Farm Wars wants to know! Is labeling really an effective solution to the fight against GMOs and their pesticides?
I think not, and am issuing the following challenge to all those who say that it is!
GMO Labeling Challenge: I challenge everyone who reads this page to ask your friends the next time you see them eating, what the ingredients are in the food they are putting in their mouths. All of the ingredients, not just one or two. Chances are they do not know. Then ask yourself, after conducting this experiment, just how effective a deterrent is labeling? ‘As long as it tastes good, who cares what’s on the label. If the FDA approved it, it must be okay.’ That is the most popular attitude. If I am wrong about this, prove it.
Here is a printable form that you can use to record the results. Just click on the PDF linked below, download and print it out. For each person that answers, place a mark next to the answer. To share your answers with Farm Wars, just use the electronic form located near the bottom of the right sidebar of this page, or simply respond to this post. You can vote as many times as it takes to record your findings, but the page will need to be refreshed each time.
I will be recording the answers all through the holiday season, and beyond. Good luck, and happy hunting!
Click here:
Farm Wars GMO Labeling Challenge
Tags: Barbara H. Peterson, Farm Wars, farmwars, genetic engineering, GMO, gmo labeling challenge, labeling
Most of my friends (15-20 people including their spouses) are in category #2 with about 3 of us in #1 but more getting serious all the time.
Labelling was the kiss of death to GMOs in Europe. That is why they fear it so much that they are spending tens of millions a year to fight it.
Outright bans scare them the most. They are now spending millions a year to stop those.
More markets are closing to GMOs as the BRICS nations try to reclaim their food sovereignty. It doesn’t matter if it is politically motivated or done by genuine caring for their citizens. Markets for GMOs are shrinking.
Soon a whole host of countries will simply stop growing them because “our customers won’t buy it”.
The death of a thousand paper cuts awaits Monsanto. I’ve never met an anti-GMO action I didn’t like!
In november the island of Maui Hawaii voted that no longer allowed any gmo’s to be grown on the island. There are many people who are in Monsantos pockets, and a federal judge has put an injunction on this, even though the people voted for it. Please research this and help support the people on this island by sending emails and letters. Monsanto knows once this passes on one island it will go to the others soon and then the mainland. People need to educate themselves on gmo’s, once they do the proof of evil is evident.
Steve – In other words, a ban will do for human food if labeling doesn’t work. Considering that 98% of GMOs are grown for livestock and other uses than human food, how will that actually stem the tide of GMOs flooding the planet? And just how long will we be able to call anything GM-Free?
Put your money where your mouth is, Steve. Take the challenge. The EU has labeling, and they are now harmonizing their laws to accommodate international trade agreements that will ensure GMOs are fully accepted there. They are also working on the cultivation of GMOs. If you believe that labeling will solve the problem, then I’m afraid that is a fantasy. Take the challenge. Do the legwork. Then let us know the results.
Barbara, Monsanto and the biotech industry would be quite pleased to hear that you’re becoming skeptical of the idea of labeling, and that you are pushing for an outright ban of all GMOs. Sure, a ban on GMOs would be fantastic, but unfortunately there is absolutely no way to accomplish this, so this is a very unrealistic goal. Labeling is what the biotech industry fears most, because in the countries where this became law, consumers as a whole began to reject these products. And when consumers became concerned, food manufacturers responded by removing GMOs from their products. Perhaps you believe that ordinary people in the US are lacking a certain awareness, and that they don’t pay much attention to wording on labels, or even care about the actual quality (beyond the flavor profile) of the foods they enjoy eating. When labeling is finally established here, if it ever becomes obvious that consumers are not soon rejecting GMOs (in human food) as a result, I promise to be among the first to push for a ban. Until then, please reconsider, because voices such as yours are so important RIGHT NOW, as things seem to be coming to a head. There is a war now being fought by the biotech industry, a covert war intended to gain public acceptance of their transgenic products. One main tactic of theirs seems to be the old ‘divide and conquer’ concept. Please don’t fall for this!
You are exactly right, and that is why GMOs must be banned in order to protect people like us who want to know where our food comes from and exactly what’s in it. Those of us who know the government is run by corporate interests and could not care less about us the people it’s supposed to serve, want GMOs banned.
I’ve done an experiment similar to the one you’re doing now. I found that you have people who deeply care about what they put in their and their children’s mouths, and, therefore they cook from scratch, buy organic, buy ethically raised meats and dairy, and stay away from packaged foods.
And, then, you have those who care only about “cheap” food that appeals to their penchant for fake salty-sweet flavors. They put anything in their mouths including GMOs, aspartame, and meat from animals that were tortured. They live only for the now and don’t care that their food choices are destroying the environment and their own health-which will result in them being put on prescription meds like statins, antidepressants, bets-blockers, etc…. due to obesity and mind-fog from all the chemicals they’re ingesting.
I have no respect for the latter group of those living in oblivion and denial.
Great article, Barbara, (I have respect for all your writings for this site-you’re wise and thoughtful) and I look forward to reading your findings.
Remember the show called “The Weakest Link”?
Labeling >>>ANYTHING<<< is like a chain containing many links.
Each link is independent and separate of any other. The integrity of EVERY link is however CRUCIAL to the USEFULNESS of that chain.
Each and every link MUST PULL it’s equal share of the weight to add any value to the chain, therefor making the chain itself at all valuable based on it’s usefulness.
Call it the food chain, the grocery chain, the safety chain, the tow chain, the dog chain, the chain of command, chains of bondage or even the chain reaction.
In this case, food safety through consumer choice by labeling some believe, is a means to adding strength to the food chain.
Corporate interests are however not conducive to integrity nor are they team players in honesty, unfortunately proven by sad history.
Asking the fox to guard the hen-house is what comes to mind.
Think of how many different hands are involved in that one grocery item reaching your plate or what condition it reaches your plate. The seed supplier, the grower, the teachers and educators, the employees, the neighbors, the chemical companies, the fertilizer companies, the salesman, the truckers, the buyers, the wholesalers, the manufacturers, the packaging suppliers, the retailers, the employees, the federal, provincial, state, county, municipal, and civic governments, the stockholders, the banks, the corporations, the regulatory agencies, the inspectors, the cooks etc…. and that’s only if that item on your plate has no other ingredients. For (every) additional ingredient, there are that many more links involved also.
All this comes down to what someone printed on a label.
BY CORPORATE LUST IN LABELS WE TRUST
“You are the weakest link………Goodbye”!