Wheat is in the news.
This is no surprise for a lot of folks, especially the
gluten-free crowd. Every year
there are more and more
people discovering that they have Celiac disease or
that they have some sort of a gluten-intolerance. Make no mistake- Celiac disease is not a joke, and the
people who have it must have a ZERO gluten diet (not just “mostly gluten free,”
which is how I’ve heard some food companies describe their product - it seems
to me that this is rather a dangerous statement. I have also seen a TV show clip wherein it is said that
Celiacs can have “almost” no gluten, not to mention several other fallacies. Needless to say, I just shook my head.) I myself have begun to suspect that I may have slight issues with gluten, especially after eliminating bread from my regular diet. I feel more energetic, and am able to think more clearly (and it turns out, there are a myriad of symptoms
that may be related to a gluten-intolerance). I also try to avoid processed foods as much as I can. And I have to say, that age-old statement,
“you are what you eat,” has more truth to it than I like to admit sometimes.
My personal diet aside, Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are big issues. Most everyone involved in the food industry is well aware that the gluten-free market has exploded over the past few years and continues to expand. There are more gluten-free food choices than ever before, and awareness is spreading about Celiac disease and gluten-intolerance issues, but not fast enough. There isn’t enough space here to list all the websites of gluten-free foods, blogs or help groups, but here are just a few that I found helpful and interesting:
*traditional
print magazine available
(since there are so many, and each page has it’s own unique
and interesting flavor, there will be a gluten-free links category on this
blog)
Short
of completely eliminating gluten from one’s diet, there is no cure yet for
celiac disease.
Medical Note: Before you go eliminating all gluten from your diet, if you are experiencing symptoms it is recommended that you get a blood test first to determine if you have Celiac disease.
Doctors also are not sure exactly what causes it, though
there is evidence
to suggest that environmental triggers may be strong contributing
factors. The recent environmentally related news about
wheat surely is not helping anybody, whether Celiac, gluten-intolerant or not:
Strains
of GMO wheat have been found in Oregon fields.
That’s right - even though GMO wheat was never approved for
commercial use, there are still GMO wheat plants that managed to make it out
into the fields.
You
cannot contain Mother Nature.
Try as you might, accidents happen. Seeds and pollen travel. Grass and mushrooms grow and break
through parking lots. Trees grow
over and around things in their path, moss grows on rooftops…you get the
idea. So why didn’t Monsanto?
Good Question.
Monsanto asserts that everything from the test-fields of GMO
wheat “in
16 states from 1998 to 2005” was cleaned up, and that this incident in
Oregon is an isolated one, resulting from "accidental
or purposeful mixing of seed.” They maintain that pollen flow
is not how it happened.
Whether it happened by human hand or otherwise, our Oregon
wheat supply has been contaminated.
Other countries won’t buy U.S. west-coast wheat now, or will not do so
without proof of non-gmo by extensive testing. The whole supply chain has been disrupted, and farmers are
getting the chaff.
They
may have an opportunity to save their livelihood in a class-action suit filed just
days ago (June 6,
2013). This followed a federal
suit
filed on June 3rd by a Kansas farmer. I, for one, certainly don’t blame them for being upset, and we should all join these farmers in taking action. As consumers united, we have a VERY powerful voice. Together, through voting regularly, and voting with our wallets, We The People can make change. This is exactly why Monsanto gave up on getting commercial approval for their GMO wheat in 2004, because we the consumers said “No” to GMO. When California voted on a GMO labeling law, it was only by a very narrow margin of about 2% that it didn’t pass, despite the millions
of dollars spent by large corporations (including Monsanto) to try and
bring proposition 37 down. The
state of Connecticut has very clearly said “No” by passing a GMO labeling law,
but other eastern states must join in for it to take effect. As many grass roots leaders have said,
we are at a turning point. We must
ban together and continue to fight for real food with our everyday actions - as
illustrated by a famous quote (and mentioned by Gary
Hirshberg in his great commencement speech at Bates College):
“Anyone who
feels they are too small to make a difference has never been in bed with a
mosquito.”
Everyone can make a difference.
Let
us “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” - Gandhi
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