Michelle Perro, MD, DHom
As pediatric integrative clinicians, we are trained to examine children’s health trends, scrutinizing the nuances of our littlest ones’ health, and digging into the weeds with hopes to discover the root causes of what’s making our children sick. The fact that chronic diseases now affect more than half of American children should wake up everyone who cares for our most vulnerable.
My former column with the Townsend Letter (Pediatric Pearls) focused on case studies and promoting the integrative toolbox for practitioners. However, the recognition that we are bandaging the problems by not identifying and treating the greater root causes supports the need for greater action.
More Studies?
Not necessary. There is no doubt that we’ve identified the major contributors of why children’s health is under assault. The main driver of toxicity is the contamination of our food supply. While there are certainly other factors affecting our children’s well-being, the corruption of our food by commercial interests, the introduction of genetically engineered foods and ever-increasing amounts of pesticides, and the promotion of ultra processed food-like products with minimal nutrient density is at the base of the food toxicity pyramid.
In 2014, a group of us working on a campaign to stop the spray of pesticides against the light brown apple moth that was to occur along the entire coast of California (two MDs and an environmental lawyer) banded together to shed light about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their concomitant application of pesticides, and explore critical unbiased science as to their impacts on human and environmental health. We formed GMOScience.org., designed to counter the endless biased litany of pro-GMO literature flooding the internet.
Resilience and flexing with the changing times since has promoted our growth and development to expand our focus and work towards other goals, such as the education of parents specifically with an eye on the regeneration of our children’s health. Although we have tackled many relevant topics, our main focus has shifted to a solutions-based/food-as nourishment/medicine/educational platform.
And we did stop the spray. 😄
An Educational Inclusive Umbrella: The New GMOScience.org
I recognized that my four decades of work on behalf of our children was interrelated and needed to reside under one web roof. The marriage of our former website, my educational series for parents, our newest podcast with GMOScience advisors, Zen Honeycutt, and Dr. Stephanie Seneff (The New MDS: Mothers, Doctors, and Scientists), and the merging of our work with Regeneration International and the Organic Consumers Association, birthed our present iteration.
Our solutions-forwards position is that this site will serve our communities towards the education to regeneration.
The Political Landscape
A ground-breaking study by Moms Across America in 2022, revealed that the 30 million US school lunch meals that are being served to our children daily are a hot toxic mess with
100% containing heavy metals, 95% containing glyphosate-based herbicides, and a significant number containing veterinary pharmaceuticals (such as chicken contraceptives). The nutrient density was abysmal, and some vitamins were virtually absent. Legislative action did not follow; hence, these stunning findings propelled us to step into the larger arena of demanding change on behalf of our children.
A group of us (organic regenerative farmer Mark Doudlah, lab director/scientist Dr. John Fagan, activists/journalists Zen Honeycutt and Kelly Ryerson, and myself) went to DC and met with a Senate Congressional Briefing, the USDA, and the FDA. We spoke to school lunch directors and organic farmers. What we learned is that no one was taking responsibility for this chemical soup that is being spooned out to our children several times daily. GMOScience stepped in to support the need for real change.
We have continued this investigative work and are presently fundraising to study heavy metals in infant formula. The toxic assault must stop, and we have risen to the occasion.
GMOScience and a Focus on Parent Education
The past few Covid-era years revealed a pharmaceutical-based narrative with zero attention to nutrition as the means to support our kids’ health. This glaring omission prompted GMOScience to develop a parent section, filled with articles, references, and videos, educating families about the links between food and a robust immune system. Additionally, I recognized that while we addressed what was making our children sick, parents needed a follow-up guidebook on how to make their kids well.
GMOScience advisor Dr. Amy Sapola and I will be publishing, Making Our Children Well, in the spring of 2024, focused on homeopathy-at-home and nutrition. Sections of our book will be offered free of charge on the website, educating parents on overall wellness with affordable and practical home tools.
A Challenge to the Medical Community
We can do better for our children by expanding our knowledge on the impacts of environmental toxicants on our children’s health. There are groups like our partners, the National Association of Environmental Medicine (NAEM) that have made huge gains in the education of practitioners in their knowledge of environmental medicine. But children are not mini adults and often they are left out of the conversation.
Based on obvious need, two projects blossomed at GMOScience: I wrote an Environmental Children’s Health Bill of Rights, outlining the major contributors to kids’ illnesses, and a Pediatric Environmental Health Questionnaire, a parental survey to be launched in the summer of 2024, studying various toxicants and health impacts.
Future Offerings
Stay tuned for more content, including bilingual articles and videos from GMOScience promoting La Cocina Es Tu Medicina (The Kitchen is your Medicine). Our ultimate aim is true healing and nurturance of our soil, moving from Pharma to the Farm, and creating real wholistic health for families.
Published January 27, 2024
About the Author
Michelle Perro, MD, DHom, is a veteran pediatrician with four decades of experience in acute and integrative medicine. More than fifteen years ago, Dr. Perro transformed her clinical practice to include GMO and pesticide advocacy. She has worked as both emergency room director and attending physician from New York’s Metropolitan Hospital/New York Medical College to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland, California. Dr. Perro has also managed her own business, Down to Earth Pediatrics, creating a new field of integrative urgent care medicine.
Dr. Perro has co-authored the highly acclaimed book, What’s Making our Children Sick? and is CEO of a non-profit scientific-based website, GMOScience. She has authored many publications and had a column with the journal, Townsend Letter. She is presently working on Regeneration Health International, a nonprofit based group focused on holistic health and promoting “food as medicine”. Dr. Perro has lectured nationally and internationally on regenerative food/soil, environmental health, and justice issues focused on children.