'With
no real market for GMOs, EU farmers have refused to grow them. EU
activists point out that if meat, eggs and dairy products derived from
animals fed GMO grains had to be labeled, there would be no GMOs in
Europe. Period.' (File)Since the controversial
introduction in the mid-nineties of genetically engineered (GE) food and
crops, and the subsequent fast-tracking of those crops by the federal
government—with no independent safety-testing or labeling required—there
has been a lively debate among activists, both inside and outside the
U.S., about how to drive these unhealthy and environmentally
destructive “Frankenfoods” off the market.
Some campaigners have called for an outright ban of GE crops. In fact,
several dozen nations, thousands of local governments in the EU, and six
counties in the U.S. (in California, Washington and Hawaii) have
created GMO-free zones by passing bans.
Other activists argue that strict mandatory labeling laws, similar to
those in the EU, are all we need in order to rid the world of GMOs
(Genetically Modified Organisms). Activists in this camp point out that
very few products in countries that have mandatory GMO labeling laws
contain GMOs, because once companies are required to label GMO
ingredients, they reformulate their products to be GMO-free, rather than
risk rejection by consumers.
Who’s right?
A review of two decades of anti-GMO campaigning in North America and
Europe suggests that mandatory labeling and bans, or GMO-free zones,
should be seen as complementary, rather than contradictory. And recent
news about
increased contamination
of non-GMO crops by the growing number of USDA-approved GMO crops
suggests that if we don’t implement labeling laws and bans sooner rather
than later, we may run out of time to preserve organic and non-GMO
farmers and their fields.
Bans and Mandatory Labeling Laws: Lessons from the EU
In the EU in the late-1990s, in what was the largest agricultural market
in the world, anti-GMO campaigners, including Greenpeace and Friends of
the Earth, at first tried to establish a sweeping production and import
ban on all GMOs. They were unsuccessful, largely because politicians
and bureaucrats argued that an outright ban of GMOs in the EU would
violate World Trade Organization agreements and bring on serious
economic retaliation from the U.S. government.
Leading consumer, environmental and farm groups pushing for a ban were successful, however, in forcing EU authorities to
adopt
significant GMO safety-testing regulations. All GMOs, under EU law,
are considered "novel foods" and are subject to extensive, case-by-case,
science-based food evaluation by European regulatory officials. These
regulations, much to the chagrin of Monsanto and the Gene Giants, have
kept most GMOs, with the exception of animal feeds, out of the country.
EU regulations also permit member nations to establish GMO-free zones.
As of 2012 there are 169 regions and 4,713 municipalities that have
declared
themselves GMO-free zones in the EU. In addition to these GMO-free
zones in the EU, at least 26 nations, including Switzerland, Australia,
Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece,
Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico, and Russia have banned GMOs entirely.
Significant labeling and safety-testing procedures on GMOs have been put
in place in approximately
60 countries.
Mandatory Labeling in the EU: The Crucial Blow to GMOs
Although EU grassroots forces failed to gain a continent-wide ban on the
cultivation or import of GMOs, they were successful in pushing
authorities to impose mandatory labeling of all genetically engineered
foods, feeds and food ingredients in 1997. This, combined with strict
pre-market safety-testing regulations, has marginalized or eliminated
GMOs throughout the EU.
EU foods derived from animals raised on GMO feed, however—meat, eggs,
and dairy products—do not have to be labeled in the EU. As a
consequence, billions of dollars of GMO-tainted animal feeds, including
corn, soybeans and canola, continue to be imported every year into the
EU from the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina. EU activists, in Germany
and elsewhere, have now begun campaigning to eliminate this strategic
loophole.
As the EU’s GMO food labeling law came into effect in 1997-98, activists
switched gears, successfully pressuring many large supermarket chains,
including Carrefour, Co-Op, Tesco, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer,
and food manufacturers, including Unilever and Nestlé, to pledge to
remain GMO-free. Feeling the heat from grassroots campaigners and
realizing that mandatory GMO labeling would be the “kiss of death” for
their brand-name products and their reputations, every major EU
supermarket, food manufacturing and restaurant chain, including
U.S.-based multinationals such as General Mills, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s,
Starbucks and Walmart, eliminated GMOs from their supply chains. As a
consequence almost no GMO-derived foods, with the exception of meat and
animal products, have been sold in EU retail stores or restaurants from
1997 until now.
