GMO, Health & Elections

Sweet corn/Fairfax County

This coming Tuesday it's not only U.S. Presidential Election Day, but there also will be a Californian referendum with wide repercussions. I'm speaking of Proposition 37 requiring labeling of GMOs ("genetically modified organisms".) The outcome of this referendum will not only influence farmers and eaters in California, but also around the U.S. and even the rest of the world.

Foods that contain GMO have been available in the U.S. since the mid 1990s, and by now approximately 90 percent of the corn, soybeans, rapeseed and sugar beets grown in the United States are GMO.  Differently from most other countries, no labeling is required in the U.S. In an article by Francis Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé in the Huffington Post, "Seven Things to Tell Your Friends About GMOs"  the writers, experts in food, environment and sustainability, describe seven key points to consider for this referendum about GMOs:

 
 " 1. GMOs have never undergone standard testing or regulation for human safety.....
 2.  But we know that GMOs have proven harmful in animal studies.......
3. And the most widely used GMOs are paired with an herbicide linked to serious health risks..........
4. The consequences of GMO technology are inherently unpredictable............
5.  GMO makers intimidate and silence farmers and scientists...................
6.  GMOs undermine our food security.....................
7. .GMOs aren't needed in the first place, so why would we take on these risks and harms?"


See the below video from Food Mythbusters , "Do we really need industrial agriculture to feed the world?"

For another crticical view on GMOs,  see the mini-documentary "GMO Ticking Time Bomb" by Gary Null, talk radio host and  author of alternative health books.

It seems there are more than enough indications that GMO may not be as safe or beneficial, let alone healthy as the proponents claim. The issue may be complex, but as long as there are doubts and questions unanswered, common sense would require GMO labels. If you live in California vote for Proposition 37. If you live elsewhere, educate yourself about GMOs and start voting with your feet and choose for your own and the planet's health.