Barbara H. Peterson
To Fed or not to Fed. That is the question. To leave GMO labeling to the states or attempt to pressure the Feds to do it… or both? Or just maybe… none of the above?
GMO Labeling Bills
Some say that a federal GMO labeling bill is potentially bad because it will trump state labeling, which “has teeth.” Really? Teeth? Let’s just take a look at some of these “teeth:”
1. Hawaii just passed a labeling bill, but it only applies to imported GM food.
“…the amendment “only covers incoming raw agricultural products, which means that it basically covers very little, except a little crookneck squash, any Monsanto sweet corn brought fresh into the state, or if a non-browning GMO apple is approved.” So maybe it is not time to get too excited.”
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/343105
“Despite the hoopla, Carol Okada, manager for the Plant Quarantine Branch of Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture, says the [biotech] business is here to stay and will still be booming in Hawaii 10 years down the road. “Even though it’s controversial here,” she says, “the [GM] seed industry is now the No. 1 industry for us and it is very important in terms of the economy, dealing with invasive species, and giving farmers choices.”
The bottom line: Hawaii may be the GM crop test capital of the world, but the debate over biotech foods is far from over.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=genetically-modified-hawaii&page=3.
2. California’s Prop 37 failed to pass, but would have exempted foods:
…made from animals fed or injected with genetically engineered material but not genetically engineered themselves; processed with or containing only small amounts of genetically engineered ingredients; administered for treatment of medical conditions; sold for immediate consumption such as in a restaurant; or alcoholic beverages.
3. Washington’s measure:
… would not apply to meat or dairy products from animals fed genetically engineered feed, and it sharply limits the ability to collect damages for mislabeling.
This is not to say that a federal bill is much better, but the one I have found, H.R. 3553, does appear to have a few more teeth than the states’:
‘(3) For purposes of subparagraph (1), a food shall be considered to have been produced with a genetically engineered material if–
‘(A) the organism (including fish) from which the food is derived has been injected or otherwise treated with a genetically engineered material (except that the use of manure as a fertilizer for raw agricultural commodities may not be construed to mean that such commodities are produced with a genetically engineered material),
‘(B) the animal (including fish) from which the food is derived has been fed genetically engineered material, or
‘(C) the food contains an ingredient that is a food to which clause (A) or (B) applies.
But goes on to exempt the following:
‘(4) This paragraph does not apply to food that–
‘(A) is served in restaurants or other establishments in which food is served for immediate human consumption,
‘(B) is processed and prepared primarily in a retail establishment, is ready for human consumption, which is of the type described in clause (A), and is offered for sale to consumers but not for immediate human consumption in such establishment and is not offered for sale outside such establishment, or
‘(C) is a medical food as defined in section 5(b) of the Orphan Drug Act.
At least at this point, the Fed’s bill acknowledges that meat from animals fed GMOs should be labeled. But who knows what will be included/excluded/compromised before anything even stands a snowball’s chance in hell of getting passed. Especially since it seems that certain corporations such as Wal-Mart, Pepsico and ConAgra agree that labeling is better than an outright ban and have decided to support GMO labeling at the federal level. Better to control the conversation through federal connections than deal with a plethora of individual state laws, eh?
Remember when Big Food started lobbying for a national organic certification program? Many organic growers protested the move, not only because certification would be costly (and possibly cost-prohibitive) for smaller farmers, but also because they felt the national standards far too lax.
It was an example of Big Food trying to control the inevitable in the hopes of increasing their profit margins…
…Rather than deal with a plethora of diverse laws in multiple states, Big Food wants to deal with one law of the land. And they want to control the national conversation so that whatever changes are enacted are the least costly to them.
http://www.foodrenegade.com/walmart-big-food-pushing-for-gmo-labeling/
So, the question remains for all of the so-called GMO labeling legislation, both state and federal….
Where’s the Teeth?
GMOs are hazardous materials that have no place on the planet, much less our dinner plates, and we the people are waking up. So, what is really happening on the GMO labeling front? A lot of hoopla for legislation that is really non-legislation. In other words, legislation that sounds good on the surface, but is really constructed as eye candy to appease the masses while enabling the proliferation and acceptance of GMOs at the same time. Labeling implies coexistence. Especially if that labeling is selective, only applying to certain GM products while others have free reign.
