Huge media backlash, some say, after Dr. Oz closes his segment on GMOs, their potential dangers, safety, California’s Prop 37 and the possible labeling of GMO foods.

So what exactly happened?

Well first, let’s get a few things cleared up right off the bat.  This is clearly a case of semantics.

So, let’s look at the definition of the words ENDORSE and ENDORSEMENT before we continue (definitions provided by Google).

Now, with the definitions of endorse and endorsement under our belt, we can easily determine exactly what happened.

During the October 17, 2012 Dr. Oz Show, a segment on GMO foods aired.  GMO foods are foods that are or contain ingredients that come from plants whose seeds have been genetically altered / genetically engineered (GE) which results in a genetically modified organism (a GMO).

If this is the first you’ve heard about GMOs, you may like to know that foods that are genetically engineered and processed foods that contain ingredients that have been genetically engineered are not labeled in the USA.

They are, however, labeled, and in some cases even banned, in over 40 other countries including China, Japan, Switzerland,  Peru, Italy, Brazil, Russia, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain, India and parts of Africa.

The European Union Labels GMOs

Today, there’s a huge controversy blazing across the U.S. as Americans finally become aware of the fact that 70% – 80% of processed food in America contains GMOs.

Additionally, Walmart carries fresh ears of GMO corn in their produce section.

Nearly 90% of all corn, soy, and sugar beets are genetically modified.

Most people don’t realize that unless an ingredient list says “CANE sugar,” the sugar comes from sugar beets and those beets are most likely GMO sugar beets. Yep, GMO sugar beets sweeten most food on the market, today.

Yes, even GMO salmon may soon be at your store or on your plate when you’re eating at the nearby restaurant.

GMO papaya, canola and zucchini are a few other GMO foods already in grocery stores and restaurants, today.

How GMOs silently crept into America’s food supply in the 1990’s is quite a story in and of itself, so I’ll keep that for a different post.

Why the controversy?

Aside from the religious ramifications of genetically tampering with life (i.e. crossing the DNA of a human with a plant, or a spider with a goat, or a cow with a pig, and oh, yes, these things have already been done; I’m NOT making this up) why should we be concerned?

Well, to answer that question I’d need numerous posts, to say the least, but in short, one reason is that third party research studies have shown tremendous cause for concern.

Additionally, when looking at  America’s sharp increase in infertility, autism, ADHD, autoimmune diseases, food allergies, diabetes, and cancer, scientists see that this increase correlates perfectly with the introduction of GMO foods into the American food supply.

But I digress… let’s get back to what happened on The Dr. Oz Show.

Dr. Oz opened the show with the following disclaimer…

“Now, for the sake of full disclosure, my wife, Lisa, was a narrator on Jeffrey’s film.”

Oz was referring to Jeffrey Smith, an author and filmmaker dedicated to bringing awareness regarding the dangers of GMO foods.

Lisa Oz, wife of Dr. Mehmet Oz
Narrator of the Documentary Film
GENETIC ROULETTE: The Gamble of Our Lives

BTW:  You can watch the fascinating new documentary film that Lisa Oz, Dr. Oz’s wife, narrates, FREE online thru October 31st, 2012.  It’s called GENETIC ROULETTE: The Gamble of Our Lives.  The film is available to stream for FREE online at GeneticRouletteMovie.com up to and through October 31st.

After Oz’s disclaimer, the GMO segment started with Oz hearing from the creator of the film, GENETIC ROULETTE, as well as, Dr. Robin Bernoff, a past president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, as they shared the danger signs that they feel are cause for alarm.

In the second half of the segment, a representative from the biotech industry, the industry that does genetic engineering and creates and produces GMO seeds, organisms and animals, spoke.

An interesting caveat, the biotech industry would not agree to let their representative appear on “stage” with Jeffrey Smith or Dr. Robin Bernoff. So after they spoke they both left the “stage” before she spoke, which did not create an opportunity for them to comment on what she had to say.

Hummmm?!?! Interestingly, neither Smith nor Bernoff were given time to comment again after the biotech rep spoke.

After hearing both sides, Dr. Oz announced that after the commercial break he would share the results of the poll that was conducted on DoctorOz.com.

Oz said…

“We asked you, ‘If given the choice between eating genetically modified foods and those that aren’t, which would you choose?’  Your answer when we return.”

