04/19/2008
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Staff photo by Jim Evansfrom the Kennebec Journal
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The Waterville health food store stopped buying GMO products six months ago, and owner Dean Bureau estimates that less than 5 percent of his current inventory is genetically modified.
Bureau said his hope is other health food stores will join him in the ban.
"A lot of my argument against it is based on my own feeling," Bureau said. "I just don't like it."
Bureau is not alone in that regard.
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has taken a formal position against genetically modifying food, a process by which the genetic structure of food is altered, often to enhance crop yield or to make food more nutrient dense.
Russell Libby, MOFGA executive director, said the organization has been trying to get legislation passed since 1994 to mandate that GMO food products be labeled.
He said MOFGA's concerns about GMO spans human health and environmental and economic impacts.
For Bureau the main concern is the health of his customers.
He is in business, he said, to make money -- but not money at all cost. And certainly not at the cost of compromising the health of the people who buy the products on his shelves.
Whether eating genetically modified food is harmful to people remains an open debate. The scientific community in general says that more research must be done before any conclusions can be reached.
"For consumers there are multiple layers to this," Libby said. "One is human health and whether people want to be the guinea pig or not."
Bureau is not alone in answering no to that question.
Virginia Jewell has worked at Spice of Life, a health food store in Skowhegan, for about 15 years. Jewell said Spice of Life also is opposed to genetically modified food. "We try not to bring in the stuff with GMO as much as possible," Jewell said.
But while the commitment is there, Jewell said the reality is determining whether food has been genetically modified can be difficult, which goes back to MOFGA's efforts to get labeling mandated.
"We try as much as possible to look at ingredients," she said.
Bureau said he watches for corn starch, canola and soy in the ingredient list. If the food in question is not organically grown, he said, those three ingredients usually signify a GMO product.
So far, Bureau said, he has found substitutes for all the GMO food he's eliminated and in most cases has not encountered a significant cost difference. But he has faced frustrations, too.
Bureau said he cannot find a Maine source for non-organic grain that is GMO free. Thus he has ceased to stock the item.
Libby applauds Bureau's ban on GMO food.
"That is taking a leadership role," he said, "and it is a way to start changing public perception of this. But it has to happen in a lot of different places."
Jewell argues that genetically-modified food, whatever its benefits, is not worth the potential risks.
"Anytime you take things and play around with the genetics of it, it's scary," she said. "It is kind of scary what they are putting in our food and what it is doing to our food. We are what we eat, so if your body is full of this stuff, you have to wonder what will happen. Will we grow an extra arm?"
Colin Hickey -- 861-9205
chickey@centralmaine.com
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