by Catherine Haug, March 19, 2011
This is a question we should all be asking our president and his agencies who are responsible for allowing GMO crops/foods to be approved (FDA, USDA). If we don’t get an answer there, we should all ask our legislators to demand an answer, and then to change the laws so that GMO products are labeled.
As free Americans, isn’t it our right to know what we are getting when we purchase foods that may be GMO? As Montanans, isn’t it our right to a clean and healthful environment (as stated in our constitution), which includes a right to know when GMO crops are being raised in our local area?
If GMO foods are safe, why the refusal to label them? Perhaps because they fear:
- No one would buy them;
- There would be a cost to keep track of GMO up the food chain or processing chain (which cows ate GMO feed? which cuts of beef came from GMO-fed cows? which boxed food products contain GMO, etc.);
- An angry backlash against those who engineered the GMO foods;
- More money would be spent on research to determine the health and environmental effects of GMO.
If you aren’t as angry as I am over the current state of affairs concerning GMO, read this article from the New York Times Opinion page (Feb 15, 2011) by Mark Bittman:
Why Aren’t G.M.O. Foods Labeled?
See also my post Health Hazards of GMO Foods & Crops.