What’s In Your Pickle?

When you buy a jar of dill pickles at the grocery store, you assume that’s what's in the jar, right? But do you know what those pickles are made of?

Yes, cucumbers is correct, but what’s in the cucumbers? Green stuff… seeds, I know...but let’s trace them back to their origin.

The cucumbers were taken off vines, which grew in large fields. At the beginning of the year, those fields were empty, but soon, people came and put seeds in the ground. Cucumber seeds. The seeds grew into plants which produced fruit.

During the growing season, fertilizers were put in the soil and near the plants to aid their development. The fields were sprayed with chemicals to keep the weeds from coming up and to kill harmful bugs.

But those seeds, where did they come from? The seeds came from bags where they were stored. Before being put in those bags, though, they may have gone through a process called genetic modification.

In genetic modification, organisms from one species are put into another species for its benefit. An example would be an organism from a disease resistant onion being placed in a cucumber. That way the cucumber seeds out of that cucumber, and the plants that grew from them, would be resistant to the same disease as the onion was.

This procedure can be used on animals as well. Certain organisms can be moved around to increase production, help the plant or animal mature faster, or give it better taste.

The problem is, people have no way of knowing if their food has been genetically modified. It looks normal, tastes fine, feels OK; besides, many people don’t really care if it has been tampered with or not.

But some do care and they want to know so they can buy other products that haven’t been modified. Or just because they should know; it’s their right. They can still buy whatever they want.

In Europe, companies have to label their food as genetically modified after they mess with it. But in the United States, that isn’t the case. They don’t have to tell; it’s their exclusive privilege to know.

Our food needs to be labeled: “contains genetically modified organisms” or “no genetically modified organisms”.

Call your senators and tell them that you care. Urge them to pass a law requiring GMO labeling. It’s a benefit and it’s a right.

Also, remember all the questions and comments phone numbers on the back of food packages? Use them. Call up the companies and tell them you want GMO food labeled. Tell them you have the right to know.

You want to be sure that the only thing in your pickle is a cucumber.