95% want GE labeling, and yet...

[marmar]

from La Vida Locavore:




95% want GE labeling, and yet...

by: Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
Fri Mar 04, 2011 at 09:50:08 AM PST


Do you want to know if the food you eat and feed your family has been genetically engineered? If you do, you're not alone. Over 95% of people responding to an MSNBC poll this week on labeling of GE foods have said loudly and clearly, "OF COURSE we want to know!" Over 40,000 people have voted (you can too, here). This follows on an earlier CBS poll finding that 87% people want to know if genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are in their food. Evidently, this is something that people feel strongly about.

Despite overwhelming evidence that Americans are deeply concerned about GE contamination of our food and farms, our public agencies have, in the space of two months, fast-tracked approval of three new risky GE crops: GE alfalfa, GE sugar beets and a new kind of GE corn (engineered by Syngenta for use in ethanol production - I don't think we want this ending up in our kids' cornflakes!).

Notwithstanding Nina Federoff's recent obfuscations on NPR, the threats posed by GE contamination of our food system are real. In the case of GE alfalfa - which threatens the livelihoods of organic dairy farmers and the very existence of organic milk and meat - experts agree that contamination is inevitable.

This should come as no surprise. Sam Fromartz writing in The Atlantic provides us with a long catalogue of the contamination of organic and "conventional" (non-GE) foods and fields that has already taken place over the past 10 years - in rice, corn, soy, cotton and canola - and in taco shells and honey. Some call this "genetic trespass" and it's not unlike the chemical trespass of pesticides in our bodies for which many of the same companies are responsible. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://lavidalocavore.org/diary/4564/95-want-ge-labeling-and-yet

[Angry Dragon]

1. corporate and government scum

[SpiralHawk]

3. RepubliCorp scum & government kowtow

They corps and government just don't give a shit about American citizens -- their wishes, or their health.

The mutant GMO pollution of America is likely to turn into the greatest scientific 'Ooops' of all time.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. More evidence of rule by Corporatocracy, not Democracy n/t

[MedicalAdmin]

4. I can hardly wait for the "woo"'brigade to show up.

But it's evidence based. But it's safe. But it's monsanto - what could go wrong?

[WatsonT]

5. Nothing more conclusive

than a poorly written internet poll:

# Yes. It's an ethical issue -- consumers should be informed so they can make a choice.
# No. The U.S. government says they are safe and that's good enough for me.
# Not sure. It all tastes the same to me

And this: "Despite overwhelming evidence that Americans are deeply concerned about GE contamination of our food and farms"

Does not logically follow from the poll.


I imagine most people would prefer that we label products that contain peanuts. Does that mean most are deeply concerned about peanut contamination?

[MedicalAdmin]

11. Um ... we do label products with peanuts...

... we even label products that don't contain peanuts but that were packaged in facilities that might be used at some time to package other products that contain peanuts.

But I get your point.

[WatsonT]

13. And I'm all for labeling GM products

I don't see any issue with it. I think there is no concern but others for religious or cultural reasons may disagree (like labeling food Kosher/Halal).

I just think that the conclusions drawn from the poll aren't necessarily based in fact.

[Buzz Clik]

6. I have no real concern about GMOs, but I can't see why they wouldn't proudly label the food products

Typical.

[TheWraith]

7. Unrec for presenting a web poll as scientifically valid. nt

[marmar]

8. Who presented it as scientifically valid? I posted a story.

The stridency level is off the chart around here.

[TheWraith]

14. The article you linked to did.

And it's no more valid when they do it, versus Fox News citing an Obama approval poll posted on RedState.

[Recursion]

9. What bugs me is that Monsanto et al say that it's "just the same" and so still GRAS

(Generally Regarded As Safe), so no new inspection and regulation regime is needed, but at the same time it's so new and so innovative that patent protection is required.

[MedicalAdmin]

12. Good point.

The reason they want it on the GRAS list is that it protects them from litigation.

The fact that they want to get their products placed on the GRAS list tells me that they are concerned about litigation and therefore, potentially, about damage.


Label the damn stuff. And stop playing political games with our government regulation agencies, dammit.

[Recursion]

15. What's also troubling is that residue from industrial processes is not listed as an ingredient

So, for example, lots of orange presses are lubricated with soybean oil (which, in the US, is almost always GM), and some of that makes it into the product, but that's not counted in the ingredients or against its CO status because it's an industrial process residue rather than an "ingredient"

[xchrom]

10. recommend