Arts & Entertainment

Health Risks of GMO Foods Presented Tuesday in Documentary

"Genetic Roulette" is 7 p.m. at Napa Valley Opera House.

Label GMOs Napa County will present the award-winning documentary film, “Genetic Roulette—The Gamble of our Lives,” at the Napa Valley Opera House Tuesday night.

The film will be shown at NVOH, 1030 Main St. in downtown Napa, on Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. Following the documentary will be a panel discussion beginning at 8:30 p.m.

A wine reception will be held prior to the film at 6:30 p.m. with wines donated by Crazy Flower Wines and Girls in the Vineyard available for purchase. 

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased in advance from the Napa Valley Opera House or at the door. 

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Label GMOs Napa County, an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to informing the local community about the risks of genetically engineered (GE) food and the importance of GE food labeling in California and the broader United States. 

The group has recently begun petitioning local city and county officials to pass a non-binding resolution calling on the state and federal government to mandate the labeling of GE foods.

“Genetic Roulette” draws a connection between the introduction of genetically engineered foods in the United States over the past two decades and rising disease rates within the U.S. population, especially amongst children, during the same time period.

Interviews with scientists, doctors, and farmers further draw the link between the consumption of GE corn and soy by lab animals, humans, and livestock to a host of health issues, including allergies, gastrointestinal problems, infertility, cancer, liver and kidney damage, premature death, and more. 

Find out what's happening in Napa Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The film also reveals the manner in which the FDA allowed these foods onto the market without safety testing or labeling, over the objections of its own scientists, and the tactics used by corporations that produce GE seeds, such as Monsanto, to keep it that way.

After the film, there will be a Q and A session with an expert panel which will include the following:

Dr. Ignacio Chapela, UC Berkeley scientist who was attacked by the biotech industry for publishing his discovery that GE corn was growing in Mexico despite a ban on its planting there;

Pamm Larry, former midwife and farmer who founded Labelgmos.org and initiated Proposition 37, the 2012 ballot initiative that aimed to require the labeling of GE food in California;

Paige Tomaselli, Senior Attorney for the Center for Food Safety, which has filed multiple lawsuits against the FDA and USDA for their failure to regulate GE foods and crops and has halted several illegal plantings of GE crops and plants through its legal actions

Find out what's happening in Napa Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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