–  Dr. Oz

Now, the data from the poll is truly significant (which I’ll share with you in a moment), but the defining moment of the show was when Oz gave his comments to the poll.

So after hearing from both sides, the side that says GMOs are safe (the biotech representative’s opinion) and the side that says there’s alarming reason for concern and therefore GMOs need to be labeled until more testing is done to prove their safety, because people should have a right to know what they are eating, and be able to choose not to buy GMO foods if they wish to avoid them, Oz closed the segment with words that rocked the world and started a media backlash, as some have called it.

Here’s what he said…

“We’re back, discussing what you can do about genetically modified food, today.

Now, when we took a poll online at DoctorOz.com, we found that overwhelming 91% of you would prefer purchasing NON-genetically modified food, if you were given the choice.

So, if you want to know if your food is genetically modified, I believe you should have that right.

Since I’m unaware of any sound data on long-term effects of genetically modified food in humans, that we learned today, I prefer to be cautious.”

 – Dr. Oz

With that statement, Americans who’ve been working to bring awareness to the potential dangers of GMOs happily rejoiced.

However, at the same time, it appeared that the biotech industry, (those that create GMO seeds and other GM foods for consumption) rushed to do ‘damage control’ because…

the “word on the street” went something like this… “Oz did NOT make an endorsement statement.”

Now, if all you heard in the news was something like, “Oz did NOT endorse GMO labeling” or “Oz did NOT make an endorsement statement” then you could have easily been misled.

So, I’ve written this article to clear up the confusion and keep those in the media that are great at spinning a headline to sound like what didn’t happen did happen, from misleading you.

Let’s set the record straight, right now.

What Dr. Oz DID say is….

“We’re back, discussing what you can do about genetically modified food, today.

Now, when we took a poll online at DoctorOz.com, we found that overwhelming 91% of you would prefer  purchasing NON-genetically modified food, if you were given the choice.

So, if you want to know if your food is genetically modified, I believe you should have that right.

Since I’m unaware of any sound data on long-term effects of genetically modified food in humans, that we learned today, I prefer to be cautious.”

 – Dr. Oz

Now, below I’ve listed the  definitions of endorse and endorsement from Google, once again:

Despite what the media says… you can make your own conclusions…. but regardless of semantics and regardless of the words endorse and endorsement, I think we are all smart enough to know what Dr. Oz was saying when he said…

“We’re back, discussing what you can do about genetically modified food, today.

Now, when we took a poll online at DoctorOz.com, we found that overwhelming 91% of you would prefer purchasing NON-genetically modified food, if you were given the choice.

So, if you want to know if your food is genetically modified, I believe you should have that right.

Since I’m unaware of any sound data on long-term effects of genetically modified food in humans, that we learned today, I prefer to be cautious.”

 – Dr. Oz

The question is… Do YOU want to know what you’re eating?  Would you prefer, like Dr. Oz, to be cautious?

If you’d like to watch this Dr. Oz segment for yourself, while it is still up on DoctorOz.com you can watch it here.  It’s in a 3 Part video series, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. (If you click these links and get an error message, that means the videos of this episode of Dr. Oz are no longer available on his website.)

If you want to know more about GMO foods and the potential dangers as well as how to avoid them until they are labeled,  download our FREE mobile phone app for Android and APPLE devices.

The app is  packed with GMO facts, breaking news, videos, documentaries, independent research studies and more. Download the FREE Label GMO mobile phone app here.

And be sure to subscribe to our blog, too.

P.S. Corn and Soy are found in just about any food these days (soy oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, vegetable protein, natural flavors, MSG and even the little capsules that are veggie capsules are most probably from GMO ingredients… the list goes on and on).

P.P.S.  BT – GMO Corn (a type of GMO corn)  is genetically modified so that part of the DNA of a pesticide producing bacterium is infused into the DNA of corn.

When the plant grows the entire plant manufactures pesticide inside of each and every cell of the corn plant… yes, even the corn itself.

When a bug eats the corn, the pesticide causes the bug’s stomach to rupture.  Experts believe that this is linked to many of the digestive illnesses as well as the autoimmune diseases, ADHD, and autism that are occurring in massive numbers throughout the USA.

P.P.P.S. Click here to see video footage from a Peer-Reviewed, 2 Year, French Research Study on GMOs.