With no real market for GMOs, EU farmers have refused to grow them. EU
activists point out that if meat, eggs and dairy products derived from
animals fed GMO grains had to be labeled, there would be no GMOs in
Europe. Period.
Frankenfoods Fight Heats Up in the U.S.
In the U.S., the battle against GE foods and crops has been markedly
more difficult. Since 1994, government regulatory agencies have refused
to require labels on GMOs, or to require independent safety testing
beyond the obviously biased research carried out by Monsanto and other
genetic engineering companies themselves.
Despite government and industry opposition, and limited funding, a
growing number of pro-organic and anti-GMO campaigners carried out a
variety of public education, marketplace pressure and boycotts between
1994 and 2012 designed to either ban or label GMOs. Although GMO
labeling bills, which according to numerous polls are supported by the
overwhelming majority of Americans, were introduced in Congress over and
over again during the past two decades, none have gathered more than
nominal support from lawmakers And media coverage, at least until the
California GMO labeling ballot initiative in 2012 (Proposition 37) and
the Washington State ballot initiative in 2013 (I-522), has been
generally sparse, with reporters routinely spouting industry propaganda
that GMOs are safe, environmentally sustainable and necessary to feed a
growing global population.
But the tide is beginning to turn. More farmers are rejecting GMO seeds,
more consumers are demanding non-GMO foods, or at the least, labels on
GMO foods. And the media is beginning to give the anti-GMO movement if
not its fair share, at least substantially more ink than we’ve seen in
decades.
Farmers Sound the Alarm about GMO Contamination
Between 1994-2012, the number of acres in the U.S. planted in GMO crops
has grown significantly. Today, 169 million acres—almost half of all
cultivated U.S. farmlands—are now growing GMO crops.
But despite the proliferation of GMO crops, we’re now seeing increased
demand for non-GMO seeds. This is partly because farmers are growing
frustrated with having to buy more and more pesticides and herbicides
for GMO crops, as weeds and pests grow increasingly resistant to
products like Monsanto’s Roundup.
But it’s also because organic and non-GMO farmers are speaking out about
contamination of their crops by nearby GMO crops. Just this week, a
new survey
published by Food & Water Watch revealed that a third of U.S.
organic farmers report problems with contamination from nearby GMO
crops, and over half of the farmers surveyed said they’ve had grain
shipments rejected because of contamination.
Consumers Demand non-GMO
Increasing demand for non-GMO crops also stems from consumers’
heightened concerns about health, which in turn is increasing demand for
non-GMO and organic crops and foods. The turning point in the anti-GMO
Movement in the U.S. came in 2012-13 when organic and anti-GE
organizations, led by the Organic Consumers Association, Food Democracy
Now, Center for Food Safety, Alliance for Natural Health and others,
joined by a number of organic and natural health companies including
Mercola.com, Dr. Bronner’s Soaps, Nature’s Path, Lundberg Family Farms,
Natural News, and Nutiva, decided to bypass the federal government and
launch high-profile, multi-million dollar state ballot initiative
campaigns for mandatory labeling of GMOs in California and Washington
State.
Although anti-GMO campaigners narrowly lost 51%-49% in both states,
large genetic engineering and food corporations were forced to spend
over $70 million ($12 million of which was illegally laundered by the
Grocery Manufacturers Association in Washington). In addition GMA
members, most of whom are high-profile food manufacturers, seriously
damaged their brands and reputations by carrying out a misleading, dirty
tricks advertising campaign that flooded the airwaves in California and
Washington and antagonized millions of consumers—many of whom began
boycotting their products and assailing their Facebook pages.
By 2012, thanks to the massive media coverage of the California GMO
labeling initiative, organic foods and products reached $35 billion in
sales, representing almost 5 percent of all grocery store sales, with
non-GMO “natural” food sales reaching another $15 billion.
This growth in sales has not gone unnoticed by food manufacturers and
retailers. Although 75-80 percent of all non-organic processed foods
contain GMOs, General Mills, Kraft General Foods, Chipotle, Ben and
Jerry’s and Whole Foods Market, responding to public concern and
marketplace pressure, are now moving to eliminate GMOs from some or all
of their brand name products.
