Alicia is 10 years old (6 when the petition was started) and has been a Girl Scout for almost 6 years. Her mom is a Troop Leader for the troop Alicia and her two sisters are in. Alicia likes learning about new things and helping others. She began to learn a lot about food and ingredients. When Girl Scout Cookie Season came around, she and her mom looked at the ingredients in the cookies. There were a lot of words Alicia couldn’t read and she didn’t know what a lot of the ingredients were.  She did recognize some of the ingredients as being GMO (genetically modified organisms), such as ingredients made from corn, soy and sugar beets. Knowing of some of dangers related to GMOs, she knew she wanted them out of our cookies. “I want Girl Scouts to make cookies without GMOs.” Alicia has been very actively involved in the Girl Scout community in many areas. She has raised money for her school’s Organic Garden, raised awareness about endangered animals, participated in many recycling projects,  helped organize food and toy drives for those in need and more. She exemplifies what it means to be a Girl Scout. She has also researched a lot about GMOs with her mom and is concerned with the independent studies done (on mice) showing infertility and tumors, the fact that over 60 countries either label or ban GMOs, and that the result form growing genetically modified crops is hurting our farmers and harming our land due to added pesticide use. Alicia wants to protect our farmers, our land, and our bees, and wants for us all to have food without the dangers of GMOs. “I want GMOs out of our cookies so they will be safer for my friends and everyone to eat.” Girl Scouts of America can request their bakers source other ingredients that are organic and non-GMO. In doing so, they will take a step in the right direction in improving their cookies. They will prevent any possible harm or illness that may come from consuming GMOs or Girl Scout Cookies made with GMO and other questionable ingredients. They will uphold their values and be true to what Girl Scouts represents. They will be creating awareness and pioneering a movement in the food industry. “Girl Scouts can make the cookies with healthier ingredients, so they will be safer to eat.” If Girl Scouts continues to make cookies with GMO ingredients, our soil will continue to be saturated with pesticides. Our Farmer’s will continue to pay higher prices for seeds and purchase larger quantities of pesticides. Our Organic farmers will continue to struggle. Our bees will continue to die off. In eating the cookies we will continue to gamble with our health. If they don’t remove GMOs from our cookies and use cleaner ingredients, Girl Scouts of America will not be leading by example with the core values it was founded upon. “If Girl Scouts don’t make cookies without GMOs, everyone could get sick and not even know it.” Please sign the petition in asking Girl Scouts of America to make cookies without GMOs.