Cost Cutting Means Getting GMOs to Market Faster

America’s debt is now as big as our economy. You read that right.

In attempts to cut federal spending, the USDA has announced several major changes afoot, claiming that these streamlined operational processes will save $150M annually (a tiny amount given that our debts are over $15.2 Trillion). 

The plan is being called the Blue Print for Stronger Service; press release here. All of the changes give way for pause and analysis, and the language for every USDA Department Fact Sheet is very vague. 

Very concerning is a mandate to reduce the time it takes to approve Genetically Engineered Plant products. This bullet point is found on the Marketing and Regulatory page, and is in bold italics below:

 APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) is dramatically reducing times for programmatic processes and procedures, cutting wait time by 20 to 76 percent and enhancing business competiveness, by:

• Streamlining risk assessment and rulemaking processes for imported animal and plant products;
• Reducing length and variability of time it takes to make determinations on petitions for nonregulated status for genetically engineered plants; and  
• Streamlining the enforcement process against those who jeopardize plant and animal health and animal welfare focus on the most serious violators and resolve typical cases in substantially less time.

With Secretary Vilsack as a known GMO advocate, this addition comes to no surprise. How they plan to do this is still a question mark. 

This pending policy change is yet another reason to support the labeling of GMO foods. Very limited information is known on both the short and long term affects of feeding ourselves genetically modified foods. And when research is done, to negative results, strong efforts are made against the release of that information. What we are seeing, however, are studies showing significant adverse health effects from consuming the pesticide, Roudup, used to grow GMO crops.

This simply shows that we do not know enough to tell the public that these foods are safe to eat and feed our children, and that is should be our right as citizens to know what we are eating. 

Whether you support biotech and genetically engineered foods, it’s hard to deny that we, as Americans, should have the knowledge to give us the freedom to choose.