What do Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and the 4th of July all have in common? For millions of American moms, it’s one thing—dread. Our kids can’t eat the food offered during these holidays, and therefore, the holiday is pretty much ruined. We are inundated with treats that we have to deflect, deny, or dump in the trash to avoid meltdowns and arguments during an already stressful time of the year. Now, we know we can make organic versions of everything, but can we take a moment to wonder why we should have to?

What happened in the food supply that had us moms feverishly making organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free pizza and cupcakes for our kids to bring to school for their holiday party so they can eat with their friends and at least feel somewhat included in the current festivities?

I’ll tell you what didn’t happen. Our kid’s genetics didn’t suddenly evolve in one generation to be deathly allergic or intolerant to twenty different foods. The human race has been eating wheat, dairy, eggs, and nuts for thousands of generations, and all of a sudden, practically every single family has kids allergic to f**king gluten? WTF?

Normally, we don’t use swear words, but challenging times call for challenging language. When you are done with this article, you, too, may unfortunately have the mouth of a trucker. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

Based on my research over the past twelve years and interactions with hundreds of farmers, doctors, scientists, researchers, and lawyers, here is a summary of what happened to the food supply:

After World War II, the chemical companies that sold chemicals for warfare had to find a new market. They decided to declare war on bugs and weeds. According to the book The War on Bugs by farmer Will Allen, the chemical companies came out with a brilliant new strategy:

“Bugs were the threat to the American dream - and there was a cure available to every farmer available in spray, granule, dust, or systemic form that could be applied to your crops.”

The war on bugs and weeds spawned a deluge of new products in the 1940s to the 1970’s such as DDT, Parquat, Dicamba, Chlorpyrifos, Roundup, and later, Enlist Duo (which contains 2,4-D, formerly in Agent Orange) to name a few of the thousands. The EPA, which was set up in the 1970’s in response to Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, was overwhelmed with chemical product applications and created a policy to fast-track approvals. Along with the FDA, they created two critical loopholes in the regulatory process that are the foundation of an unstable, corrupted system that has led to the poisoning of our food supply and the dread of US holidays.

1. Instead of requiring chemical companies to show proof of independent, long-term animal studies with blood analysis on the effects of exposure to the full formulation of their agrochemicals and other chemical products ( including food dyes and preservatives), the EPA allowed manufacturers to present short-term studies, industry-funded, without blood analysis, on only ONE chemical in the product, which they called the “active ingredient.” ( As if the other ingredients were inactive and did nothing, had no effect on anything). If the EPA had given a license to that one “active ingredient, “ the license would be good for 15 years, and any chemical product with that approved ingredient would be given swift approval. Cha Ching! $$$$ for the chemical companies that make us sick and the pharmaceutical companies (their sister companies) that sell drugs to make us “better.”
   
   
2. The FDA decided (with industry pressure) to deem GMO seeds ( 80% are genetically engineered to withstand glyphosate herbicides, which equals high residue levels on the crop) and pesticide application as a process, not an additive. So, despite the fact that GMOs and pesticides (which include herbicides and fungicides) can be tested for and detected in food and feed crops (added), the FDA has decided to ignore their presence. With this one critical loophole, the chemical industry was indemnified from having to test and prove safety, as they must do with other additives, and declare their presence on the label, such as sugar or salt. Harmful pesticides are not on the labels, even though they are present in most of our foods, especially conventional foods. GMOs have now been in 75% of our conventional food supply for 28 years, unlabeled. Only now, this year, will you see “Bioengineered” on labels, a euphemism for the word “genetically engineered”, and co-opted from the EU. The word for organic in Europe is “Bio”, short for biologique. We all know what farmers say about putting lipstick on a pig...
   
   It should be noted that the regulatory maximum residue levels (MRLs) that the EPA sets and are regulated by the FDA are also corrupted. It has been verified that the EPA has allowed industries such as Monsanto to influence their decision-making regarding the levels of pesticide residues allowed on crops. For instance, in 2013, the allowable level of glyphosate on corm was 2 ppm. Monsanto sent memos to the US government saying that farmers were using more glyphosate and that the levels they were finding were 13 ppm, so MRLs should be raised to that level. So, the EPA raised the US EPA's allowable levels of glyphosate on food and feed crops by 300%. Additional memes were later sent to the Japanese government ( the largest grain distributor in the world), and the MRLs of glyphosate have been raised by 600%. Japanese children now have records of some of the highest developmental delays in the world.

I have submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the EPA, requesting all memos, emails, and records of communication between Bayer (who purchased Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup and Ranger Pro, glyphosate herbicides) between 2020 and 2022, when the EPA was reevaluating the glyphosate license for use. Six months after my request, I received a response that my request “would take years, probably four years to fill.” When I asked why they stated that they had “a couple hundred thousand communications to process.” This means that for over two years, if the number was 200,000, Bayer communicated with the EPA over 1,200 times daily. If that is not undue influence or downright control over the regulatory agency, I don’t know what is.

When I asked again why it would take so long to send me those records, they said they had to “review and redact each communication to protect proprietary information,” or business secrets essentially. By doing that, I told them they were protecting the corporation’s profits, not the American children and people. This was unconscionable. The person on the other end of the phone reluctantly agreed with me, it was not right, but it was the policy.

The result of this regulatory corruption, allowed by Presidents of every political party over the past 40 years, is a poisoned food supply.

The effects of a poisoned food supply on our families include:

Children with dozens of food intolerances and life-threatening allergies could die (and have died) from eating a cookie with nuts at a Christmas gathering.

Children who get sick, angry, and destructive when they eat Halloween candy.

Children punch holes in walls when they eat ice cream from the ice cream truck with the fun and silly songs that echo down our neighborhood streets on the 4th of July.

