"My Husband, has severe seasonal allergies (hay fever), is allergic to perfume

and dyes. He also suffers from “red man’s syndrome” an allergy to vancomycin

(antibiotic) infusion in the hospital, where a red rash breaks out on his face neck

and upper torso.

I have eczema on my hands. There is a theory, that if one parent has “hay fever

type allergies” and another parent has eczema, you will produce a child with food

allergies.

I was 38 years old in 2006, the year I gave birth to my first child, my son. He was a

full term baby, I had a C-section. – I read this in parents’ magazine:

{Let's start with a mini biology lesson: Trillions of bacteria already live in your

child's (and your own) gastrointestinal system, many of which are considered to

be good because they help keep him healthy. They've been there since birth, when

your baby's GI tract became colonized with good, bad, and benign bacteria (known

as flora) as he passed through the birth canal and picked up some of your microbes.

Because babies delivered by C-section miss out on this, they initially end up with a

different collection of flora, explains Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., a microbiologist and

the executive director of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and

Prebiotics. (Scientists suspect that this difference in colonization may be behind the

higher incidence of allergies and asthma in C-section babies, but more research is

needed.}

http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/feeding/healthy-eating/

probiotics-the-friendly-bacteria/

Harrison was diagnosed at 3 months as having food allergies, I breastfed him and

from that point on, I did not eat the “Top 8” food allergens –Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree

Nuts, Fish, Shellfish, Soy and Wheat – as he was having skin reaction from the food I

ate passing thru the breast milk to him. He was too young to be skin tested and the

Allergist said the tests would more than likely have false positives. I did however

continue to eat chicken, pork, turkey and beef. All GMO foods, unbeknownst to me.

My Son was able to tolerate soy, and I fed him “tofu” ice cream. He had a reaction

to the chocolate version of the ice cream and then I had him tested for cocoa beans,

which revealed, that he had “grown into” the allergy. During this time, I fed him

ground beef burgers, filet mignon and brisket. (all GMO ) He ate it fine for a long

while, then when he was about 2.5 (July 2009) he had a severe reaction to filet

mignon. He “grew into” the beef allergy. I also got rid of any soaps that have “beef

tallow” or “tallowate” in them, because he was being exposed to beef with soaps

and shampoos, too. I started to feed him Ground Turkey (GMO) instead of the beef,

which he tolerated for a while, until he was tested in April of 2010, he had “grown

into” an allergy to Turkey!

On a letter dated Feb 5, 2010, my son (3.5 years old) was currently tested for and

was allergic to: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, rye, chocolate, beef, shellfish, fish and

sesame seeds. (In April of 2010, he “grew into” an allergy to Turkey.)

It seemed he was acquiring more allergies, not growing out of them.

I believe my son “grew into” more food allergies, because:

(a.) I was feeding him GMOs (unknowingly) 

(b.) During this time, also my son was having “contact” reactions to GMO 

foods in children’s play areas – the frequent exposures made the allergy worse not better.

(c.) I was using toxic household cleaners, laundry detergent, soaps,shampoos , BPA toys, etc.

( Side notes from MAA founder, Zen Honeycutt - Glyphosate, which most GMOs are genetically engineered to withstand and are therefore doused with glyphosate, and is allowed by the EPA at levels which far exceed that which has been shown to be toxic in animals,  to contaminate 160 of our non organic foods. Glyphosate has been shown to break down the blood brain barrier, ( See Samsel and Seneff paper)  which could allow above stated toxins to enter cell tissues that normally may not.)

The protein in food takes two weeks to break down on a surface, so if a child

spilled milk and then my son came along and touched that table top or that toy,

he would have a “contact” reaction where his skin would break out in hives and

I would have to clean the skin area and then administer benadryll. During this

time, I thought these little “contact exposures’ would help “desensitize” him to his

food allergies. But the opposite was true: According to my son’s allergist …”It is

true. Each exposure to the food is like a small booster shot reminding the immune

system of the allergen thus keeping the allergy alive. This is true with infrequent or

intermittant exposures.”

So during this time, of feeding him GMO foods (unknowingly), GMO contact

reactions and exposures of toxins on a daily basis, his blood work numbers were

skyrocketing.

I decided during the year of 2010, to keep him home as much as possible because I

did not cook or eat with any of his food allergens. Thus, making my home a safe area

where he would not have any contact reactions. He was having several every week,

at the grocery store, in the shopping cart, at the library during story time, he even

had a contact reaction at the Drs. Office in Nov 2010, during a routine visit. Because

a child /nurse/doctor right before us had just consumed something with one of his

food allergies ( the appointment had been right after the dr. office’s lunch break)

It was during this time, that I first read, “The Unhealthy Truth” by Robyn

O’Brien and I started to think that if I fed him more organic, he would get better.

Fortunately, a lot of the pre-packaged allergy free foods are GMO free, so I had been

starting to feed him half organic already. Luckily, the only safe Soy Milk for my son

happened to be Organic. But his fruit juice and even the bread flour I used to make

his own safe bread was not Organic. But when I finished Robyn O’Brien’s book, I

really started to buckle down and get rid of all non-Organic foods.

I also read the book by Kenneth Bock, MD, and Cameron Stauth “ Healing the New

Childhood Epidemics” Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies: The Groundbreaking

Program for the 4-A Disorders --- It was in this book, that I first read about our toxic

environment, that wreaks havoc on an immature immune system. This is when I

also, started to try and get rid of as many household cleaners, laundry detergent, etc.

and use as much “green” cleaners as possible.

In April of 2010, he grew out of his Cocoa Beans and Shellfish allergies.

In August of 2011, he grew out of his  Fish, Sesame Seeds and Rye allergies.

In February of 2013, he grew out of  his Turkey allergy.

He is still allergic to Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree Nuts and Beef. But all of these

numbers have come down in severity (please see the Xcel spreadsheet)

In his test (Feb 2013) the Egg and the Peanut number went up about 4 points,

but I think this is due to perhaps infrequent “contact “ reactions (of GMO food) in

his school cafeteria. Our Allergist had said also, that sometimes, right before you

grow out of a food allergy, the number spikes up a little and then goes back down.

This last test, (Aug 2013) you can see the number went back down. So either he

is growing out of it, or it is because he has been home all summer away from the

cafeteria in school.

I also would like to add, that in 2008, I gave birth to a beautiful Baby Girl, it was a

V-BAC . I had been eating Half-Organic during that pregnancy because of the diet we

had at home, conformed around my Son’s. She was born without any food allergies.

UPDATE : on my daughter

Since my daughter had no known Food allergies, (before I questioned GMO foods) I

would let her indulge in birthday parties at school or a friends house. My husband

and I would let her have birthday cake or pizza (probably GMO) -- I felt, at the time,

that why should I let her suffer because of my Son’s food allergies?

On the weekends, my daughter had ballet class on Saturdays, my husband would

take her to class and then sneak her to a local bakery where they both would eat

donuts (prob GMO)

( Side note: Donuts are deffinately wheat, and a Monsanto study showed that the biggest absorption of glyphosate was contributed by wheat products which are sprayed with glyphosate in the drying process. Glyphosate has been shown to destroy the gut bacteria, which comprises 70% of our immune system stronghold.)

Because, we let her eat GMO birthday cupcakes, GMO donuts and GMO pizza

(outside of our home) I believe, she developed Celiac Disease. There is something

about my children, that they absolutely can not handle the GMO foods in their

systems.

( Side note: It is not just her children, it is a hugely growing population of our children that are being impacted and no one knows which child will be next and how it will impact them, a slow degeneration of their immune systems or a sudden fatal food allergy attack. We simply don't know. But what Moms of children with allergies DO know, and see, is that their children get better when they avoid GMOs)

Food allergies are not a genetic disease. Let me say it again. 

Food allergies are not a genetic disease.

In case you didn't learn this in school, changes to the genetic code take 

many hundreds of generations to happen. Food allergies have DOUBLED 

in just the last 10 years. Right now, one in 13 kids has a food allergy and it 

looks like the number is continuing to increase.

Food allergies are a disease of the immune system. Unlike the genetic 

code, the immune system can adapt to changes in the environment in 

a generation, but it can only go so far. These kids are not genetically 

deficient. They are a warning. They are the canary in the coal mine. 

Something has changed in our environment that is affecting ALL of us. 

The "peanut kid" may have an allergy as a result -- but that doesn't mean 

that YOUR immune system isn't also reacting in some way you can't see. 

Whatever's affecting the peanut kids is probably affecting you as well.

Food allergies are just the tip of the iceberg. All diseases that affect the 

intestinal tract are rising at an incredible rate. Crohn's disease. Asthma. 

Autoimmune disorders like lupus and diabetes. Cancer. Even if you're 

not in the 25% of the population prone to allergic disorders, you should 

understand that cancer could be in your future. Doesn't it seem like a good 

idea to you to figure out what the changes are in our environment that are 

leading to such a dramatic increase in all these diseases?

http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2012/03/weed-peanut-kids-out-of-gene-
pool.html

So, today, I cook and bake an Organic, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free,

Nut-Free diet for my kids. I feed them all Organic. I don’t feel bad anymore about my

daughter “missing out” on the GMO pizza or GMO cupcake at a party –

I feel bad for the unsuspecting parents, who let their kids eat this dangerous food, at

some point, it will catch up with them too. One day their children will be diagnosed

with something too.