Push for GMO Labeling Laws Continues
In the meantime, grassroots activists continue to push for mandatory
labeling laws. In 2012-13, they lobbied legislators in 30 states,
achieving partial success in Maine and Connecticut. In 2014 Vermont,
Oregon and several others states appear poised to pass GMO labeling
laws, while voters in five Oregon and California counties will attempt
to pass GMO bans.
Frantically trying to head off the inevitable, the GMA and a powerful
coalition of genetic engineering, industrial agriculture, restaurant,
supermarket and junk food manufacturers have begun lobbying Congress to
take away states’ rights to pass laws requiring GMO food labels. The GMA
has also lobbied the FDA and Congress to allow the obviously
fraudulent, though routine, industry practice of labeling or marketing
GE-tainted foods as “natural.”
At the state level the GE Lobby, Big Food and the Farm Bureau are
sponsoring bills to take away the right of counties and municipalities
to pass laws banning GMOs or restricting hazardous industrial
agriculture practices.
On the international front, genetic engineering, pharmaceutical and Big
Food companies are attempting to subvert GMO labels or bans by
“fast-tracking,” with no public input or discussion, transnational trade
agreements such as the
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the
Trans
Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA). These so-called Free Trade
agreements would allow multinational corporations such as Monsanto,
Bayer and Dupont to sue local, state or even national governments that
interfere with their profits, by passing laws regulating or banning GMOs
or other controversial agricultural practices.
Although these profoundly pro-corporate and anti-consumer and
anti-environmental trade agreements in theory can stop GMO labeling laws
and bans from coming into effect, in political terms they are perceived
by the majority of the body politic and even many state and local
officials as highly authoritarian and anti-democratic. Similarly TPP and
TAFTA are correctly perceived by many national political, environmental
and labor leaders as undermining national sovereignty, sustainability
and economic justice.
Why Both Labeling and Bans Are Necessary
Once GMOs foods are labeled, informed consumers will move to protect
themselves and their families by not buying them. Once enough consumers
shun GMO-tainted and labeled foods, stores will stop selling them and
food manufacturers will stop putting GMO food ingredients in their
products. However as the EU experience shows, labeling must eventually
be comprehensive, with a requirement for meat, eggs and dairy products
to be labeled if the animals have been fed GMO feed.
But food labeling alone cannot protect the environment, or non-GMO and
organic farmers from GE drift and seed contamination. This is why county
and regional bans on GMO cultivation and the creation of regional
GMO-free zones are important. More than 80 percent of farmers surveyed
by Food & Water Watch said they were “concerned” about
contamination, while 60 percent said they were “very concerned.” Farmers
said a lax U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been excessively
influenced by the biotech industry.
The Food & Water Watch report comes just as the USDA has extended its
public comment period on “coexistence” between GMO and non-GMO agriculture.
In the U.S. the largest food fight in history will soon intensify.
Throwing gasoline on the fire, GE companies are arrogantly and
foolhardily attempting to introduce genetically engineered fish, apples
and
“Agent Orange” (2,4 D)
herbicide-resistant corn and soy on the market, just at the time when
human health and environmental concerns are escalating. These new
Frankenfoods and crops will survive in the marketplace only if there are
no mandatory labeling laws and no legitimate safety testing.
But this “no labels” scenario is unlikely to continue. State legislative
battles in Vermont, Oregon, and other states will likely reach critical
mass in 2014, forcing industry and the federal government to finally
adopt EU-type regulations and practices on GMOs. Once labeling is in
place (including labels on meat, fish dairy, and eggs) genetic
engineering companies, led by Monsanto, Dow, Dupont, Syngenta, Bayer,
and BASF will have no choice but to abandon GMOs and gene-splicing, in
favor of less controversial hybrid seed/cross-breeding practices (which
do not require labels) such as “
marker assisted breeding.”
If industry and government on the other hand dig in their heels,
stomping on consumer, state, municipal and community rights, telling us
to “shut up and eat your Frankenfoods,” America’s food revolution may
turn into a full-scale rebellion.
America’s organic consumers and natural health advocates invite you to
join us in this decisive battle to drive GMOs off the market and make
the great transition to healthy and sustainable food and farming.
Click here to make a donation to this cause, the Food Fight of Our Lives.
