The fight to have genetically modified foods labeled as such will continue!
I’ve always viewed Election Day as being kind of ironic – it’s super dividing, yet at the same time it unifies the country. This is part of why America is the greatest country in the world!
Anyway, one thing that I’m fairly sure we, as a Paleo community, were all unified on was California’s Proposition 37, which essentially required that all genetically modified food be labeled as such.
Unfortunately, the voters of California aren’t all Paleo, and the initiative was shot down yesterday, largely due to massive spending by groups who have a vested (read: monetary) interest in keeping genetically modified foods unlabeled.
That being said, the fight is far from over!
Below is a somewhat encouraging couple of paragraphs in a post by Dana Hull that ran on MercuryNews.com:
Supporters of Proposition 37 said Wednesday that efforts to require labels on genetically modified foods are now shifting to other states. Signature gathering is under way for a similar ballot initiative in Washington state in November 2013, along with legislative efforts to require labeling in Connecticut and Vermont.
A petition effort is also under way to get the federal Food and Drug Administration to take up the issue of labeling. There will also be renewed pressure on President Barack Obama in his second term to support labeling.
So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think this measure will ever be passed? Do you agree that genetically modified foods need to be labeled? Leave your comments below!
The effort is going to have to be better-funded and better-organized. It is possible to raise awareness through effort instead of unlimited special interest money, but you still need a significant amount of money and a well-organized fund-raising effort.
I definitely agree. Sort of like how Occupy Wall Street could’ve done something if it actually had some leadership and an agenda (not saying I was for it one way or the other, just saying).
it is really disappointing that this was declined, people have a right to now what they are eating… It seems really clear that people are voting against their own interest, whether they know it or not. But as time goes on, education and awareness will increase. Keep up the good fight.
I don’t understand why people voted against it. What’s the harm? Was it going to cause food prices to jump 50% because of new labels or something?!
I have gone paleo (with great success!) but I voted no on Prop 37. I came to the paleo diet through libertarian channels and for the same libertarian reasons, I do not like government mandates. It’s not that I want GMO food. It’s just that I think a government mandate to label it as such will be counterproductive. The regulators in charge of enforcing the label will just be captured by agribusiness the same way existing regulators have been captures.
While I generally agree with you, John, I do think it is the role of the Government to protect consumers when businesses refuse to do so.
John,
In a free market society should people be able to make their own minds up and vote with their own money on the things that they consume? I think they should have the most information available to do so and Prop 37 was a way to get more information to the consumer. It was purely labeling and did not limit the amount of GMO’s in the system. All it would have done is educate the people consuming the food where those GMO’s were at. I think had it passed the general populace, having a vague idea that GMO’s are suspect, would have been appalled that it is alot of the foods that they consume. My two cents worth anyway.
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