If you are curious about how to stop the genetic engineering of your food supply, you’re in the good company of the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) and the Center for Food Safety (CFS). Others with the same interest include a leading spokesperson on the health dangers of GMOs, Jeffrey M. Smith, whose book Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods points out 65 health risks from eating genetically modified food, and well-known osteopathic physician and health activist Dr. Joseph Mercola. New Jersey residents who are looking for a local resource can turn to Marilyn Eppolite, an energy therapist and non-GMO activist who diligently wakes up her audiences with an attention-grabbing question: “How many servings of GMOs have you eaten today?”

Several months after completing IRT’s seminar on activism, Eppolite organized NO GMO New Jersey, a group of local advocates who share her passion. “We’re working to help expand IRT’s non-GMO network in order to create the non-GMO tipping point,” Eppolite says. “It feels good to be supported by IRT and Jeffrey Smith, who believe that stopping GMOs is a numbers game that only requires 5% of the U.S. shoppers—15 million or 5.6 million households—to choose healthier non-GMO brands. This already happened in Europe, where GMOs were banned by educated consumers more than a decade ago.”

In February, when the United States Department of Agriculture announced it would allow the unrestricted, nationwide planting of genetically engineered alfalfa, also known as “Roundup-ready alfalfa,” IRT, Rodale News (an American publisher of health and wellness magazines and books) and Eppolite’s group all questioned the decision to allow this genetically manipulated crop into the environment—and ultimately onto our plates in the form of beef, cheese, yogurt and milk. “We already spread the news about this at the West Jersey Sierra Club and now we are scheduled to make a presentation at the Cherokee Community Learning Center on April 14,” Eppolite says.

A survey released late last year found that the majority of Americans don’t want GMO ingredients in the food chain, and more than 90 percent believe GMO ingredients should be labeled, which currently is not required by law.

Contact Marilyn Eppolite: [email protected]
American Academy of Environmental Medicine: AAEMOnline.org
Center for Food Safety: CenterforFoodSafety.org
Institute for Responsible Technology: ResponsibleTechnology.org