The obesity rate, the type-2 diabetes, the food allergies, the diagnosis of celiac,

Asthma, Autism, ADHD – more parents should be alarmed."

-Veronica R. NJ

Please note: Allergies are not the problem, they are in fact, the body's way of sending a warning signal that there is inflammation in the body. Inflammation in the gut can lead to stomach ulcers and cancer if left unresolved. Finding out about your child's allergies could prevent life threatening health issues. Avoiding GMOs also avoids foreign proteins and "promoters" which "wake up genes". We still don't know if these promoters could be "waking up" cancer genes or latent disease genes in our children. Cancer is the number one killer of American children today ( see Robyn O'Brien's blog) so this is not just about GMos and allergies, this is about life and the people we love.

We Thank Veronica for taking the time to share a story that hundreds of thousands if not millions of Moms could also share. This touches the lives of many.

Please submit your story and medical records to Moms Across America at [email protected].

Every story matters. We need cumulative data to make a difference. Please share your story with us!

In this NBC news story they are talking about food allergies.  They say that there has been a dramatic increase since 1997.

What really is the news is what they are not saying.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51755274/#51755274

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51755274/#51755274

What they are not saying is that:

1997 is the first year of widespread implementation of Roundup Ready soybeans and cotton, in other words GMO soy and cotton. 

Roundup Ready soy, Roundup Ready cotton and BT cotton all sprayed with Roundup,a patented trademark of Monsanto.  

The active chemical ingredient in Roundup is Glyphosate, which chelates, or holds and prevents  the availability of vital nutrients in the soil, plants and grain wherever it is present. Glyphosate chelates manganese, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron etc...all nutrients we need to be healthy and thrive and fight off disease.

Glyphosate is a registered pesticide and patented as an antibiotic with the USPTO 7771736*. It is also a foreign chemical and the body fights foreign invaders. An anaphylatic allergic reaction (swelling of the throat) is the body responding to a foreign invader and trying to keep it out. Peanut allergy is the most common cause of death from a food allergy. 

2007 was the last printed public statement of RoundUp use. 185 million pounds of glyphosate were being sprayed on all kinds of non organic foods at that time. 

It has been reported that the use of pesticides on GMO crops increased 26% in 2008 alone.Roundup is used as a burndown herbicide before planting for conventional crops. It is sprayed directly ON and absorbs into GMO RR soy, cotton and corn. It cannot be washed off.

The real news is that the major rotation crop in cotton growing areas is guess what? Peanuts.

Plant a peanut crop after a RR cotton crop and you have glyphosate residue in the soil that the peanut plant (legume crop) will take up. Glyphosate also causes an increase in opportunistic fungi in the soil which causes plant diseases which cause the development of mold and mycotoxins to be in peanut crops.** To combat that, guess what? They spray the peanut crop with a fungicide. Might there be fungicide residue in the peanuts?

Why would there ever be a problem with allergies? I hope you get the sarcasm here.

The real news is:

How many kids have died from peanut allergies? Are you a parent of a child who has a peanut allergy?

Do you fear for their life like I do? 

If not, did you know that 78% of the children who die from a food allergy never had a severe allergic attack before?

In a neighboring school district the number of kids who need Epi Pens was 750 last year. This year it is 2000.

That is 2000 kids that could die from food. Die. OUR kids! Is there anything more outrageous or horrible???

Why are we permitting corporation profits to be more important than our children's lives?

The REAL story is the hold that Monsanto has on our media. 

We demand NBC and all major media put the health and well being of our nation's children before the call of the almighty dollar from your commercial sponsors. Otherwise the major news will not be what you report but how false the news is that you do report.  The lack of accountability that Monsanto lays claim to will drain the integrity of every person and corporation that associates with, or protects them, by not reporting the truth.

We have access to information and we will share it.

We are Moms and we see the truth right before us.

It's called: Our kids GET BETTER when they GET OFF GMOs.

Zen Honeycutt

 * USPTO patent of Glyphosate: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=7771736&OS=7771736&RS=7771736 .

 ** This information is from a 3rd generation farmer. It doesn't matter who..ask any farmer who knows about farming peanuts. They call it " Farmer's common sense". Want to discredit this? Show us the reports of glyphosate levels in peanuts and ALL our foods!

