Pets and GMOs

As a huge proponent of living and eating healthy, including organic and non-GMOs for us and our pets, I am so glad that one of the well known experts on GMOs, Jeffrey Smith, with The Institute of Responsible Technology, has created a website PetsandGMOs.com.  He created the short 10 minute movie below too. Check it out!

Jeffrey Smith also produced the documentary about GMOs called Genetic Roulette, which came out about 5 years ago. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone to hasn't seen it. It's available to rent, buy or you can find it on YouTube for free.

If you visit the Pets and GMOs website and sign up for their emails and updates you will receive a free gift -- The Pet Food Guide, a list of the best organic and non-GMO dog and cat foods! This list can help you navigate through the maze of pet foods in finding some of the healthiest organic and non-GMO brands to buy.

I downloaded my copy of The Pet Food Guide and the foods I've been buying for my own pets (other than what I make myself) are on there. Are yours? If not, for your pets' sake, you may want to seriously consider switching to some of these brands.

Research Links Glyphosate to Liver Disease

There is a lot to be concerned about when it comes to pet foods as I have written about at length here -- especially GM (genetically modified) ingredients or better known as GMOs. Sadly, I still find that a lot of people have no idea what GMOs are or that they and their animals are consuming them on a daily basis and what this can do to their health. If you or your pets are consuming GMOs or (non-organic) wheat -- which when you think about it -- is in a lot of foods, you/your pets are consuming glyphosate, otherwise known as RoundUp, i.e. poison for our bodies. Sound crazy? I invite you to do the research for yourself. A good place to start is the most comprehensive source of GMO health information available on the web, which can be found at the Institute for Responsible Technology.  A great article listing the top 20 GMO foods and ingredients to avoid -- and why can be found here.

What we put into ours and our pets' bodies is one of the basic keys to well-being. For so long we have had a dis-connect as to the relationship between what we/they consume and our/their state of health. We must be proactive to protect our and our pets' health.

In this recently (2017) published study in the journal Nature, the lead author stated that their findings "are very worrying as they demonstrate for the first time a causative link between an environmentally relevant level of Roundup consumption over the long-term and a serious disease". 

This is some very concerning research that affects most pet food consumers (and human food consumers). Even at allowable levels (FDA and EU) this new study links the pesticide glyphosate to fatty liver disease. And should this come as a big surprise considering what glyphosate is and that it is put into our/their food supply?

In September of 2015, Dr. Anthony Samsel analyzed multiple pet foods for glyphosate and provided pet food consumers with the results, as shared in this article by Susan Thixton (TruthAboutPetFood.com):  http://truthaboutpetfood.com/more-concerning-news-linked-to-glyphosate/. Also in this article Susan shares some things you can do about it as a pet owner.

Pet Fooled, The Movie

The film the pet food industry doesn’t want a world of pet food consumers to see; Pet Fooled -- coming soon. To be released January 2017. Yes! Check out the trailer below. The film just debuted at the Catalina Film Festival. It is unknown if the film will be airing in theaters but will probably be available on Pay Per View type channels beginning in early January.

"Please see the film. And for those stubborn friends and family members who still won’t listen to you about pet food…send them to this film. Pet Fooled might just be the perfect change of attitude for many," says Susan Thixton of TruthAboutPetFood.com.

Pet owners in the Washington DC area can view the film at the Utopia Film Festival October 21 – 23, 2016. Facebook users can follow information on the film by liking their Facebook page.



After you watch the trailer above, check out this quick video clip (less than 2 min.) below of Mike Adams (HealthRanger.com) being interviewed by Ty Bollinger (TheTruthAboutCancer.com) about the same subject.

Prescription Pet Foods - Ignored Ethics

As I recently mentioned in a previous article, prescription pet foods have a list of problems, including never being proven to be safe or effective at what they claim the foods to be for, which caused the FDA to recently put in place a new compliance policy guidance stating that veterinarians are now responsible for the prescription foods. (I wonder how many veterinarians are even aware of this?)

Another issue that Susan Thixton, owner of TruthAboutPetFood.com, founding partner of AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com, and author of Buyer Beware, points out in a recent article is that one of the AVMA's  Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics (PVME), is being ignored when it comes to prescription pet foods. She's absolutely right. Read her article by clicking here.

This should be a wake up call for pet food consumers who feed their pets prescription foods. Do you really want to be giving your pets foods that have never been proven safe or effective -- according to the FDA themselves -- who, for this reason, recently gave all responsibility for these foods to vets? Foods that vets are selling and profiting from while ignoring the very ethical conduct they are expected to adhere to, which is “Veterinarians shall not promote, sell, prescribe, dispense, or use secret remedies or any other product for which they do not know the ingredients.”?  Foods that contain the very ingredients that you want to be avoiding? Ingredients that violate federal law? As Susan Thixton states, "Do you think many veterinarians prescribing Rx pet foods know what poultry by products or animal fat is? Have they read the science on carrageenan? It’s simple…most do not know." 

Other questions I have are: Do you think they (vets) know what GMOs are? And that the Rx foods contain them? If they did, do you think they would still prescribe them, especially considering they are now the responsible party for Rx foods?

Check out this excellent article listing the Top Ten Myths About Pet Food and Nutrition by Dr. Jean Hofve, Holistic Veterinarian, and see what she has to say about prescription foods, which is the first on her list.

Here is a very informative (13 min.) video explaining GMOs and some of the studies done on them, by one of my favorite health researchers Mike Adams, The Health Ranger.





And another (9 min.) short video from Anthony Samsel of the Glyphosate paper by Samsel and Seneff, sharing results of a study as well: