Would you like some Roundup to round off your meal?

So I've been reading about changes coming up in the world of sweets next year. It seems that some major sugar producers in the US have announced that they're going to be switching to genetically modified sugar beets to produce their sugar. The sugar beets in question will be genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide (these crops or then referred to as "Roundup Ready", which means that farmers get to use oodles more herbicide to get from point A to point B -- from their chemical-saturated fields to your sweet tooth. This sugar will make its way into most non-organic processed foods and won't be labeled any differently than the sugar that's being used now. Whatever happens to the US food supply will follow suit in the Canadian food supply. In fact, here's Health Canada's official response to the whole matter.

The Organic Consumers Association in the US has a letter writing campaign on the go right now to try to convince American Crystal, one of the larger producers involved, to reconsider its decision. Call me cynical, but I honestly don't see it amounting to much, especially considering that this story seems to be staying completely out of the mainstream media.

Thanks to The Ethicurean for spreading the word about this.