I want real teeth, not false teeth, and none of the labeling propositions that I have seen have them, and it doesn’t look like they will in the near future. Big Food has too much to lose, and enough money to corrupt any legitimate labeling venture. So, the fight for clean food boils down to what it always has been and always will be…. we the people getting off of our duffs and making the change in our own lives by personally boycotting GMOs. We have teeth, we just need to use them.
GMO Junkies
This nation needs to kick the GMO habit. People of this country are so strung out on them that they would rather die than give them up. And this is what keeps the GMO pushers in business, label or not.
I was in the local store the other day and saw a young couple fill the counter with things they were going to eat. I took a look, and every single thing on that counter was filled with GMOs and other toxic substances. I said “everything you have on that counter will kill you… slowly and painfully.” Their response was “oh well” and a shrug.
Let’s call it what it is. This is addiction. These people are junkies. GMO food junkies. And they are not alone. The nation is filled with them, happily munching on GMO this and GMO that, totally oblivious, and getting sicker by the minute. It’s time to say no to GMOs and mean it. If you’re going to slap a label on them, tell it like it is. They are an unacceptable risk to all life, and the only accurate label is a skull and crossbones. This stuff is killing the planet and every life form on it. If ingested, please call poison control…
Kicking the Habit
The only choice once you have decided to kick the GMO habit, is whether to go cold turkey, or gradual. I had to go cold turkey as I have a horrible reaction to GMOs. Once you kick GMO, herbicide-laden food, you are in for a big surprise. You will soon be able to taste the difference between real food and junk food.
What is junk food? Junk food is any food that is not natural. Anything GMO is junk. Anything riddled with pesticides and herbicides is junk. Anything designed with a shelf life of a piece of plastic is junk.
I HATE going into grocery stores. (Had to get a light bulb for the chicks) I eat so clean that I can smell a mouse fart at a 100 yards. So just walking PAST the cereal isle, I am overwhelmed with the horrifying stink of it all. (Doc Grable)
As your body gets rid of the toxins, your senses become sharper, and you begin to really taste your food. You also become aware of the acrid smell and taste of chemicals. And recognize that what you once ate was not food. It never was. And the thought hits you like a ton of bricks – What in the hell have I been poisoning myself with??? You have just woken up.
Join the Fight
It is a war. And it can be overwhelming. I am also overwhelmed, but with the horrifying stink of phony GMO labeling campaigns that are intended to promote coexistence when coexistence is not possible. Instead of caving in to the coexistence push, we need to call for an outright ban. We’ve gone long enough playing into biotech’s hands.
Now is the time to reject any and all food-like substances produced by biotechnology. Period. End of story. We start in our own homes. Every GMO you eat is a vote for Monsanto and the death of our food supply. Every GMO you reject is a vote for food safety and sovereignty. Vote now. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
As for the labeling issue… the only thing I really expect out of it is a raised public awareness of GMOs. Accuracy in that labeling is another story, and one that the GMO pushers can subvert at will. The one thing they cannot do anything about is an outright ban before there is nothing left to eat but GMOs.
©2013 Barbara H. Peterson
Tags: Barbara H. Peterson, biotechnology, coexistence, Farm Wars, farmwars, food safety, genetic engineering, gmo labeling, h.r. 3553, labeling, monsanto, prop 37, wal-mart
Were this really a nation of free men, a true republic of by and for, this wouldn’t be an issue, period. What too many of you don’t know is we’ve been sold out to national and international corporations long ago by slight of hand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.....c_Railroad
The above treasonous act was exacerbated when a few years ago the co-opted supreme court removed ALL constraints limiting the amount of payola corporations can use to buy off the blow-flies in D.C.
Sadly, the people are so befuddled, so confused into blaming this party or that party….conservative or liberal blah blah blah… they continue to be unaware of the fact that we are thisclose to total collapse and ruination by a federal government bought and paid for by a foreign nation with NO hope of correction. It is, in fact rotten to the core. So much so that even the “civil servants” are corrupted to the maximum degree attainable by their lower ranking.
Since the “appointed” posts, (Department of Justice in this case), are manned by “chums” of those bringing our financial/political system down, they work above the law with NO worries of paying for their treachery and treason as they do what parasites do best, bleed us dry.