"Glyphosate Exposure in a Farmer’s Family"

Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012, 3, 1001-1003 doi:10.4236/jep.2012.39115 Published Online September 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jep) 1001

The following studies explain the health crisis in America. Really truly. This is it...all the searching for the cure is over. These studies show the cause. And as a mother, I am both outraged and relieved to finally know. Now we can do something about it. If there was ever a reason to eat organic and share information, this is it.

Glyphosate may not be a household word, but Roundup* is. You likely spray it on your weeds, or your neighbor does. Your children's school definitely does. Your city sprays it on your sidewalks and parks and the farmers who grow your food have been told it's the best thing since sliced bread to spray on the grounds surrounding almond trees, fruit trees, strawberries and almost every non-organic vegetable grown in America. Roundup is the most widely used pesticide in the world, 185 million pounds (1) are used in the USA alone each year and glyphosate is the active chemical ingredient.

Not only is it sprayed on the soil, the chemical is drawn into it root system and plant, it is also now being sprayed on the GMO plant in ever increasing doses and it is absorbed into every cell of the plant. It's called "Roundup Ready”. The problem is, that means it is in our food, potentially for 14 years plus, it cannot be washed off, and the food is not labeled.

Some of you may know this already...but what you may not know is that the impact of Glyphosate is equally as potentially harmful as Genetically Modified foods. In a peer reviewed published scientific study titled "Glyphosate Exposure in a Farmer's Family" published in the Journal of Environmental Protection. This has not been widely circulated in the USA however, Moms Across America just found out that glyphosate has been proven to harm humans more than anyone realized. 

The family in the study lived 1.5 miles away from their fields that were sprayed with Roundup. The father would spray the fields, come home and wash his hands thoroughly, but not take a shower. Apparently he hugged his children, because the levels of glyphosate found in their urine were far above what has shown to be toxic in animals. The glyphosate level in the  father's urine was 9.5 ppm and the children's was 2 ppm. It is scientifically documented that infertility is caused by glyphosate at .5 ppm and endocrine disruption (which causes birth defects) is caused by glyphosate at .2 ppm.

 The farmer and his wife had two children with birth defects including imperforated anus, growth hormone deficiency, hypospadias (which is when the urethra of the male penis's opening is not at the end but under, and along the side instead), heart defect and micro penis.

We also have a brand new scientific study which connects glyphosate and numerous diseases which have skyrocketed in our Western culture since the introduction of GMOs to our food supply . 

 "Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases" states that glyphosate residues have been found primarily in corn, sugar, soy and wheat. Good God, that is practically in everything all of us eat!

"Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We explain the documented effects of glyphosate and its ability to induce disease, and we show that glyphosate is the “textbook example” of exogenous semiotic entropy: the disruption of homeostasis by environmental toxins."

 This new 48 page published scientific study is extensive and complicated. I have to say as a mother I would much rather be playing play dough with my kids or even cleaning a crusty toilet than scouring through these scientific reports and trying to decipher sentences like "Elevated amounts of shikimate-derived benzoic acids such as protocatechuate and gallate are also found in plants exposed to glyphosate."

 So without further ado, I post these studies for you to make sense of. All I know is that glyphosate = harm to my family. So Stop It People! Stop spraying it on my food, stop spraying it on my school playground and stop spraying it in the city parks. And tell your city council, your representative, your congressmen/women. Share this report with them and demand that we stop using this chemical. If for no other reason than to err on the side of safety.  These are our families we are talking about.

You need someone to pull up weeds? They are called Boy Scouts who need community service projects. No harmful side effects from a Boy Scout.

Zen Honeycutt 

 Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 1

 Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 2

 Harm to Farmer’s Family Study page 3

Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 1

Findings of Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 29

Conclusion of Glyphosate/Modern Diseases Study page 30

For the full report ( which is 48 pages long and too big of a file for my site) go to www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy

(1)http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Glyphosate.pdf from the latest 2007 report)

* Roundup is a registered trademark of Monsanto

Dear Boys,

You may not understand all of this now, at  10, 7 and 4, but someday you will. Someday, you will know that I fed you genetically modified food for 9 and a half years, and you will wonder why. You will wonder how someone could do that to their children. You may wonder why I didn't know. You may wonder why I wasn't more vigilant to find out. You may wonder why I didn't take you to the doctors more often or sooner and find out why you had so many allergies. You may wonder why you felt so tired, distracted and felt out of control cranky,  why you  had to go to school with a rash around your mouth and feel embarrassed for weeks. You may wonder why you thought something  was wrong with you.You may wonder why I just gave up and basically said " You have allergies and that's the way it is. Deal with it."

