Friday, May 25, 2012

Do-It-Youself GMO label

Oh, this is precious:

"Using her own stickers, Cynthia LaPier surreptitiously labels foods that she knows contain genetically modified organisms."



From: Battle Brewing Over Labeling of Genetically Modified Food, New York Yimes, 24 May 2012

What's the harm in a label? As one of the commenters, Andrea Pinal, said:
"If everyone in SUPPORT of GMOs is so sure of its "marvelous benefits", then shouldn't they WANT to Label it???? WHY is it that all these companies spend BILLIONS of dollars to Oppose Labeling something that they are supposedly so confident in?

We label food that is Organic because we honestly believe in it, dont we? Why would we go through all the effort to produce food in a method we believe in, and then want to HIDE that we did it that way? Doesn't make sense."
The article said:
"... existing biotech crops have for years let farmers spray fewer or less harmful chemicals, though the emergence of resistant weeds and insects threatens to blunt that effect."
Threatens to blunt that effect? It has already come to pass:
"Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of "superweeds", according to a report by 20 Indian, south-east Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people."
- GM Crops Promote Superweeds, Food Insecurity and Pesticides, say NGOs, John Vidal, the Guardian


Note the tone of the article:
"... popular suspicions about the health and environmental effects of biotechnology are fueling a movement to require that food from genetically modified crops be labeled, if not eliminated."
Popular suspicions?! It's as if a draft had to be approved by the biotech industry. Does the New York Times sell advertising space to Monsanto?
________
Thanks, Seinberg!

3 comments:

RB said...

Instead of trying to get labels, perhaps pressure should be put on McDonald's not to sell GMO food. Pressuring McDonald's has worked before.

Bix said...

A few people wrote me to ask about the labels.

You can make your own labels for free here:
http://labelityourself.org/liy/

And see how others are doing it here:
https://www.facebook.com/LabelitYourself

Bix said...

Good point, RB. You're right about McDonald's. I think they and a few other big food retailers in Europe are already sourcing non-GMO ingredients.