By Norm Benson
California”s Proposition 37, the awkwardly titled “California Right-to-Know Genetically Engineered Food Act,” will come to us for a vote in November”s election. The proponents say, “You have the right-to-know what”s in your food so you have the freedom to choose.”
We can all agree. Food provides our bodies with energy to go about our day. We should know what we are eating.
What will Proposition 37 do? According to the Legislative Analyst,:
“This measure makes several changes to state law to explicitly require the regulation of Genetically Engineered (GE) foods. Specifically, it requires that most GE foods sold be properly labeled. It also requires that California”s Department of Public Health to regulate the labeling of such foods, and allows individuals to sue food manufacturers who violate the measure”s labeling provisions.”
That”s it? That is hardly enough for people to make informed decisions.
While you and I can agree that knowing what is in our food is rather a good thing, passage of Proposition 37 does not give us all the necessary information to learn what really is in our food.
If Proposition 37”s goal is to educate people about their choices, label information should be greatly expanded so that people are genuinely informed.
Here are just a few ideas for such labels:
Notice: This food contains these chemicals: Followed of course, by a list.
It may be a failure of our schools or “No child left behind,” but basic knowledge of chemistry has faded from our memories.
Otherwise why would we see advertisements for “chemical-free” food?
Under an expanded Proposition 37, an apple would have a label listing its chemical components.
Then we could say, “A serving of H2O, vegetable oils, sugars, starch, carotene, tocopherol (E306), riboflavin (E101), nicotinamide, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid, ascorbic acid (E300), hexadecanoic acid, stearic acid (E570), oleic acid, linoleic acid, malic acid (E296), oxalic acid, salicylic acid, purines, sodium, potassium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorous, antioxidants, and chloride a day keeps the doctor away.”
All foods contain chemicals, even USDA organically-certified foods.
We can no more have chemical-free food than we can have oxygen-free air or sodium chloride-free salt.
Notice: This organic food is the result of cross-breeding and the long-term effects on humans are uncertain.
According to Kevin Folta, an expert in the field of molecular biology, standard cross-breeding rearranges 10,000 to 300,000 genes “depending on the species,” compared to one to three genes for GE.
Caution: This food contains DNA and RNA.
This should not need saying but it does; all food contains genes and its building blocks, DNA and RNA.
In a 2010 national study, 41 percent of young adults were not sure that the statement, “Ordinary tomatoes, the ones we normally eat, do not have genes whereas genetically modified tomatoes do” was false; 17 percent thought it was “probably false,” and only 42 percent knew it was “definitely false.”
For the record, the statement is false.
Caution: This organic food contains toxic chemicals and pesticides that are known to the State of California to cause cancer.
All vegetative stuff we eat ? fruits, vegetables, spices, coffees, teas, and the like ? contain chemicals produced by the plant to ward off pests.
“Eating food is risky,” European Commission”s Chief Scientific Advisor Anne Glover said, “Most of us forget that most plants are toxic and it”s only because we cook them, or the quantity that we eat them in, that makes them suitable.”
According to Dr. Bruce Ames, “We eat roughly 1,500 milligrams of plant produced pesticides per day.”
These are but a few of possible labels that could give consumers more information.
A longer list is available at Timberati.com with hyperlinks to the studies and articles referenced.
Proposition 37 appears to be an old story: Greed.
Big organic is licking its chops for a bigger share of the market.
“The burning question for us all then becomes how ? and how quickly ? can we move healthy, organic products from a 4.2% percent market niche, to the dominant force in American food and farming?” Organic Consumers Association Director Ronnie Cummins wrote in an open letter in August.
You see, USDA certified-organic producers will be exempt from labeling requirements; “organic” milk, yogurt, and cheese and meat from a cow that eats GE corn will not require labeling.
Why do organic-style food producers get a pass?
Big organic is attempting crony capitalism.
Through Proposition 37 they are lobbying the government (us) to hobble their competitors and thus increase their market-share.
And, this November, bet on voters giving them what they want.
Bon app?tit.
Disclosure: To my knowledge, I own no shares in any agricultural biotech company.
I receive no compensation, other than lower prices at the market, from any biotech firms or organizations or any farming cooperative, organization, lobbyist, company, etc. Since I buy at Costco, I do eat and buy organic food.
I also compost and recycle.
Norm Benson is a registered professional forester and worked three decades for Cal Fire before embarking on a writing career. He is currently working on a biography of Walter C. Lowdermilk and can be found writing online at http://normbenson.com/timberati/.