Loved ones who can’t sleep, act irritable, aggressive, and even violent towards pets, siblings, and friends after eating Valentine’s Day treats.

Toddlers cry incessantly, bang their heads against the refrigerator, throw toys, and inflict heartbreaking self-harm after eating candies on Easter.

Why is this happening?

The GMOs and pesticides that the EPA and FDA have, as previously explained, allowed into our food supply must be explained.

First of all, there are three types of GMOs.

1. BT Toxin GMOs - BT stands for Bacillus Therongenisis - a bacteria taken from the carcass of a dead grain caterpillar and genetically engineered to constantly reproduce more toxins. According to Jeffrey M. Smith, producer of the film Genetic Roulette, these toxin factories, genetically engineered into every cell of the plant such as GMO corn, make toxins that eventually explode or punch holes in the stomach of the bug that eats the plant. When the holes in the stomach allow the toxins into the bloodstream (and destroy its ability to digest food) the bug dies. This type of GMO is genetically engineered to BE a pesticide. Doesn’t the phenomena of nearly every child in America and millions of adults suddenly having allergies (400% increase in ER visits due to food allergies in children alone since GMOs were introduced) sound suspiciously similar to the impact of BT GMOs on bugs?
   
   
2. HT GMOs - HT stands for Herbicide Tolerant - this type of GMO is genetically engineered to be resistant, or “Roundup Ready (RR)” to glyphosate-based herbicides. This means that the entire crop can be sprayed with glyphosate, and the weeds will die, but the GMO corn, soy, canola, cotton, or sugar beets will not. The problem with this plan is we humans and pets are not “Roundup Ready.” We consume the residues, which do not wash off, and we suffer severe detrimental health effects. Glyphosate is a proven carcinogen, endocrine disruptor, and neurotoxin. It causes damage to the liver, kidney, reproductive, and nervous system. Scientist and author of Toxic Legacy, Stephanie Seneff PhD. and senior scientist at MIT attributes over forty Western health conditions to the introduction of glyphosate in our food supply.
   
   
3. DT GMOs - DT stands for Desired Trait- GMOs that are engineered to have a desired trait such as more Vitamin A, non-browning potatoes or apples ( they are still rotting; you just can’t see the discoloration), or salmon that grows four times fatter, and is genetically engineered to be sterile. GMO soy that looks and acts like meat and “bleeds” used in the Impossible Burger- contains 43 novel foreign proteins never before consumed by humans. The problem with these GMOs is that preliminary studies show that RNAi-desired trait GMOs show thousands of off-target mutations. This means that the intended genetic manipulation causes unintended mutations in other parts of the organism. Thousands of them. No one knows how these unintended mutations will affect the consumer. As a mother, I have plenty of other things like social media, sports injuries, and vapes at my local gas station to worry about - I am not interested in feeding my children food with possible off-target mutations.

So, these three types of GMOs all have proteins, chemicals, or genetic engineering that could present as foreign entities to the human body, entities that our children’s and family member’s bodies will resist or fight, resulting in inflammation that can lead to disease, allergies rashes, irritability, aggression, depression, reproductive damage, and even death. These GMOs and the related agrochemicals are poisoning our family members at every meal. We find it particularly agonizing that the special holiday foods that are offered, or that we are used to being able to make an offer with love to our families after decades of tradition, are no longer foods that many of our children can consume without risking an extreme meltdown or hospital visit.

This happened to my family. My son almost died on Thanksgiving after he consumed a pecan in the stuffing. His father and I never had these allergies, it was not genetic, and yet his eyes rolled back in his head and he nearly stopped breathing, from food. There was nothing I could do but rub his chest in the car seat and demand that he breathe, hold his hand in the hospital bed, and beg God to let him live. And live he did. Thank God.

Today my son chooses to only eat organic whole foods and a plant-based (some clean meat) diet. He refuses to indulge in the holiday treats and foods. He is missing out on the traditional and festive experiences. However, he is the healthiest person I know. His sudden near-death experience empowered him to make healthy choices. It empowered me to be fearless in the face of Monsanto and any regulatory agency that refuses to be accountable and do their jobs. Most people, however, cannot devote their lives to cleaning up the food supply. Most people have other essential jobs that we need for society to function, and they just want to relax and feed their kids foods that are safe, nontoxic, and nutritious. They deserve to.

All of us, no matter what we do, what our socio-economic background, race, creed or color, deserve to have access to safe, nontoxic, nutrient-dense food that is not going to kill us on a holiday.

We, Americans, have been poisoned by the greed of corporate corruption. The way to free ourselves, besides growing and buying organic, is to elect officials that are NOT taking money from Big Ag, speak up to our current elected officials, and insist that they take actions to protect us, not the profits of the corporations.

In the meantime, we parents will sigh and continue to explain to our children why they can’t have the corn dogs at the State Fair, why they have to trade out their Halloween candy for toys or organic candy, or why they need to bring the organic pizza we made to the birthday party and eat that instead. It’s exhausting, heartbreaking, and enraging.

Millions of parents are filled with resentment and rage towards their government and chemical companies. They swear under their breath every time they have to find the lid to the heavy glass container they need to haul to their child friend’s house for their own food. They curse the corporations every time they have to look at their child’s face covered with rashes, crying in pain after eating food in their own kitchen. With good reason. Monsanto and chemical companies have ruined the fun and ease, the enjoyment of life, the irreplaceable experience of delighting in the holiday traditions. There is no wonder that Monsanto has been voted the most hated corporation in the world multiple times. As mothers, while we continue to teach age-appropriate language, it is with great fervor and enthusiasm that we condone the protest signs that scream F**k YOU MONSANTO!

P. S. Bayer, you bought this mess, now please clean it up.