant varieties used for food.
 
The FDA cautions these developers to consider the food safety risks posed by such allergens and plan early in development to manage the risks. What the FDA insists on in the letter is in effect nothing less than complete segregation and traceability for any potentially allergenic GM crop.
 
GMWatch has long cautioned about the documented problem of older-style genetic engineering techniques resulting in the production of mutant or novel proteins that could prove toxic or allergenic. We, in common with scientists across the world, have also warned that new GM techniques like gene editing can do the same.
 
The FDA's strong letter to GMO developers is a welcome reminder of the dangers of new and old GM techniques. And it stands in stark contrast to the UK government's and Food Standards Agency's seeming determination to allow hidden novel "precision bred" GMOs into our fields and food supply without coexistence measures, full consumer-inclusive traceability, and on-package GMO labelling. In this cavalier approach, the UK government and its agencies are in effect gambling with people's lives. (GMWatch, 22 April 2023)
 
 

Extreme GM "extinction technology" of gene drives presented as "natural"

Figure 1 What are gene drives, how scientists fight back Source: clipartkey.com

Those who are watching the UK government's moves to "deregulate" (remove regulatory controls from) GMOs will have noticed the attempts to normalise genetic engineering in the mind of the public, policymakers and regulators by using the terms "nature", "natural" and "naturally" to describe the changes brought about by GM techniques like gene editing, which are claimed merely to "mimic the natural breeding process". The motivation appears to be to create a sense of safety and familiarity around genetic engineering that will defuse opposition to deregulation.

Gene drive technology is deeply unpopular and rightly feared by the public and regulators. It is against this background that in recent years, some researchers have begun to describe so-called "selfish genetic elements" found in nature* as "natural gene drives" and to present gene drive as a "ubiquitous natural phenomenon".

It is pointed out that, "There are significant differences between the engineered and natural systems which play out at the level of risks. Engineered gene drive systems would evidently be used to serve human intentions. While these intentions themselves deserve scrutiny, they will also fundamentally affect the composition, properties, and genomic context of the resulting engineered elements." (GMWatch, 19 Sep 2022)

Extreme GM "extinction technology" of gene drives presented as "natural" (gmwatch.org)

 
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), Australia's own food regulator appears to have the same determined approach as the UK to avoid traceability, accountability and GMO labelling at all costs, including taking risks on the health and safety of its citizens.  The GM-Free Australia Alliance Inc. continues to work on educating the next generation, and encouraging labelling through the GM-Free True Food Guide, for all Australians. 
 

 

Our mission is to educate the public through the GM-Free True Food Guide to empower all Australians to make healthy GM-Free food choices. We rely solely on the generous donations of people like you, who care about the health and sovereignty of the food that you and your family eat.

The GM-Free True Food Guide Project can only succeed with adequate funding and enough volunteers to make it happen. We need your financial support to do it and to continue our vital job of advocating for a GM-Free Australia every day.

OUR GOALS & PRIORITIES:

  • Publishing the GM-Free True Food Guide.
  • Educating the public on the personal health risks of consuming GMOs and the risks to animals and the environment.
  • Building a strong National Alliance of GM-Free Member Groups, allies, advocates and activists.
  • Supporting campaigns for the regulation of all GMOs and Gene Editing techniques.
  • Advocating for the Right To Know what's in our food and for the labelling of all GMO foods and crops.

Help support the publication of our

GM-Free True Food Guide!

 

PLEASE DONATE TO THE GM-FREE TRUE FOOD GUIDE! 

We have come a long way on this journey – educating and advocating for GM-Free farms, foods and futures. For the past 17 years the efforts of the GMFAA have influenced public sentiment to demand labelling of GMOs, voice concerns and help grow awareness of GM-Free products all over Australia. 

Now we need your support to empower a New Generation of fighters for food sovereignty and GMO Free foods!

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION BY 30 JUNE 2023.

Help us publish our  GM-Free True Food Guide.

We need to raise $25,000. 

There are an ever increasing number of companies labelling GM-Free and we aim to capture these in the GM-Free True Food Guide with an initial publication of 200 products, to be followed by 500 products in Stage 2 and 1000 products by Stage 3. Please help us get there!

To join or Volunteer please visit our website to get involved. Follow our facebook pages, GM-Free Australia Alliance and True Food Network for the latest news, info and campaigns.

In our next Newsletter, look out for more information on Hidden GM Ingredients and the benefits of products going GM-Free!

 

 

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS

Make a Tax-Deductible bank transfer to:

Bank Australia
A/c: Friends of the Earth Australia
BSB: 313-140
A/c Number: 12060185

Please reference "GMFAA" and ask tara.stevenson@foe.org.au for a receipt.

Send a Tax-Deductible cheque or money order to:

Friends of the Earth
PO Box 222
FITZROY  VIC  3065

Please reference: GM-Free Australia Alliance or True Food Guide.

NON-TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS

Make a Non-Tax Deductible Donation by direct transfer to our account:

GM-Free Australia Alliance Inc.

Bendigo Bank
BSB: 633-000
Account Number: 204 256 887

Reference: Your Name or Company

Send a cheque or money order for a Non-Tax Deductible Donation to:

GM-Free Australia Alliance Inc.
PO Box 298
MORLEY  Western Australia  6943

Reference: Your Name or Company

We rely solely on the generosity of donations and volunteers to support our work. Every contribution counts and your voice adds to the power of our collective voice in Australia saying loud and clear:

NO to GMOs!

If your local GM-Free group, Facebook group or other allied group is not already a GMFAA member?

– Please JOIN US NOW!     Add your voice to our National Alliance!