September 22, 2012
You are what you eat
The problem with presidential contests is that most other stories seem irrelevant. But there is an interesting one: In California consumers are trying to force food labeling so they know if the food purchased has been genetically modified. Proposition 37 is stirring the pot. How do you know which side you should be rooting for?
On the "defeat Prop 37" side are: Dupont; PepsiCo; Coca Cola; Con Agra, Nestle, General Mills. Are you getting the drift? Still in doubt? The big boys have committed around $25 million to defeat Prop 37. Our old pal Monsanto is the leader with $4.2 million.
The Organic Consumers Association headed by Ronnie Cummins says consumers have a right to know if genetically modified ingredients are in their food.
(The EU has required biotech labeling since 1997.)
Fighting Bob friend Mark Kastel is heavily involved. Mark ran for the Legislature in Wisconsin, served on the Heffernan Commission, and is working hard to pass Prop 37. Why don't these giant companies want labeling? A spokesman said labeling would "heighten unfounded concerns about the safety of genetically engineered crops." Yah sure Ole!
I won't forget two episodes involving Monanto. The first was Monsanto's oposition to labeling milk from cows treated with BGH. I testified in the legislative hearing that consumers should have labeling as a right. When they buy milk they should know if the cows poroducing milk were exposed to BGH. Our position seemed so sensible I was amazed that Monsanto had two lobbyists there to persuade the legislators that labeling was a bad idea!
The second run-in with Monsanto was over artificial turf. Monsanto told the world that artificial turf would reduce knee and ankle injiries by 50 percent. Total nonsense and we told the NFL to stop using it.
post a letter about this blog »
Why is it people don't want to listen to living, breathing human experts on their side but they will fall over backwards to listen to faceless corporate entities driven by profit?
-Pietr Haikuu | Hurley, Wis | September 22, 2012
Passage of the bill would "heighten unfounded concerns abou the safety of genetically enginerred crops," of course if we truly knew the "founded concerns" it would help us make an informed choice. The GMO industry isn't telling us anything and longterm studies are impossible because we don't know if we've eaten GMO food stuffs or not. One would think that " free market" disciples would favor the labeling of food, a truly free market requires an informed consumer.
-Dole O'Mite | Waukesha, County | September 22, 2012
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