Heeding my own advice on reading labels is what I did this morning. I stopped into the market closest to my house out of convenience (my regular natural foods market is a few miles away). I just needed a couple of items, and they carry a few organic foods (overpriced). But this post is not about food. It’s about cat litter. Got a cat? Does it use a cat box? Have you considered what the ingredients are in your cat litter?

Linden is a finicky cat. Finicky about her raw food (yes, I spoil her with about 75% raw food diet) and finicky about what texture she deigns to step her dainty paws on. She’s nine now (she doesn’t look a day over five), and we went through several brands before finding one she would use. I was about to grab a bag (never want to be out of cat litter with a finicky cat!), and a little voice said, “You were just reminding your Late Bloomer fans to read labels, so read the label.” I heeded my own advice.

Reading labels means you have to make deductions. A great blog, Food Renegade, demystifies food labels, and I encourage you to check them out. Since U.S. consumers do not yet have mandatory GM labeling, one must deduce that no matter what enticing adjectives are used to describe something made out of corn, soy, or canola, they are likely genetically modified organisms.

According to Discovery’s Curiosity “Top 10 Genetically Modified Food Products,” “…As of 2010, 35 nations around the world (including most of Europe) require labeling of GM foods if the food contains more than 0.9 percent of GMOs. In the U.S. and Canada, labeling is not mandatory. This makes identifying GMs much more difficult. The two easiest ways to avoid GM foods are: Look for packaging that has a clear non-GM label on the front or buy organic.”

The clear non-GM label I look for is Non-GMO Project Verified. “The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit organization committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. Our shared belief is that everyone deserves an informed choice about whether or not to consume genetically modified organisms.”

According to Natural News, “…nearly all corn and soy products purchased at grocery stores are genetically modified and may place your health at risk. Fully 85 percent of all corn grown in the country is also genetically engineered, either for herbicide resistance or to produce pesticides within its tissues. Since farmers sell their corn and soy to large distributors who mix the product together for processing, this essentially means that 100 percent of non-organic corn and soy products on the US market are GM. And since soy and corn derivatives are so ubiquitous in packaged food, the Grocery Manufacturers of America has estimated that as much as 80 percent of processed food on US shelves contains GM ingredients.”

So, we all are consuming GMO’s, but does that mean my cat has to? I deduced that the whole kernel corn litter I had been buying, while convenient as it is flushable organic matter, is GM. What’s the first thing a cat does after using the cat box? Hmm? Well, at some point, they lick their paws. And by purchasing this product, I am supporting the industrial monoculture agriculture complex. So, what’s a finicky cat owner to do? I bought a 100% pine product. (No chemicals!)

Without even opening the bag, I can feel by the lumpy texture that she’s going to hate it. And I really shouldn’t flush a ground up pine tree down the toilet (our sewer pipe is on borrowed time as it is, and, BTW, everything you put down a toilet has to be fished out or chemically obliterated).

Is pine tree agriculture good for the environment? It depends on how it’s cultivated and harvested. (It’s sustainably harvested in “Living Sustainably in Tennessee.”) It remains to be seen whether I can transition this finicky cat, but for now, I’m heeding my own advice, reading labels and avoiding anything I can that’s made out of GM corn. (That includes all beef and chicken that’s not grass fed.)

Monsanto isn’t the only corporate culprit pressuring Congress to resist GMO labeling, but they are the leader. Billions of dollars are spent to disinform the public. Join the Millions against Monsanto movement at Organic Consumers Association. Many of us depend on organic standards, which are continuing to erode. The political director of the Organic Consumers Association was recently arrested for disrupting the board meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) until the erosion would be addressed.

Not everyone can grow their own. In the checkout line this morning, I was reeling from the price of a 2 lb. container of cut non-organic watermelon, over $18.00 (I didn’t buy it), and the man in front of me said, “You need to grow your own.” I said, I tried growing watermelon in my first year of gardening and handed him my card and asked him to watch Late Bloomer!

Do you read labels? Do you want to know what’s in your food and food products? Thanks for reading labels and this article! – Kaye