Soon, most white sugar in the United States will come from genetically modified sugar beets. Actually, most of our white sugar already does come from beets, but the first commercial planting of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beet happened this year, so expect GMO sugar to infiltrate sweetened products soon.
Monsanto has placed a request with the EPA to raise the acceptable levels of Roundup herbicide on the beet itself by 5000%. That’s about 5000% more than I’m comfortable with.
Citizens for Health, a consumer advocate group, have started an email campaign to pressure some of the major candy companies to refuse GMO sugar. A similar campaign against GMO sugar in 1999 actually thwarted Monsanto’s first attempts to introduce GMO beet crops, so let’s not forget we can make a difference this time too. Take a few moments now to protect our food from GMO sugar.
Image: Silly Jilly