- ANNA MINARD
- Just a little light lunchtime reading! But don't worry: The anti-labeling side says this famous French study is a complete load of unscientific bullshit. Debunked! We're all gonna be juuuuust fiiiiiine.
The raging debate over labeling genetically modified foods continues, and as I'm now on the GMO/GE food beat (whichever acronym you prefer), I thought I'd alert y'all to what you can do to further muddle/clear your mind on the issue this week.
As you hopefully know by now, there's an initiative coming to the ballot in November that would make labeling GMO foods at the retail level mandatory in Washington: Initiative 522. The pro-labeling side is hosting a public forum on Thursday evening (more info here), bringing together people from the Yes on 522 campaign, WashPIRG, Whole Foods—the grocery chain has announced they'll start voluntarily requiring GE labeling over the next few years—and a salmon expert, all to freak you the fuck out about these flimflammin' FrankenFoods. It's hosted by Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization that's involved with similar legislation all over the country. The purpose of the forum, says spokeswoman Emma Boorboor, is to "make the case for labeling" early, before the state is "bombarded with misinformation from big agribusiness campaigns," as she puts it.
The anti-labeling side, on the other hand, is crowing about this New York Times op-ed from last week, timed to the Whole Foods announcement and straightforwardly anti-labeling, containing all the arguments we've already heard: "there is no reliable evidence that genetically modified foods now on the market pose any risk to consumers," and you "can already find products free of genetically engineered ingredients, with labels voluntarily placed by the manufacturers."
Meanwhile in California, a Girl Scout just started her own online petition to ask the Scouts to start offering GMO-free cookies. So there's that.
