A court in Vermont USA made a landmark ruling that means all
food products sold in the state must declare on their label if they contain genetically modified
organisms. This is a welcome development and will hopefully open the floodgates
to a legal precedent; I hope to see more cases like it soon. This means that Vermont
joins that gallant brigade which include the European Union, Japan ,
Australia , New
Zealand , Russia
(of course!), China ,
India and
hopefully soon Israel
that require GMO food to be labelled as such. The United
States of America is currently the front
line in the battle between natural food and industrial GMO's, although the US
Federal Government has not stepped in yet. The drive to label food which
contains GMO's has been bitterly opposed by Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and the
rest of the agro-bio-chemical industry. They claim that their products have
been tested and found to be safe therefore labelling them would be misleading
and alarmist for the public. However, a look at the background links below
calls that into question I'd say. This is a serious matter because there are
moves afoot to go one step further and even outlaw voluntary independent labelling by retailers and manufacturers,
see: http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2015/04/27/food-industry-tries-to-block-vermonts-gmo-labeling-law.
The real reason Monsanto et al want
to stop GMO food being labelled is because they know damn well that it would
rot on the shelves! Consumer surveys show again and again that people are aware
of GMO food and don't want it. This means Monsanto has to trick us into eating
it. I'm glad about this news from Vermont ,
but I'm not complacent. The GMO agenda will not give up that easily; they have
other tricks up their sleeve. One of those is to contaminate farms beyond those
it actively plants so that it becomes harder and harder to find food that does
not contain some of its toxins, see background links below. Already the US
organic food regulators have found trace amounts of GMO in organic produce. We
in Britain are lucky enough to have the Soil Association, a very conservative
and stringent authority that insists on a ceiling of less than 0.1% contamination,
yet in the United States food can be advertised as organic with up to 3%
contamination; this is a concession they have made effectively to save their
industry because of the effect of GMO contagion. So we must keep up the
pressure and take action in our own lives; all grocery customers must insist on
top quality natural food; if your retailer won't provide it, go somewhere else.
Ideally grow your own if you can. And keep spreading the word. We have public
opinion on our side, all people need is the right information.
See here for
background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/gmo-spuds-poised-for-market.html.
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