Prop 37: Yes – Label Those GMOs!

Under most circumstances, if Monsanto is for it…I’m agin’ it.  That is certainly the case with the initiative to require labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in California.  The campaign in support of Prop 37 is called “Californians Right to Know” and that pretty much sums it up.  We have a right to know if food we buy is Genetically Engineered (GE).

Who is spending $35 million to try to convince you that you shouldn’t know if your food contains GMOs? Monsanto, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Conagra, Bayer Crop Science,  Coke, Pepsi, Kellogs, Sara Lee, General Mills… You get the idea.  Expect lots of slick mailers implying that GE foods will be banned (false) it will cost taxpayers millions (Legislative Analyst says $1 million AT MOST for regulatory costs) and it will increase food prices by billions.  This last claim is based on an assumption that once GE food is labeled consumers won’t want it.  The argument is, “We don’t want to tell you what’s in our products because then you won’t want to buy them.”

The health effects of GE food is unknown.  My guess is that they are minor in a diet already full of processed food.  Let’s face it, if you are drinking Coke and eating Frosted Flakes, the fact that they are made with GE corn is probably the least of your health worries. And a GE apple may well be a better individual health choice than a bag of organic potato chips.   Consumers of junk food, will probably soon just stop noticing the “Genetically Engineered” on the package.  The consumer demand that may change as a result of the labeling will be on foods that are marketed as “natural” or “healthy choice.”  Consumers who are putting effort into trying to buy healthier food deserve accurate information.  And if the result is a decrease in demand for GE food then that is the free market at work.

More than individual health, the real cost of GMO agriculture is in the context of the environment and the food system as a whole.  Despite claims of using GE to solve world hunger with super nutritious, drought tolerant crops, the most widespread GE crops are Round-up ready corn and soybeans that will survive being doused with herbicides and crops that have GE systemic pesticides. The widespread use of these crops rapidly create super-weeds and super-bugs that demand ever stronger and more thickly applied herbicides and pesticides. This arms race leaves growers of non-GE crops struggling with out of control weeds and pests.  For example, Bt, is a bacteria that can be used as a pesticide in certified organic food but which was used rarely so there was little pressure for bugs to develop resistance.  In a few short years, Bt impregnated GE crops have caused such widespread resistance that Bt is now largely ineffective for organic growers.

Genetic material from GE crops contaminate wild plants with unknown long-term consequences. It also contaminates neighboring non-GE crops. Monsanto has responded to this by suing the farmers with the GMO contaminated crops for patent infringement!   Monsanto’s goal is a world where no one can grow crops without the latest Monsanto seeds and the chemicals they are designed to work with.  If California demands GMO labeling, Monsanto and their allies are right in fearing that the rest of the country will soon follow.  If labeling causes consumer rejection of GE food it will create at least a small obstacle to the GE and chemical companies’ goal of total domination of our food supply.