On the GMO: Interview with Leah “Bookieboo” Segedie

RING RING



Leah: Hello.



Jack: Is your refrigerator running?



Leah: What? Who is this?



Jack: Is your refrigerator running away from GMOs?


Leah: *sigh* … hello, Jack.



Jack: What’s shakin’, my sistah from anotha mistah? 
   


Leah: Are you calling me to tell me you finished that blog post about GMOs you promised me you’d write?



Jack: Ummmm… well, I had a better idea.



Leah: You want me to write it?



Jack: No! Just how lazy do you think I am?



Leah: Well, I think that if you woke up with nothing to do today, you’d go to bed with it only half done.



Jack: Well, I was just thinking that I could interview you and we could get the information across in that way.



Leah: Okay, Jack. We’ll try it your way...

Jack: Great! Let’s start with a little housekeeping; tell me your name, a little about your online community and then dust and vacuum my house for me.

Leah:

 Kiss my grits, Jack. My name is Leah Segedie. They know me as @Bookieboo on Twitter and I’m a mom on a mission to label GMOs. I’m the community leader of #mamavation, which is an obesity prevention sorority for moms. We kick health’s ass and shit. We’ve been around for over three years and have had over 180,000,000 mentions on Twitter.

Jack: Whoa…

Leah: Yeah, we’re kinda a big deal. But NOTHING compared to you.

Jack: I was just thinkin’ the same thing…

Leah: In the last three months, I’ve been working with CA Right to Know, which is a California initiative on the ballot to label genetically modified organisms. I’ve organized their nationwide blogger team and have worked on several online events for them.


Jack: If you were interviewing someone about GMOs, ummmmm... what’s the first question you’d ask?

Leah: I’m happy to do your work for you...lazy, ahem. I would–of course–ask about what the point of labeling is? Why should you care?

Jack: Well then, what’s the point of labeling? Why should I care?


Leah: As it stands now, you go to the grocery store and about 80% or more of it is genetically modified. And most people have no idea. Why is that? It’s ‘cause nothing is labeled. So you have NO idea if what you’re eating has been altered in a laboratory or not. People have the right to know what they’re eating.



Jack: I don’t want to sound insentive, but isn’t this all just a bunch of hippies bitching about the environment and want us all to eat organic tofu-granola?


Leah:  Listen, Jack: over 50 countries either label OR outright banned genetically modified food because it has NOT been proven safe. In fact, China and Russia labels them, and I just want as much freedom as those countries. Don’t you?

Jack: Hell yeah I do. So you’re saying it’s a safety issue?



Leah: The safety of genetically modified food has NOT been determined yet. There has been ZERO independent testing in the US of this. In fact, when it was introduced quietly by the FDA into this country, there was no independent testing done even through the FDA’s own scientists recommended it. They just took Monsanto’s word for it. Monsanto has been wrong before, you know. They were also behind DDT and Agent Orange. Weren’t those also “proven” safe by the companies that created them? It’s all very odd.

Jack: To be fair, they no longer put Agent Orange in breakfast cereal…


Leah: GMOs are being linked to all sorts of nasty diseases via independent testing in Europe. In fact, Europeans are so afraid of GMOs that it’s only in about 5% of their food supply, as opposed to ours at over 80%.

Jack: That’s less than half…

Leah: And the following diseases have been identified with rat/salmon studies in Europe:  cancer, obesity, infertility, “leaking of the gut”, irritable bowel, ADHD, Aspergers, organ failure and allergies. 



Jack: And I guess that leads me to my most important question: are you going to ban my Cheesy Poofs?


Leah: No, this is only a law to label, not to ban. Eat whatever you want. Just give me a choice to avoid it if I want to.

Jack: You know, this GMO stuff is starting to tick me off!



Leah: Yeah? Maybe you should write a blog post about it…



Jack: Yeah, well… ummmmm… I gotta go cut the grass.



Leah: You and a lawn mower are a lot alike, Jack.



Jack: Really?



Leah: You’re both loud, hard to get started, emit foul odors and don’t work half the time.



Jack: So I guess you coming over to do that housekeeping is out of the question?



Leah:  *click*