You may think that my lack of action around your allergies and interest in what  we were eating was some sort of sign that I didn't love you. I am sorry. I am so so so sorry that I did not wonder more myself.

I got resigned. I got doubtful. And I was in denial that  there was anything I could do about it. It was just easier to believe that I was doing a good job and your allergies ( to wheat/gluten, nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, mushrooms, red food dye and carageenan) were genetic somehow, because I have mold allergies. I justified everything...it's okay if you have a "treat" at  your friends house, it's okay if you  "enjoy" the birthday party and have the cake and soda. It's okay if you drink or eat food with milk in it ( with RBGH hormones) because I had no idea what that was and "Milk does a body good". I really did think I was feeding you the way I did and loving you by "letting you" eat the sweet, colorful, enticingly crunchy, treats or fast food. I really did think we could trust what was on the shelves and  it was our right  as Americans to have easy, plentiful, tasty food available to us in two minutes at  a drive through. I got cranky when it  wasn't. Little did I know that it was the food that was making me cranky and my expectations were blinded by corporate greed brainwashing. I didn't know...and I am sorry for not finding out.

You may wonder, someday, how a whole generation could allow genetically modified foods into our supply unlabeled, and without media notice, when over 50 other countries labeled or banned GMOs when they were introduced.  You may wonder why we not only didn't get them tested first, but we funded these toxic crops with billions of our own tax money. You may wonder how we could let  organic food get contaminated by GM crops and then let those organic farmers get sued. You may wonder why your mother didn't do anything about such injustice.

Once studies did emerge, you may wonder how we could ignore test results from a 2 year rat study that grew tumors, had 55% of their babies die that were fed GM soy ( versus 6 and 9% of control groups fed no soy and non gmo soy) and those that did survive were smaller and sterile by the third generation. You may wonder how we could go one more day without labeling and banning these foods.You may wonder how we could be so careless and stupid. On behalf of the American people of this generation, on behalf of Moms everywhere, I apologize. With a my whole heart I am so sorry.

Our system is broken, and we, with our endless desire for easy, cheap , fast and tasty, are the ones who broke it. We forgot to value whole, fresh vegetables and fruits. We forgot that home cooking brings families together at home instead of getting the family out and about and busy. We forgot that food costs money to seed,plant, grow, harvest and transport and that our budget should reflect food as preventative health care. We forgot that we have a responsibility to budget, plan, and just buy less junk like electronics and food with toys and more real food like kale.They made it, yes, but we bought it. We forgot that we need to know what is in our food and that we need to speak up and demand truth and health.

So my sons, I write this to you not as an explanation, to defend my laziness, ignorance and blind  trust in a broken system, but to let you know that I know NOW. In the late summer of 2012, my life, and the future of your life, altered when I found out about genetically modified foods. And now I have different non-apology for you.

I am not sorry that you will not be eating that birthday cake filled with GMO corn oil frosting and soy lecithin and GM ingredients. ( I will bring non GM cupcakes)

I am not sorry that you will not be eating GM lunches at school. ( I will pack them.)

I am not sorry that you will be bringing all your own food to Cub Scouts and friend's houses. ( I will give you snacks)

And I am not sorry that we will be at rallies to speak up against GMO Salmon and marching on July 4th.

You may feel sorry now, when I say no. But my No means YES. YES for life. Yes for health. YES for this vast, unending love I have for you that fills my soul and overflows into this world that we can create together... that values first...HEALTH not money, PEOPLE and PLANET,  not profit. I will give up that "it's hard" and take on that I "get to" be your Mom and provide you with healthy food.

The future belongs to us. The future of food belongs to all of us. As a Mom, I know now that 85% of the food is bought by Moms, so 85% of the responsibility is on us. It is up to us to fix this.

As a respresentative of many Moms, we say, " We're NOT Buying it!" We are not buying GMO food. We are not buying the lies of safety. We are not buying the stories about feeding billions. Because we see the one or three children, that are worth more to us than billions of dollars, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, get worse on GMO food and drastically improve when they are  not eating them.

I am sorry for you, Monsanto and FDA, but the jig is up. Moms are  finding out everyday. You may have the money, but we have the golden gift of gab and hearts that are  bigger than your wallets. Ignoring that GMO food doesn't work for humans or our planet, no longer works. Find another way.

Boys, I love you. I always did and I always will. Forgive me for the past. Let's create a healthy  future together.

Zen Honeycutt

Organizer of Moms Across America March July 4th 2013