November/December 2002 Living Now
From Ice Cream to Activism
John Robbins Seeks a Food Revolution

by Charley Korns

The local chapter of EarthSave is bringing John Robbins back to Portland on April 12, 2003, to appear at an all-day event called A Taste of Health, which also will feature Howard Lyman, T. Colin Campbell, and Peaceful Palate author Jennifer Raymond. In addition to speakers, the event will include samples of many vegan food products and local restaurants serving vegan food. See early 2003 editions of New ConneXion for details.

EarthSave also holds monthly vegetarian potlucks, usually on the third Sundays of the month, dine-outs and other events to promote its mission of inspiring a shift toward a plant-based diet for the sake of the environment, health, and compassion toward all living creatures. See www.portland.earthsave.org for more information, or call (503) 224-7380.

John Robbins, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author and founder of EarthSave International, visited Portland in September to encourage activists to work to pass Measure 27, which would make Oregon the first state to require the labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. The measure, which voters will decide on Nov. 5, has attracted global media coverage, particularly in Europe, where most countries already require the labeling of genetically modified foods.

Robbins is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on the dietary link to the environment and health. After rejecting a chance to prosper in his family’s Baskin-Robbins ice cream business, Robbins ventured into a period of self-reflection far from the streams of corporate America. Instead of pondering what to call the next ice cream flavor, Robbins contemplated a more vital food issue. He began to research the American diet and its broad ramifications. He investigated modern factory farming and its dire effects on animals and the environment. He turned to medical studies and interviewed experts regarding the correlations of disease and the high-fat "standard American diet," which generally includes high amounts of animal products.

His first book, Diet for a New America, published in 1987, argues for a shift to a plant-based diet to reduce our devastating impact on the environment, our health, and farm animals. It has been compared to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in terms of its impact on the national conscience. In response to thousands of supportive letters following the publication of Diet for a New America, Robbins founded EarthSave International, a nonprofit organization that supports healthy food choices, preservation of the environment, compassion for all life, and consumption of local organic produce.

Robbins’ latest book, The Food Revolution, updates much of the research started in his first book but also addresses concerns that have arisen in the last few years, such as food borne illnesses and Mad Cow Disease. He also devotes a major section to the genetic engineering of food, and the topic has become one of Robbins’ pressing passions in light of the technology’s rapidly tightening grip on global agriculture.

In his September talk in Portland, Robbins noted that the United States grows 70% of the world’s GE crops, Canada grows 10%, and the remainder is grown in Argentina. Since planting their first seeds in 1996, GE crop farmers have blanketed 110 million acres with modified versions of soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton.

Approximately 70% of these crops are from seeds engineered to produce "Roundup Ready" crops resistant to the Monsanto-produced herbicide. (Monsanto is also the manufacturer of roughly 80% of all GE seeds.) Another 25% of the crops are engineered to contain pesticides so that bugs eating the GE corn or cotton, for example, die. Monsanto also has developed a "terminator" seed whose plants produce sterile offspring, making it impossible for farmers to save their own seed, a centuries-old practice throughout the world.

Robbins said there has not been any testing of these crops on human populations, and the general public for the most part has no idea that they are part of a massive experiment, which no one is monitoring. Approximately 70% of the foods sold in mainstream supermarkets now contain genetically engineered ingredients.

While there is no proof that GE foods adversely affect human health, there also is no assurance that these foods are not detrimental to health over time. The king of GE foods, Monsanto, has left a sordid trail of decimation in its products’ effects on human health and the environment. The 100-year history of this multi-billion dollar company includes the introduction of saccharin, PCBs, Agent Orange, DDT and Dioxin. All of these products, after years in circulation, were ultimately banned as carcinogens.

"The aim of the corporations manufacturing genetically engineered foods is to control world food supply," stressed Robbins. "We need to reclaim our power to choose and control our food."

Robbins noted that the same corporations would wage an aggressive and expensive ad campaign in Oregon to defeat Measure 27. The chief message would raise consumer fears that labeling will lead to higher food prices.

According to Robbins, however, big food companies already have the means to label food for GE ingredients because of requirements in European countries — where prices did not subsequently increase. He said these companies would fight to defeat Measure 27 because they fear people won’t buy their products if they were labeled for GE ingredients.

Robbins suggested that Americans have accepted GE foods more than other countries because Americans tend not to associate their food with their heritage or identity. Americans have become desensitized to impurities in their food, and many buy it in supermarkets in which myriad products feature unrecognizable ingredients.

A personal credo released this year by Robbins reflects his continuing concerns for health, animals, the environment, and humankind. The following quote is taken from this credo, entitled Being Human in the World.

"If we meet the world with eyes that do not flinch and hearts that are open, we will find ourselves capable of what is asked of us. We who are alive, with breath in our bodies and love in our hearts, have much to be thankful for. In our connection with each other we are more than strong and brave. We are humble enough to be human in the world."

Charley Korns is a Portland writer and photographer, and an activist with EarthSave Portland/Vancouver. He can be reached at (503) 288-1503 or charley@hevanet.com.