Tuesday, January 24, 2012

PLEASE LABEL GMOs

  Genetically engineered foods were approved by the USDA using the theory of "substantial equivalence" to other types of breeding like how we make modern hybrids of wheat that make tens of millions of people sick. Millions of people suffer from celiac disease and a recent study showed that only 10% of them have been diagnosed. The smoking gun in study after study has been modern hybrids of wheat and other cereal grains that contain proteins never seen before and rarely or never seen in nature.

Even though GMO/GE foods start with a hybrid and then modifies it even further, they are not the same thing as a pollinated hybrid. We have the right to know that the food we are eating has been developed or modified in some way might make us sick. The USDA decided to allow GMO/GE crops without ANY third party testing and NO long term testing and still doesn't require it in spite of hundreds of reports of health problems in farm animals related to these crops. Washington residents have a right to choose which foods they eat and to know what it is they are buying. The Federal government has decided to shield companies whose lobbyists regularly end up taking regulatory positions, regulating the industries where they have spent their careers promoting that company's products. It is unfortunate that the regulatory body that allowed these chemicals to enter our food stream can no longer be counted on as a reliable source of information because of well documented outside influence by the industry it is supposed to be regulating.

States have the right under the Constitution to regulate all matters not specifically reserved by the federal government. We aren't asking Washington State to bear the cost of a regulatory body or rules that will have any impact on tax payers. In fact, we expect to see a savings in the future by giving people that have already health problems related to the exposure to certain foods the choice to avoid foods that contain what for them will be harmful contaminants. A number of books have been published in the last year about the problems that tens of millions of people have because of new types of proteins and carbohydrates that occur in modern hybrids of cereals, especially wheat. Permanent brain and neural damage, cardiac disease, diabetes, hormone system issues et al have all been directly linked to whole grain diets based on new much more genetically complex hybrids. We have an epidemic of disease in this country related to the food supply and without access to all of the facts about the food we are buying this problem could grow even worse.

We aren't asking for what we really feel is necessary which is to completely ban any food that hasn't been tested whether it be a pollinated hybrid or laboratory engineered product, not because we don't feel that is necessary but because the political reality is that it would meet with such stiff resistance from groups that produce industrialized food that it would be unlikely to be passed. We do feel strongly though that for safety reasons for many and to address the personal concerns of others that allowing for free choice and freedom of information should be not only allowed but that full disclosure should be mandatory. This is like a property rights issue. I have the right to full disclosure about what I am buying to maintain myself and my property. Others don't have the right to hide facts from me when we engage in commerce whether it be selling a house or buying the groceries. The way things are currently, no one could even tell you what the facts are because their is so much pressure from certain members of this industry to keep secrets. Capitalism only works when the markets are free of such subterfuge and back room deals that give one party an advantage over another.