It is not good.

Sugar beet and sugar cane are the principal sources of the sugar we consume, apart from “corn syrup” which is used extensively in processed foods. Sugar beet alone makes up more than half of the entire North American sugar crop value and North America is one of the world’s largest producer of sugar and sugar products.

As of this year, all sugar beet crops throughout the United States and Canada are now grown ”GMO”,or genetically engineered, a move deemed necessary to compete with foreign suppliers and despite heavy government subsidies. It is a direction suggested and approved by the USDA.

That is the story of an entire industry. In the absence of general public knowledge and without much assurance as to long term health effects, a revolution has taken place that governs a basic staple of the everyman diet. No longer do we have a choice in the matter and we should be vigilant that the same type of attitude does not prevail when it comes to other basic foods…tomatoes? oranges? beef?

The subject of genetically modified food crops needs to be on front pages to get the public to become involved and behind a topic that should be of great concern to all of us.