Protect Americans’ right to know

Americans want to know what’s in their food and how it’s grown. As the full House of Representatives considers whether to block state GMO labeling laws, legislators may lose sight of this simple truth in a cascade of misleading claims made by some food and biotechnology companies. Food labeling opponents will try to twist a debate about transparency into a debate about a new and still largely unproven technology.  We can’t let them. 

Americans are keenly interested in what’s in food, who made it, where it was made and how it was made. No wonder more than 90 percent of people tell pollsters they want to know whether their food contains GMO ingredients. This should be simple. Give us the facts and let us make our own decisions. That’s how markets are supposed to work. 

{mosads}Unfortunately, some food and biotechnology companies don’t trust us to make these choices for ourselves.  But they don’t say bluntly that they don’t think we‘re smart enough to decide. That would be bad for business.  Instead they’re rolling out the same tired arguments they’ve used to fight any and all food regulations – that labeling will increase food prices, and that it will prevent American farmers from “feeding the world.” 

Do we need GMOs to feed the world? Yields from conventionally bred crops are rising just as fast as yields from GMO crops. In fact, conventional breeding is coming up with more drought-resistant crop varieties for farmers in Africa — at less cost.  The simple truth is, there are far more effective ways to meet the world population’s long-term food security needs than betting on biotech. 

What about food prices? Will GMO labeling increase food prices? Food companies change their labels all the time to make new advertising claims. Did the price of Cheerios increase when General Mills added a GMO-free disclosure to the side of the box? No. Do consumers view a GMO disclosure as a warning sign? Lessons learned from food labeling around the globe show us that they won’t. 

Big food and its allies insist that GMO labeling would imply that food isn’t safe.  The fact is, the food industry doesn’t label unsafe food. It takes it off the shelves. 

The cultivation of GMO crops has created a major environmental and public health problem.  These crops have fueled an explosion in the use of glyphosate, a weed killer recently deemed a probable human carcinogen by eminent cancer experts empanelled by a branch of the World Health Organization.  Because of the widespread adoption of GMO crops over the last two decades, farmers sprayed 280 million pounds of glyphosate in 2012 – up from 16 million pounds in 1992. What’s safe about that?  

GMO crops may some day deliver on promised increases in yields and other benefits. But so far, they have mostly delivered increases in a weed killer that probably causes cancer. 

Why not let the people decide? Legislators supporting the so-called “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” not only want to prevent states like Vermont from assuring their citizens’ right to know but also to limit the Obama administration’s ability to craft a national labeling solution.  They also want to enshrine the “voluntary” label system that has failed consumers since 2001. 

Americans just want the right to know what’s in our food – just like people in 64 other nations that have GMO labeling laws. It’s time to let us know what we’re eating. 

Faber is the executive director of Just Label It and vice president for Governmental Affairs for the Environmental Working Group.