6
States consider labeling GMO foods
Polls show more than 90 percent of Americans would like a label on food made with genetically modified crops. The Food and Drug Administration has declined to require GMO labeling, but 20 states are taking matters into their own hands.
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
David Zuckerman, Rachel Nevitt, and daughter Addie Nevitt take a tire swing break on their organic farm in Vermont.
David Brancaccio: The Monsanto corporation is making a big presentation to Wall Street today, trying to assure investors that the company's genetically-modified foods continue to sell just fine. But the company is also watching efforts in 20 states -- including Vermont -- to pass laws to require genetically-modified foods be labeled as such, which may be useful information for consumers but could cut into sales.
Vermont Public Radio's Jane Lindholm filed this report.
Addie Nevitt: Beep bop bop.
David Zuckerman: Now what?
Jane Lindholm: At Full Moon Farm in Vermont, David Zuckerman and Rachel Nevitt help six-year-old Addie climb a tree in the backyard. The organic farmers work hard to keep genetically modified foods out of their daughter's mouth.
Zuckerman: We bought a bag of organic lollypops at the co-op. And if Addie comes home with candy from Valentine's Day or a birthday party or whatever, we trade to keep the GMOs out of her. So she isn't denied sugar and sweet. But she doesn't get all that corn syrup.
Zuckerman and Nevitt have been very vocal in support of a GMO labeling law introduced this session in the Vermont legislature. It didn't pass. And Rachel Nevitt is:
Nevitt: Furious. I'm furious because it's an issue that's really important to a lot of people; we've made that really clear. We have a right to know what's in our food. Period.
Four separate polls found more than 90 percent of Vermonters support labeling food made with genetically modified seeds. So why wouldn't such a feel-good law pass?
Chuck Ross: Um, the problem is that we're quite confident that we would be sued right out of the blocks.
Chuck Ross is the Vermont Secretary of Agriculture. He says lawmakers worried about the reaction from Monsanto and other large multinationals. But close to 20 other states are still considering GMO labeling.
Ross: But they run the same risk that the state of Vermont does in it being a suit. And that's a costly proposition to engage in. This is an issue that would be best dealt with by Congress with a national standard.
To that end, the Food and Drug Administration has received a record-breaking 1 million public comments on a national petition.
Campaign video: You have the right to know what's in your food. Go to justlabelit.org and tell the FDA to label GMOs.
The FDA recently said it needed more time to reach a decision on the petition, but supporters say labeling laws are already common in Europe and it's only a matter of time before the U.S. adopts them too.
From Hinesburg, Vt., I'm Jane Lindholm for Marketplace.
Please take a few moments to read my article "5 Things You Need To Know About GMOs Right Now!" (http://www.nutritionprescription.biz/gmo-blog.html)
The used of genetically engineered seeds in our food supply was pervasive, and now the only way out seems to be a grassroots (no pun intended) approach. Across party lines, polls showed that it is almost UNANIMOUS that Americans want to be informed about what is in their food! Despite the secrecy, despite the desire for transparency, there is a fight on our hands...simply for the right to know what we are eating and to have a CHOICE.
Michele Jacobson
Nutritionist / Author
www.nutritionprescription.biz
To Joe Davis,
Mr. Davis, you can find much more information about GMO foods and the danger they cause. I hope that you will research this subject more and make a decision about the topic. Please see
http://www.lovetruthhonor.org/1/post/2012/05/food-wars.html
http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto
I also recommend watching these documentories
the vanishing of the bees - on netflix and youtube
food inc netflix maybe youtube
Much Love
Mr. Davis
I get the sense from your comments that you are in need of more concrete evidence concerning the safety of GMOs and the facts surrounding the labeling initiatives in many states.
The subjects surrounding GMOs, our government agencies, and the corporations are massive, very complicated, and one aspect bleeds into another. We can debate these inter-related topics for forever but perhaps the most important is our health and the health of our families.
The labeling law is simple.
The right to know what we have in our food is clearly just that: THE RIGHT TO KNOW.
That being said, the labeling battle is a tiny tip of a global disaster created by huge multinational agricultural corporations which have a stronghold on our government protection and agricultural agencies.
In the mid-90s when the FDA stated that GMOs are substantially equivalent to natural foods, GMOs were silently released into our food supply with no long-term testing and little opposition. Outsourced scientific evidence was squelched. No labels, very little oversight. Eventually, people became more knowledgable about hidden documents and the known health dangers and environmental impact and then pieced together the government and corporate alliances which made this deception possible. Hopefully, we have not learned too late to change but reversal is now impossible.
Millions and millions of acres have been planted... more each day the world-over.
Now 90% of our corn and soy is GMO. Sugar beets, canola, cotton, crooked-neck squash, papaya... salmon on the way!!
Nearly ALL processed foods contain GMO ingredients. We should have the information.
If your choice is to eat GMO foods and non-organic, it will be so much easier when the label clearly states this product contains GMOs!!
I must tell you, I initially was a tad angered by your somewhat flip attitude and name-calling (neo hippies) and I reacted to your comments by writing a lengthy, somewhat "pointed" response...
I then re-read the article and your comment and now interpret your comment more as a statement on the ineffectiveness of the particular article to provide evidence. And, you are right, the article does not state many statistics or scientific data on the health issues surrounding GMOs and it is a confusing subject.
