Texans who want to join in the month-long protest against Genetically Modified Food (GMO) labeling should head to Austin Sunday for the “Rally For Real Food,” from noon to 3 p.m. on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol building. The event is one of  more than a dozen being held nationwide during October, the second annual "Non-GMO Month." 

The month, which is sponsored by the Non-GMO Project, officially gets underway Saturday when the 313-mile "Right2Know March" from New York to Washington, D.C., begins at the Historic Flatbush Food Co-op in Brooklyn.  The the first stop is Prospect Park near the United Nations for a rally, then the marchers will travel down the East Coast, visiting natural food stores along the way where events will be held to educate consumers on GMOs and labeling. The march ends at the White House on Oct. 16

Beanitos CEO Doug Foreman, one of the organizers of the Austin event,  said that the goal of the rally is "simple: we want GMO food to be labeled so people can choose – and can make an informed decision about what they eat.”

In the 1990s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that GMO crops were “substantially equivalent” to non-GM crops, allowing them to be introduced into the food chain without labeling and leaving consumers in the dark about what they're eating. By last year, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, approximately 80% of conventional processed foods in the United States contained GMOs, making them hard to avoid.

Judith McGeary, executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Organization (FARFA) and one of the speakers at the rally, calls the FDA decision "absurd. If there truly were no significant differences, then companies like Monsanto and DuPont could not have gotten patents.  Moreover, research in the years since has thoroughly disproven this fiction.  Study after study has revealed problems with GM crops.  (For an  extensive overview of the GMO issue, read Priya Advani's recent blog posting on The Huffington Post.)

Other  “Rally For Real Food” speakers include Foreman; Robert Bard, a Jeffrey Smith Trained Non-GMO Speaker; Eric Herm, Farmer & Author of “Son of a Farmer”; Ken Whitman, Natural Vitality; Neil Carman PH.D, Lone Star Chapter of Sierra; Wheatsville Co-Op GM, Dan Gillotte; and Rhonda Rutledge, Sustainable Food Center Executive Director.

The event’s sponsors and partners include: Texas Representative Donna Howard, Allergy Kids Foundation, Attune Foods,AppleGate Farms, Beanitos - The Bean Chips, Chobani, Crisp Root, Earth Balance, EO Products, Funky Monkey, Happy Baby, Jolly Llama, Manitoba Harvest, Natural Vitality, Rhythm Superfoods, Zico Coconut Water, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Sustainable Food Center, Wheatsville Co-Op Grocery Greenling, Bard Farms, Fresh The Movie, Institute For Responsible Technology, Silk Soy Milk and the national Right2Know March organization.