Opinion
In a continuing trend, consumers are saying no to the idea of making the labeling of GMO included foods mandatory. In Washington voters said no to the idea of mandatory GMO labeling.
Detractors will spout off that this loss was due to biotech companies spending a state record 22 million dollars, but the reality is that like in California, voters are seeing through the obscurity of food labeling and the guaranteed increase in food prices. Essentially, mandatory food labeling is something that just doesn’t register as a key priority for voters. There were lobbyists on both sides of this issue and, like always, Monsanto is being portrayed as the bad bad corporate monster. Monsanto didn’t vote, the people did.
Washington is not Oklahoma or Indiana. If mandatory GMO labeling cannot get passed in the US Pacific Northwest one has to think that it is a very tall order for the rest of the country to push this kind of change.
As I have mentioned in the past, the mandatory labeling of GMO ingredient food provides not an ounce of clarity to the consumer. We cannot even manage words like natural, free from, humanely, or sustainable on labels. Scientific research continues to show that genetically modified ingredients in food are safe no matter what Michael Pollan and Bill Maher say.
Sometimes common sense does prevail, and the voters in Washington got this one right. It is truly refreshing to see science win once in a awhile.
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