The battle over genetically modified foods (GMOs) rages on. Mainstream media points the finger at Monsanto and other chemical companies as the culprits, but the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is right there in the front lines when it comes to fighting against the labeling of GMO foods.
For the last two years, the GMA have successfully blocked GMO labeling legislation in over 20 states by running misleading ads scaring consumers into believing that labeling will cause food prices to soar. The ads claimed that labeling would cost food manufacturers a great deal of money and those costs would be passed on to the consumer. If cost is the reason the GMA is against labeling then why aren’t food prices higher now? They collectively spent over $100 million to stop labeling laws since 2012. Members of the GMA who export food products overseas to countries who require labeling already do so. They comply with their laws because they do not want to lose their business. They can do the same thing for us in the United States.
Who are the members of the GMA? You can find their list of names here. It’s quite extensive and I am guessing it includes names of companies whose food products are sitting in your kitchen pantry.
Last month Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin, signed the first “no strings attached” bill requiring all food products containing GMOs to be labeled as such. Monsanto and the GMA threatened to sue states who pass laws requiring labeling and most state legislators who voted on bills in the past few months caved in to the scare tactics from “food cartel” corporations. Maine and Connecticut passed a “watered down” version, but their state laws won’t be enforced until several other states join in. Vermont is the only state who stood up to the GMA alone.
This afternoon, the GMA made good on their threat. According to the Burlington Free Press, the GMA, along with the Snack Food Association, International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers, filed a complaint in federal district court in Vermont challenging the state’s mandatory GMO labeling law. You can read the lawsuit here.
The GMA has a Face Book page. I invite you to leave them comments. I did. Boycott these companies. There are plenty of alternative ones who sell Verified GMO FREE, and of course you can buy organic, but be sure to tell your grocer what you are doing. He/she wants your feedback and will buy products consumers want. If you missed my post about the vote here in California over GMO labeling, you can read about it here. The post includes names and phone numbers of the senators who voted against the law.
I found an online petition directed toward the GMA and their lawsuit you can sign and please share with others.
It is time for “We the People” to remind our elected officials who they work for.
The GMO crowd is dirty to the corps. It is all about using extended shelf life to make most things that go bad in two days…..go bad in two years. They re-package these products with same stuff. Ever noticed how everthing now is package in non-dated plastic?
The GMO crowd is also rotten to the core! They never mention the effects of Canola oil(Singer Sewing Machine Oil) – Rapeseed (same stuff!) The nasty GMO Soy products, Soy Lecithin,Soy Protein and Soy Vegetable Oil.
http://www.foodfightfundvt.org/ The State of Vermont is actually fighting these
GMA surrogate slime’s retainer law suits!!! Send the State of Vermont a couple of bucks to beat back these anti-american poison food dealers.
Which genetic modifications function to extend shelf life? I’m not aware of any that are on the market now and I’d be curious to know what they are.
Tim…are you asking if GMOs are sold in our grocery stores now? If that is your question, this is the list: alfalfa, cotton, canola, (canola, high fructose corn syrup) corn, corn starch, soy, (and any soy derivatives like soy lecithin), papaya, sugar beets, zucchini and yellow summer squash, aspartame (artificial sweetener), pineapple from Costa Rica, coming soon…bananas (it will be tested on Americans for 6 months w/o their knowledge or consent…why? because the biotech/chemical companies can).
At least 75% of processed foods contain GMOs unless they are labeled NON GMO Verified (look for the seal) or USDA organic.
Sounds like he was asking specifically which GMO’s are to extend shelf life? Do you know? What ARE most of them for? I assumed it was mostly that, and making em look better, and repelling bugs.
PS Inge, look soon for my piece based on that Poseidon/CNN propaganda you sent me a while back … I gave you a hat-tip!
“SB 270 is not about the environment,” the alliance argues. “It’s a scam … to enrich the California Grocers Association to the tune of billions of dollars in bag fees at the expense of 2,000 hard-working Californians.” Grocers could pocket as much as $189 million a year from the new bag fees, according to a bag-manufacturer’s study ..”
well… I guess the connection is “Grocery Association.” Different one, different issue, different state, similar bullshit.
How tired are we yet, of the profiteering side of a dispute accusing the reform side of angling for a profit? And who knows, they may even believe it, given what we know of the human tendency of “PROJECTION.”
I bring my own bags and have done so for over 25 years. I still have the first canvas bag that a market in Modesto sold to customers, trying to get them to go green.