healthbriefs


Labeling Genetically Modified Foods: It’s Our Right to Know


by Sheri Fogarty


Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are living organisms created by splicing genes from one species and injecting that DNA into another, resulting in combinations of plant, animal, bacterial, and viral genes that cannot occur through natural hybridization or traditional crossbreeding. Since the early 1990s, these manmade organisms have been in our food supply. Agricultural products in large-scale commercial production that currently contain GMOs include alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, papaya, soy, sugar beets, zucchini and yellow summer squash. Many scientists and citizens are concerned that GMOs in food have not been thoroughly tested for safety and may lead to allergies, increase cancer risk, produce antibiotic-resistant pathogens, damage food quality and produce dangerous toxins in our environment. Farmers are concerned about genetic drift—the natural cross-pollination of GMOs into non-genetically-modified crops—that makes those crops less marketable. Canadian farmers, for example, can no longer grow


certified organic canola and soybean crops because the seed stocks of those two crops have been completely contami- nated by GMOs. These groups have been appealing to the USDA, the FDA, legislators and the court system to require the labeling of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in food, as is done in forty other countries. A growing number of countries are completely banning the cultivation of GM crops. Parents, farmers, doctors, scientists and food activists are


working together to demand that all GM foods in the state of California be labeled by proposing a ballot initiative for the 2012 election. If you would like to be part of the Label GMOs campaign, visit LabelGMOs.org, Facebook.com/ LabelGMOs or Facebook.com/GMOFreeSouthernCalifornia. Beginning in early January, volunteers will be needed to gather petition signatures.


For more information, email Mom@MomsForSafeFood.org or visit MomsForSafeFood.org.


14 San Diego Edition


Tobacco to Kill 1 Billion?


by Dr. Ginger Marable


The World Health Organi- zation reports that tobacco killed one hundred million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill one billion more this cen- tury. To prevent this, govern- ments need to take action to prevent young people from starting to smoke, protect nonsmokers from second- hand smoke and to help smokers quit. According to American Cancer Society data, approximately 440,000 Americans die annually from smok- ing and 1,500 teenagers start smoking daily. How can smokers really keep that New Year’s Resolution for the rest of their lives?


Dr. Ginger Marable


Dr. Mehmet Oz stated that the average smoker tries quitting six times before finding success and offered these sugges- tions:


• Pick a date to quit • Write a game plan, including escape mechanisms • List reasons to quit and reasons to smoke • Avoid triggers • Join a support group • Use drug therapies


Dr. Oz also offered the advice, “Stop lying to yourself that cigarettes give you anything positive.” “With advanced, personalized hypnotherapy, a moti-


vated smoker can be free from the habit in about an hour— without drugs, support groups or escape mechanisms,” says Dr. Ginger Marable, owner of Absolutely Smoke Free—1 Hour!, who holds a Ph.D. in human behavior and is a certified hypnotherapist/smoking cessation specialist. “The hypnotherapist assists the client to bring the subconscious mind, where habits reside, into agreement with the motivated conscious mind,” she explains. “By disconnecting the habit and breaking up all the triggers,’ she continues, “hypnosis reinforces the client’s personal motivations for quitting and removes all desire for tobacco.” Marable reports a 95 percent success rate with her


hypnotherapy system and offers a lifetime guarantee: “If the client ever returns to smoking, he or she can have a free back-up session.”


For more information or a free consultation, call 760-420-2279 or visit AbsolutelySmokeFree.com.


www.na-sd.com


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