Girl Scouts and Girl Guides take on GMO cookiesRady Ananda 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 petitionto get Girl Scouts of the USA to sell GMO-free cookies. Shes gathered over 10,000 signatures so far, and wants 100,000. Mostly, she wants GMO-free cookies. Heres the darling video she produced when she reached the myriad mark: Maya Fischer of Victoria, British Columbia, 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. The fundraising cookies use genetically modified corn, canola, soy and sugar beets. The idea is just gross, Maya told TC. Usually corn doesnt make pesticides, for instance. Usually a tomato doesnt cross with a fish. It doesnt make sense. Unlike Girl Scouts USA, Girl Guides of Canada entirely ignores the question of pushing GMOs. But, the Girl Scouts USA website states: That may be tragic, but the next statement is outright false, and straight out of the biotech industrys talking points playbook: That an organization as influential as the Girl Scouts would be so woefully misinformed (at best) demands response. In a detailed look at hunger in America, the USDAs own figures show that since the introduction of GMO crops in 1996, the number and percent of people considered food insecure has grown. With nearly 20 years of opportunity, GMO crops have not reduced hunger in America, or anywhere else in the world. In fact, the percentage of hungry has grown. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Shutter, recognizes that ag productivity is not the problem. The world produces enough food. The problem is over a billion of us cant afford it. This expert calls it a price-crisis, not a food-crisis. Food speculation on the commodities market is a major problem, not production, so de Shutter is calling for global regulation on food speculation: F. William Engdahl is but one of many writers condemning the deregulation of derivatives markets, which create false booms and busts, especially in food commodities. In a detailed discussion of the issue, he summarizes the problem: De Shutter promotes agroecology to meet the worlds food needs. The green revolution a cynical euphemism for millions of monocropped GMO acres with their attendant toxic chemicals needs to be replaced with agroecology, multiple and varied crops run in sync with nature instead of trying to chemically or genetically dominate nature. The world needs a paradigm shift in agricultural development from a green revolution to an ecological intensification approach, the UN said in its latest food security report: (Trade and Environment Review 2013) Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate. Beside the access issue, Girl Scouts USA seems completely ignorant of the dozens of studies showing organ damage, fertility problems, small brain and liver development, cancer, shorter lifespan, and spontaneous abortions, all related to GM crops and their attendant toxic chemicals. Plus, we cannot ignore the environmental impact of dousing our lands with billions of tons of those toxic chemicals every year. GE crops require those chemicals, an unsustainable practice that is sickening all of us, reducing the worlds pollinator populations and destroying our land, water and air. Heres a brief sampling of scientific studies revealing the dangers of and problems with GE foods: In addition to signing both the Canadian and USA petitions, you can send the above list (and supplement it, too!) to the Girl Scouts, and to cookies(@)girlguides(dot)ca. Meanwhile, other mothers and girls are getting involved, too, by refusing to sell GMO cookies. GMO Inside offers alternatives: Or, we can just ask the top executives to step down so that more enlightened leaders run these organizations, maybe some folks who get their news outside corporate-run media, or folks who have the barest glimmer of understanding about the failed chemical farming paradigm. With the Monsanto Protection Act failing to get renewed, and hedge funds dumping Monsanto stock, some people do understand that a return to sustainable food production is on the horizon. Surely, organizations that teach our girls survivalism, proper nutrition and environmental care can sell healthy cookies that promote all three ideas. Recently by Rady Ananda: Rady Ananda is the creator of Food Freedom News and COTO Report, Rady Anandas work has appeared in several online and print publications, including four books. With a B.S. in Natural Resources from Ohio State Universitys School of Agriculture, Rady tweets @geobear7 and @RadysRant. 