GMO Labels Won’t Make Your Food Safer
Soon you will see the words “partially produced with genetic engineering” in the fine print on many food packages. Activist groups have spent millions of dollars fighting for that tiny text, and food companies have spent millions fighting back. And none of that effort had anything to do with your health.
To bad that statement is completely meaningless.
For one… according to this article (all most I've read) the science behind GMO's has never panned out to show there are negative consequences. Even Bill Nye, after looking into it, changed his stance on GMO's (http://goo.gl/F0Hmlg). I know I know… errybody hates Monsanto though right? And clearly big-chemical is obviously evil right? Perhaps. I mean we've certainly been lied to in the past. The companies making the products KNEW that led was toxic and coverd it up. We've seen that energy companies KNEW the impact of fossil fuels on the planet and covered it up. So it's certainly possible that's the case here as well. The thing is… that's not what these labels will show. In fact… these labels will do nothing but further distract us if there IS something bad about genetically modifying could actually simply distract us if that's the case.
Here are some things labeling won’t help with:
* It won’t help you avoid pesticides. Both the insecticidal Bt toxin and the herbicidal Roundup chemical, glyphosate, are used in both GMO and non-GMO crops.
* It won’t eliminate superweeds, since this ecological problem is not GMO-specific either. (Non-GMO sunflower oil is another big creator of superweeds, by the way)
* It won’t keep unpredictable mutations out of crops’ DNA, because mutation breeding introduces more DNA damage than any “GMO” technology, and nobody’s labeling that.
* It won’t prevent allergies, or make allergies easier to track down. GMOs are already tested for similarities to common allergens before they can be approved. If you do have an allergic reaction to an unusual protein in a particular crop, a “partially produced with genetic engineering” label doesn’t do anything to help track down which ingredient is at fault.
So when you start seeing these labels show up… you can pretty much ignore it because it's meanigless.
Yup. Will be as helpful as "organic" and "all natural".
EXACTLY +Jess Nut!
They'll all be disappointed because the label won't be in big red scary scarlet letters saying POISON POISON KEEP AWAY.
Its interesting the negative reaction many have to GMO's. Its not that I dont get that people are worried about hypothetical risks – its that the ""alternatives"" proposed often have had know 'for sure' problems. Is it just a human thing we would rather go with the devil we know? Or is it that people arnt aware of past problems with pesticides, or (worst of all) species introduction?
I don't know that I even have a strong (or fully informed) position on GMOs. I just know that this labelled is completely meaningless.
I typed it in…and your blog came up. I was interested in what it meant…it is on Gatorade labels. Sooooo healthy!! Lol! Blog on!!
Yes they put it on the label and then they LIE about and twist the truth. Everything we eat, (except what we grow), the air we breath, medicine’s are poisoned…