On the morning of November 7, we may owe the Golden State a great big \u201cthank you\u201d note. Perhaps the almost one million Californians who signed the petition putting Proposition 37 on California\u2019s ballot on November 6 already deserve one.<\/p>\n

Proposition 37 <\/a>is an initiative to require the labeling of raw or processed foods sold in retail stores in California that contain food products produced through genetic engineering (GMOs). As proponents and food activists across the country point out, Proposition 37 is not an outright ban on the sale of any food. What it is, however, is a straightforward, right-to-know about what\u2019s contained in the food Californians (and we) buy.<\/p>\n

Food-activist Californians<\/a> are hoping to succeed where Connecticut and Vermont have failed.\u00a0 And the stakes are high.\u00a0 California\u2019s thirty-eight million people consume twelve percent of all food products in the U.S.\u00a0 That means where California goes so goes the rest of the nation.<\/p>\n

What is the controversy about genetically engineered food?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genetically engineered food is the end product of a technology-based process that does not occur naturally.\u00a0 That process inserts genetic material from a variety of sources\u2014such as other plants and animals or viruses or bacteria\u2014which would not have been a natural source for genetic material for that particular plant or meat product.\u00a0 Often the intention is to render a plant resistant to a particular herbicide or pesticide. Custom-designed genes that don\u2019t exist in nature have been inserted as well. An example is Monsanto\u2019s newest experimental GMO sweet corn from which you and your kids may soon be ingesting, as the Center for Food Safety bluntly describes it, \u201ca toxic pesticide in every bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think this is an issue that doesn\u2019t concern you, think again.\u00a0 If you buy processed food from the supermarket, you\u2019ve been consuming and feeding your families GMOs since the 1990s without knowing it. In fact, GMOs are hidden in such commonly purchased items on supermarket shelves as baby formula, soups, crackers, condiments, cereals, and many processed, boxed foods that contain corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, soy, canola, cottonseed oil, wheat, or sugar beets.\u00a0 Some experts in the field estimate that more than seventy-five percent of all processed foods contain GMOs. And the long-term health affects are simply not known.<\/p>\n

What you don’t know could be hurting you<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Nation<\/em> has reported that, in 1999, attorney Steven Druker, while combing through 40,000 pages of FDA files, found \u201cmemorandum after memorandum contain[ing] warnings about the unique hazards of genetically engineered food.\u201d\u00a0 At the time, Druker reported that he found information indicating that GMOs could contain \u201cunexpected toxins, carcinogens or allergens.\u201d More recent FDA documents put the safety of GMOs in question as well, such as this one from FDA scientists that reiterated that GMOs could cause \u201cunpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, and nutritional problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t we know for sure what foods contain GMOs?\u00a0 The answer is that the FDA and EPA do not require labeling of GMOs nor studies to determine their safety. Proposition 37 seeks to address the labeling requirement on the state level. Support for such labeling outside the ag-biotech world is overwhelming. Polls indicate that 65% of Californians support the measure. Nationally, support for federally required labeling comes in at 91%.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider one of the most common food products: corn. \u00a0Here, in the Northeast where I live, the beautiful stands of corn are a reminder of an agricultural heritage from the time before America was America.<\/p>\n

What you may not know is the degree to which chemical and pharmaceutical companies, including two of the largest, Monsanto and Syngenta, have altered that heritage.\u00a0 GMO corn has been altered to resist weed killers and even to produce herbicides within the plant\u2019s own tissues.<\/p>\n

Coming soon to a Walmart near you<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t wait to get your hands on some of Monsanto\u2019s creations, you won\u2019t have to wait long. Coming soon to a Walmart near you in the canned and frozen-food aisles is Monsanto\u2019s GMO sweet corn containing the company\u2019s own herbicide, Roundup. In the works is a GMO apple that will not brown when cut.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hold your breath, though, waiting for Walmart to tout the origin of the corn or the apples in their advertisements, signage, or labeling. \u00a0Fortunately, other food companies have decided not to follow Walmart\u2019s example.\u00a0 Green Giant and Cascadian Farms (both of General Foods), Trader Joe\u2019s, and Whole Foods have committed to keeping Monsanto\u2019s sweet corn out of their products and off their shelves.<\/p>\n

Those four food companies are sending a message about food safety that more than fifty countries (or forty percent of the world\u2019s population), including members of the European Union, the UK, Japan, China, India, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, Australia, and Russia, who require labeling or have outright bans on GMOs, agree with.<\/p>\n

Who’s against Prop 37?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For big ag and big pharma, this is a high-stakes fight. How determined are they to defeat the measure?\u00a0 If determination is measured in dollars, their commitment is deep.\u00a0 According to Food Integrity Campaign, to date the No on 37 Campaign has bundled a war chest containing $32 million.\u00a0 Of that amount, $19 million comes from just six of the biggest and baddest with the most at stake:\u00a0 Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Dow, BASF, and Syngenta. If Proposition 37 passes, GMO producers understand that the required labeling, which will give consumers information they need to make informed choices about what\u2019s in their food and which foods they\u2019ll buy, will sweep in a revolution in food production in this country. And you can bet that\u2019s going to affect the bottom line of some of America\u2019s most powerful corporations.<\/p>\n

Keep a close watch on what happens in California. This is going to be one helluva food fight.<\/p>\n

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On the morning of November 7, we may owe the Golden State a great big \u201cthank you\u201d note. Perhaps the almost one million Californians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":19294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1176,869,451,1453,1528,1253,573],"tags":[721,1667],"yoast_head":"\n