With election season just around the corner in the USA, the topic of labels for GMO products has become a hot issue. Proposition 37 will be on the ballot in California, which (if passed) will make it a requirement for companies to clearly identify certain food items containing genetically modified organisms. Adding labels to such items would effectively allow consumers to make educated choices in their food purchases, as opposed to blindly buying things which may have been marked ambiguously or misleadingly in the past. Many manufacturers of processed and packaged food items have been fiercely fighting this measure, presumably because they believe it will create transparency in their sourcing and production methods (and subsequently decrease revenue).
Not surprisingly, Monsanto has been at the top of the opponents list, having donated over $7M to anti-Prop 37 campaigns to date. Other donors include Cargill, ConAgra, Kraft Foods, Nestle, PepsiCo, Campbell Soup Company, Kellogg Company, Dean Foods (makers of Silk), Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee, McCormick, General Mills, H.J. Heinz Company, Dow, Bayer, BASF, McCain, and many other common household names (some quite unexpected).
Based on the extensive list of corporate opponents, keeping consumers in the dark is quite obviously a big deal to Big Food corporations - otherwise they would not likely be putting so much effort into blocking Prop 37.
Labels are a basic requirement in 40 other countries around the world, so it's obviously a huge concern for many unethical businesses to maintain the ability to sell potentially dangerous products within the USA. Americal consumers have been blindly purchasing & unwittingly allowing unsafe products into their homes for years, mainly based upon lack of knowledge on such matters.
Clearly marking packages on products could potentially put an end to mass ignorance in many places, and allow consumers to make better educated choices. This seems like a great beginning step toward better health, as well as more responsible relations with our food and suppliers of that which we may be unable to grow ourselves.
Californians, please vote YES on 37.
For those who may not be quite so GMO savvy just yet, here's an infographic outlining some of the basics for beginners:
GMOs, Demystified
