So Goes California, So Goes the Nation

Something very exciting happened last week -

It was announced that nearly One Million California citizens signed the ballot initiative in support of labeling foods that have been produced by or from crops produced by genetic engineering. The minimum number of signatures required to land an initiative on the CA voting ballot is ~500,000. Assuming the minimum number of signatures is validated in the coming weeks, Californians will have the opportunity to vote in favor of labeling GMO foods come November 2012. If passed, California would join 40 countries who require labeling.

Given that GMO crops have taken over US land in a very short 18 years, this will be a major blow to most food production companies. Operations will have to change, but, more importantly, consumer awareness will grow. There are already a number of entities pooling support for an opposition campaign.  

What’s left out of the labeling initiative are any milk or meat products produced using GMO crops as a feed input. Given that over half of these crops produced are used for livestock feed, this lack of labeling is a weighty exemption. 

As a result, those of us in ultimate pursuit of Non-GMO foods are turning to the Non-GMO Verification Project to ensure the integrity of our products. Through this certification, any feed input (outside of organic certified pasture) is tested on a DNA level to ensure no GMO contamination. Mindful Meats is slated to become the first beef product in the United States to be verified through the Non-GMO Project.

Regardless of the dairy and meat exemption, citizens voting for CA labeling would be a massive step in the right direction. As the saying goes…

So Goes California, So Goes the Nation

Thank you California Right to Know!

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.