And, it may become even more difficult to understand... the coming months will bring many more slanted articles and commercials making claims in favor of GMOs. The PR machine in favor of GMOs has funding and lobbying resources which the grassroots efforts opposing GMOs, does not. In the 1st quarter of 2012, Monsanto spent 1.6 million in lobbying.
Pay attention to sources the information. Millions of dollars are at stake. Do not be fooled by who benefits by keeping us in the dark about the dangers of GMOs. If GMOs are so wonderful for us, why do the companies fight to keep it a secret???
When the Japan people demanded labeling, the market for GMOs plummeted.
Do not be one of the sheep who buys the propaganda that GMOs are safe and, like many, good docile citizens, trust that the government and the corporations are looking out for your (and the rest of humanity's) best interests and welfare.
I strongly urge you to do your own research and learn firsthand how GMOs impact our bodies and our planet. Knowledge is power.
There are scores of studies which show the negative effects of GE crops on our health and on the Earth's eco-system and one can Google and read for many hours. Many videos are available: The World According to Monsanto is a great one to begin your journey. Food, Inc; King Corn; Big River; Super Size Me; Thrive; Scientists Under Attack; Farmmageddon: Fresh; Thrive; Home; Pig Business... all address various concerns of our food industry and most include information on GMOs.
GMO crops are not the answer to saving the world's hunger.
The proclaimed increased yields for "feeding the "poor (hungry) people" are merely PR tactics by the biotech producers of pesticides and the GE crops. Sustainable, organic farming proves far superior and more adaptable to the challenges of drought and poor growing conditions. The only true "increase of yield" is in the profits of the companies producing the pesticides and patented seeds.
The seeds are patented and sterile which is the exact opposite of sustainable - each year the farmer must buy new seeds and often at increased price - the fields are "Round Up Ready" which means doused in pesticides and non-GMO seeds will no longer survive... chemical herbicides and fertilizers are increased each year to kill "super-resistant" weeds... the COSTS to the farmers increase each year. The contracts with the GE producers result in the farmer being caught in an endless cycle of debt. Thousands (yes, 100s of 1000s) of farmers in India have committed suicide for this very reason. The "chosen" method of suicide: drinking Round Up.
Hundreds of US farmers (GMO farmers as well as organic farmers) have been destroyed by lawsuits and crop failures because Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, etc. have promised results the GE crops do not deliver and/or the seeds have tainted organic fields through cross-pollination. Super weeds have cropped up, chemical formulas intensified.
Bt corn is altered with a gene which actually PRODUCES pesticide and, when you eat GE corn, that poison-producing gene attaches to your DNA. Your gut begins to produce pesticides.
80% of unborn human fetus tested in the US result in the presence of Round Up.
That cannot be a good thing.
Lab animals show GMO presence GENERATIONS after the GMO diet is changed to non-GMO. Reproductive problems including still births, miscarriages, reduction in litter size... liver damage... pre-cancerous conditions and tumors... interesting new traits like hair growing out of mouths!!! Livestock fed GMO feed have high incidences of gastronomic illnesses, utter infections, skin problems, lower reproduction rates.
Our teenagers of today are the first human generation to have ingested GMOs for their lifetimes and results will be evident.
The situation is our responsibility. We have been quiet and now we are asking to be told the truth.
Support truth in labeling and, at the very least, ask questions. Learn about GMOs, ask questions of our food suppliers, challenge government alliances with Big Ag... Create awareness and call out those responsible for tainting our food supply.
We have impact on others. I commend you for writing your opinion and discussing this important topic.
Dialogue is the beginning of change.
James
While I suppose the fact that Europe has strict labeling requirements and as I understand it, outright bans on many bio-engineered products should satisfy any rational person who might have one or two skeptical questions along the lines of "is there actually any evidence that such seeds are harmful?" or even beyond that "are there any cost/benefit analysis's that might help me understand this issue better or should I just accept the lovely organic farmer-family as the final moral word?' I still feel unserved by this story. Might these foods be a boon to people less well off then that neo hippy-farmer family struggling to keep corn syrup out of their precious daughters little mouth? Like, poor (hungry) people who can't afford or don't want organic food? Who knows? not listeners to this report....
While I suppose the fact that Europe has strict labeling requirements and as I understand it, outright bans on many bio-engineered products should satisfy any rational person who might have one or two skeptical questions along the lines of "is there actually any evidence that such seeds are harmful?" or even beyond that "are there any cost/benefit analysis's that might help me understand this issue better or should I just accept the lovely organic farmer-family as the final moral word?' I still feel unserved by this story. Might these foods be a boon to people less well off then that neo hippy-farmer family struggling to keep corn syrup out of their precious daughters little mouth? Like, poor (hungry) people who can't afford or don't want organic food? Who knows? not listeners to this report....
To bring clarification to the questions listed in your comment above, yes there are studies that have shown that genetically modified foods are harmful. A study made by a professor at Purdue University has indicated that the use of glyphosate resistant crops may have a role in the spread of a previously unknown organism that is believed to be causing miscarriages and infertility in animals that are fed GMO grains. Further there has been a study published by the International Journal Of Biological Sciences which found that rats ingesting GMO corn were subject to statistically significant amounts of organ toxicity.
Regarding the cost/benefit analysis there's a study that was done by the Union of Concerned Scientists that disproves the biotechnology industry's claim that GMO crops yield more grain showing traditional plant breeding techniques to be superior in crop yield.
When it comes down to it, it's a no brainer, these crops are potentially dangerous and should be labeled. With that said if you want to continue eating them that's your right, but I'd like to know what foods contain them so I can avoid them.
