FLINT, Michigan - The grandkids won't munch Froot Loops anymore when they come to visit Mark Fisher and Kathleen Kirby.

"They'll be getting organic oatmeal here," said Kirby, a retired English teacher from the Flint School District.

The Flint couple are among those calling for a national consumer boycott against Battle Creek-based Kellogg Co., the world's leading cereal maker, in an effort to block the use of genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets in products ranging from candy and breakfast cereal to bread.

The Internet-based boycott is spreading mostly through Web sites dedicated to organic foods and natural health.

"Kellogg isn't the only one. It's just the one we're going after," said Kirby. "If we can't stop this, there's going to be a domino effect. Pretty soon all processed foods will have genetically altered sugar and we won't be able to tell because it isn't on the label."

Other local people are involved besides Kirby and Fisher.

"If you just boycott Froot Loops without explaining why, you may have a mutiny on your hands. But kids actually change faster than adults," said fellow boycotter Brenda McCumons of Lapeer, a registered nurse.

"Once they hear the 'why' and find out the foods good for them actually taste good, they don't have trouble giving up the junk."

Industry officials discount the alarm bells sounded by the health activists and say critics overlook the advantages of GE crops.

About half of Michigan's sugar beet crop planted this spring is the new "Roundup Ready" genetically engineered variety, said Jim Byrum, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association.

"It took a lot of work all the way through the system to make sure this was no surprise. And it's not as if it's a new technology," said Byrum.

"We hear some fringe groups expressing concern ... but we're not hearing a general outcry from the general populace at all."

No one has found evidence that biotech foods currently on supermarket shelves present a danger to human health. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration admits there are concerns, such as the potential for introducing new allergens into foods.

"When you begin to mess with genes, we don't know what's going to happen in the long run," said Fisher, a retired science teacher.

"Nature will allow us to cross-pollinate one kind of corn with another. But when you cross a couple genes out of a fish into a carrot, Ii don't know where that's going to end up. I don't mind if they run the experiment -- I Jjust don't want to be part of it."

The new "Roundup Ready" sugar beets are genetically altered to withstand a popular Monsanto herbicide, following on the heels of Roundup Ready corn, soy and cotton.

This year, 72 percent of Michigan's corn and 84 percent of soybeans are biotechnology varieties, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture...

Full Story: http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/07/
saying_no_to_fruit_loops_flint.html