Ronnie Cummins, a ponytailed activist who went on to become one of the country’s leading advocates for organic food and a leading critic of genetically modified foods, in San Miguel, Mexico, on April 26 De Allende died, where he lived and worked part-time. He is 76 years old.

His wife, Rose Welch, founder of the Organic Consumers Association, an advocacy and information group, said his death was from bone and lymphoma, which was not widely reported at the time. .

Mr. Cummins has been an activist and protester throughout his life, beginning with his opposition to the Vietnam War and nuclear power. In the 1990s, he decided to pursue organic activism after he was hired as head of the Pure Foods Movement, a lobby group that seeks to expand awareness of the dangers of genetically modified foods while pushing for responsible labeling and government testing.

Mr Cummins has worked on the campaign floor, sounding the alarm at rallies and in supermarkets about the dangers of food with genetically modified ingredients. As campaign spokesman, he distributed leaflets, wrote opinion pieces and answered consumer questions.

He is also involved in the Beyond Beef movement, which aims to reduce beef consumption and promote safer methods of raising cattle. Both movements were started by environmental activist and social theorist Jeremy Rifkin.

Mr. Cummins “is a tough guy who can be an activist and also step back and do some intellectual homework on what we’re doing,” Mr. Rifkin said in a phone interview.

“Activists tend to burn out after starting out with high expectations,” he added. “But Ronnie can write, research, reflect and be open to all perspectives.”

One of Mr. Cummins’ frequent targets is recombinant bovine somatotropin, or bovine somatotropin, a genetically engineered hormone produced by Monsanto to stimulate milk production in cows.

In 1994, the first day farmers were allowed to sell milk from cows injected with the hormone, Mr. Cummins told the Associated Press, “If we don’t slow down the transformative technology of genetically engineered additives, we’re going to lose money on human health, animal health and It was a very big mistake in terms of the survival of the family farm.”

After he and Ms. Welch founded the Organic Consumers Association in Finland, Minnesota, in 1998, he went on to attack milk from hormone-treated cows.

“Recombinant bovine somatotropin is not good for cows, who actually deplete it within three or four years, causing terrible physical stress and a long list of medical problems, including reproductive complications,” Mr. Cummins wrote in The Fresno Bee in 2008 road.

He loves working with big brands. In 2001, he challenged Starbucks’ pledge not to use dairy products containing hormones, asking to see its written pledge. (The company eventually complied in 2007.) He warned of “sneak attacks engineered by companies like Kraft, Dean Foods and Smucker.” To put pressure on companies using modified beet sugar, he threatened to protest Hershey.

Despite unresolved questions about the impact of GMOs on biodiversity, scientists are almost unanimous that GMO foods are safe to eat.

Most consumers, however, disagree with this sentiment, and much of that skepticism is down to the efforts of activists like Mr. Cummins.

Pamela Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis, told the Roanoke Times in 2013 that the safety of GM foods is “like global climate change, where 99 percent of scientists are Believe it.”

She added, “Scientists around the world say GM crops are safe to eat – and Ronnie Cummins.”

Mr. Cummins was born Adrian Alton Abel on October 28, 1946, in Jefferson, Texas, about 20 miles from the Louisiana border. His father, Jack, was an accountant for Gulf Oil in Port Arthur, in the heart of the Texas oil industry. His mother, Elise (Stout) Abel, a housewife, committed suicide in 1951.

In his 20s, Adrian changed his name to Ronnie Cummins, the name of a boy who was also born in 1946 and died in 1954. Ms. Welch said he changed his name because he feared retribution from the Ku Klux Klan for its antiwar activities. He majored in English and philosophy at Rice University in Houston, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1969.

Ms. Welch said she didn’t know why her husband took the Cummins boy’s name in particular. She said he told her he had no criminal record and was trying to hide it under a new identity. The story behind the name change is “too personal for me to share,” his brother, Jack Abel Jr., said by phone.

In addition to his wife and brother, Mr. Cummins is survived by his son, Adrian Cummins Welch. with his sisters Molly Travis and Bonnie Abel.

Adrian grew up on an oil refinery and later recalls catching oil-tainted fish. But he also spent idyllic summers on his maternal grandparents’ farm, where he cared for animals and collected eggs.

“My life has taught me that money reigns and power corrupts, and that prioritizing profit over the health of people and the environment is not only wrong but deadly,” he wrote in his book Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Agriculture, Food, and the Green New Deal” (2020). “Organized grassroots power can make a big difference,” he adds, “whether we’re talking about public awareness, market pressure, or political and public policy . “

Activism as a profession didn’t pay the bills, so for years he made his living as a newsstand owner at the University of Minnesota, director of a food co-op in Burnsdale, Minnesota, outside Minneapolis, and a house painter. Ms. Welch waits at the table.

“He was almost a hippie,” she said in a phone interview.

Both worked for Mr. Rifkin in the 1990s, with Mr. Cummins as director and Ms. Welch as campaign manager. They left to found the Organic Consumers Association, which supports the enforcement of USDA Organic Standards, produces educational materials for organic consumers and businesses, and encourages public pressure campaigns on organic food issues.

The “hippie” is finally getting a real paycheck — $112,900 for 2021.

OCA spun off two organizations: Mexico-based Via Orgánica, an agroecological farm school and research center in 2009, and Regeneration International in 2014, which develops farming methods to rebuild degraded soils.

According to André Leu, international director of Regeneration International, Mr Cummins has been fighting “a powerful elite that monopolizes power and wealth” and is “undermining democracy, fair wages, healthy food, peace, climate and the environment. “

A long-term goal of Mr. Cummins is to get the government to require labeling of genetically modified foods. He fought ballot initiatives in several states and won his first major victory in Vermont in 2014, when it became the first state to pass a labeling law.

Facing the prospect of a patchwork of state laws, Congress passed a sweeping federal labeling law in 2016.

But Mr Cummins doesn’t see that as a victory.

The law, which replaces stricter Vermont legislation, gives companies the option to use icons or scannable QR codes to direct consumers to a website instead of spelling out information on packaging. Some foods, such as highly refined sugars and oils, are exempt from labeling requirements.

In a post on his website, Mr. Cummins called brands such as Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farms “organic traitors” and accused the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Whole Foods market chain “and a bunch of sold-out nonprofits” of sending money to “Monsanto.” Surrender and Corporate Agribusiness” passed supporting legislation.

“In other words, business as usual,” he added, before using a buzzword to describe GMOs — “shut up and eat your Franken food.”

Sheila McNeill contributed research.