CONSUMER REPORTS ASKS:
WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED "FOOD" ???
In a move to fill a much needed void and counter corporate agribusiness's
desperate efforts to deny consumers the right to know whether their food
is genetically engineered or not, Consumer Reports
magazine this week will provide a list of food products that contain
bioengineered ingredients.
The new issue will identify for its 4.7 million readers which of their
favorite tortilla chips, muffin mixes and even baby foods contains
genetically modified ingredients. By naming such foods by brands the
magazine is certain to increase the growing debate in the United States
over policies that allow Americans to routinely eat genetically modified
food without knowing it.
Efforts by the government and corporate agribusiness to deny the people's
right to know contrast sharply with the 15-country European Union, as
well as Australia and New Zealand, which has ordered the labeling of
foods with modified DNA while the Japanese government has just published
a list of 30 modified foods, including tofu, that soon must carry labels.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. people are now already consuming an array of
modified whole foods and processed foods derived from 50 gene-altered
crops approved by USDA.as at least 60% of the nation's processed foods --
from soup to nuts -- contains gene-altered ingredients.Roughly half of
this year's soybean crop and one-third of the corn crop has been
genetically modified either to kill pests or to help the plants withstand
weed killers.
In its tests Consumer Reports found that grocery
shelves are increasingly stocked with genetically modified products due
to the fact that so much soy protein and so many corn derivatives such as
high-fructose sweetener are currently used in processed food.
The magazine's list comes only a week after Rep. Dennis Kucinich,
Dem.-Ohio, disclosed that he is finishing and prepared to introduce
legislation that will allow labels on packaging that indicate whether
food is free of genetically modified ingredients.
"At this point, which I think is very early in the discussion of this
technology, it seems the most rational and safe thing to do is to label
something free of genetic modification and let consumers make up their
minds if it concerns them or not," Kucinich, a two-term House member and
a former mayor of Cleveland, recently told the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch's Bill Lambrecht.
"Bioengineering is producing changes in food that are coming so fast that
they've overtaken the regulatory structures," Kucinich added. "Until such
time that we can make a complete and independent determination as to the
safety of genetically modified food, the public has a right to know
whether food has been modified or not."
At the same time Craig Winters, executive director of the newly formed
Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods, stressed that he and his
organization intend to "open the floodgates of information to Congress."
In addition, the Sierra Club declared last week that it is joining the
debate on genetically engineered modified food. In a letter to President
Bill Clinton, the group's president, Carl Pope, said that his
550,000-member organization wants mandatory labeling of genetically
altered products.
Meanwhile, Grocery Manufacturers Association spokesperson
Gene Grabowski worries that labeling "would imply that there's something
wrong with food, and there isn't." He said that changing the
science-based labeling system now in use could let "any special interest
group agitate and create monstrous encyclopedias and attach them to
products."
But as the chorus of protests concerning the non-labeling of genetically
engineered food escalate in Europe and other countries abroad
biotechnology companies, like Monsanto and other "life
science" corporations plead with the U.S. government: Defend American
rules that keep genetically modified foods unlabeled or risk a consumer
backlash at home.
"We said to them that we really needed their voice because we don't want
this to spread to the United States," Mike Phillips of the
It has also been revealed that in a June 11 meeting of the World Trade
Organization's (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade, the United
States and Canada expressed concerns to the WTO about the increased use
of mandatory labeling measures for genetically modified foods.
Canada complained about recent measures proposed by the governments of
Australia and New Zealand on labeling requirements for genetically
modified foods, measures that Canada claims will apply to foods that are
no different, essentially, from their conventional counterparts.
The two North American countries have criticized the adoption of GMO
labeling plans, arguing the labels are a potential barrier to trade and
that there is no scientific justification for treating genetically
modified foods differently from conventional foods.
The two countries are particularly critical of European Council
Regulation 1139/98, which entered into force last year requiring products
containing modified corn and soybeans to carry information on the food
label or ingredient list stating that the product contains genetically
modified material. Washington and Ottawa claim that their exports of corn
and soybeans to the EU are being adversely affected by the labeling
requirement.
MSNBC Poll Results http://www.msnbc.com/news/297105.asp#BODY
Would you know if you were eating a genetically engineered food?
* 4125 responses
Yes 7%
No 77%
Don't Know 16%
Do you think the government should require genetically engineered food
products to be labelled?
* 4146 responses
Yes 80%
No 16%
Don't know 4%
Do you think there should be pre-market testing of genetically engineered
foods before they are marketed, as with any food additive?
* 4155 responses
Yes 89%
No 9%
Don't know 3%
Are you concerned about the potential unforeseen consequences of
genetically engineered plants and animals to our health or the environment?
* 4226 responses
Yes 77%
No 20%
Don't know 3%
Survey results tallied every 60 seconds. Live Votes reflect respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.