Even after stating the obvious, when anyone posts the immediate need to leave the union, all you hear is ignorant rhetoric about a state not having the RIGHT to secede, BULLSHIT!
Leaving the corrupted union is every bit as much a free option as joining. If people don’t wise up very soon to this fact and demmand their state’s legislators present a bill to secede there will be a revolution that will result in chaos and bloodshed the likes of which we will not be able to grasp,…. a Russian Revolution redux. In fact, if you look at the unholy alliance between the Red Queen, (England’s Central Bank) and our own bunch of slave owners at our affiliated Central Bank (Federal Reserve), a reasonable person can only conclude that we have NEVER been totally free of the City of London and their fifth column, dual citizenship fiends in New York/Tel Aviv/City of London.
We are in this mess because it is ALL of them against ALL of us, period. there’s absolutely NO reason to complicate things with this or that politically, because this union has died and needs to be buried post haste before we’re all killed by the stench of it’s rotting, bloated corpse. secession is a virtually bloodless solution if it’s done en mass quickly. The corrupted/treasonous “Federal entity” will virtually disappear. The only reason I can think of for this obvious solution being poo-poo’d is ego. Too many apparently feel being screwed to death,(our kids and grand kids included), is worth puffing out our collective chests to say I’m a citizen of the largest, most corrupted world power ever, the United States of America. Is it really worth it? It has become a rabid dog desperately in need of being put down, for our sake and the world’s at large.
Certainly do not trust this initiative to label GMO’s to the federal government. They are too invested in trying to spread them to the world and convert the world. You would think GMO’s were a religion.
I have the same skin reaction to GMO’s that you have Barbara. I can tell when I have eaten something GMO. It is difficult to eat non-GMO but not impossible. Sometimes I think I am lucky because the rejected poisons that my body will not process are being sent to my skin for elimination. Otherwise they would be messing up my insides. The skin is the last defense of the body.
I sometimes wonder about Morgellon’s and whether the people suffering with this are also having the same reactions.
There is a GMO labeling bill pending in the Vermont legislature, the Attorney General is speaking out against passing it because Monsanto will sue the state and we can’t afford it. “So just shut up and eat it” says the elected AG to we the people.
http://hosted2.ap.org/NHWLV/ae.....11862dce1c
Irene, so kind! Thank for the recipe for “bean and bacon soup”, which, just eating up the words your wrote, far SURPASSES Campbell’s version. I promist to provide you with MY recipe, once I develop this idea further.
I must say, when my wife concocted a pot of “baked beans”, many, many years ago (we’ve been married 25!), I foolishly expressed my true surprise that baked beans could come to my plate in any other way than from a can! Foolish me still, I guess. Why did I myself not think, Hey! I myself can prepare a batch of “bean and bacon soup”, too!
Thanks, again, Irene!
Thanks, Alan. Those favorites are hard to let go of, eh? Mine was chocolate bars ;)
Unless you have heirloom seeds and grow all your food, you will never be sure if what you buy at any store is non GMO. Recently I asked a grocery store clerk if the vegetables in the veggie section were non GMO? He answered, “I don’t know, I would say that they are all compromised in some way”.
Hey, I have a recepie that rivals Cambells!
Boil the ham hock on high and soak the beans for 6 to 24 hours.
Rinse cold beans,
sprinkle with 1teaspoon organic corn/rice starch and stir
put in with boiling hamhock.
Once beans are cooked soft, add..
1 tomato, 1 oinion, all likely smelling herbs in your cubbard,
{oregano, parsley, sage, tyme, etc..}
add vegetables and noodles last, just before serving.
SALT liberally to taste at the table
How about setting GMO alfalfa into the wild, litterally?
Thank you, Barbara, most helpful perspective and a clarion call for action, beginning in our own pantries. I myself have said reluctant good-byes to the few remaining personal favorites (for example, Campbell’s bean and bacon soup) and focused necessary purchasing away from any products made by companies in Monsanto’s evil family — including more or less distant cousins like Dupont and so forth. Wife and I ramp up gardening and food growing another notch or two this year. Once we have mastered matters to become better role models, we can serve in assisting others. As you noted, many more have recently awakened and teachable moments abound!
BTW, Barbara, so good to watch your brief cameo appearance in “WHY in the world are they spraying”!