01-21-2014, 02:31 PM
You can't force GMO people to go through regulatory hurdles without also forcing the non-GMO people to go through the same thing. If you are going to put a label on the package, you need an expensive, time consuming, job-killing, beaurocratic, big-brother process to regulate, test, and enforce the labeling requirements. Otherwise, how do you know which label is honest? A label is a label, and both "claims" as to GMO or non-GMO have to be proven.
Personally, I am anti-GMO which is one of the reasons that we raise our own food. But until I see a regulatory process for the GMO issue that doesn't cost a ton of money and drive out farmers on both sides of the issue (more likely the little guy), I'm on the fence. I think if you buy food from somebody you don't know, it should be "buyer beware". Kind of tough in these global economic times, sure. Even being anti-GMO, taking a look at what happened to the papayas, what is currently happening to bananas, if you haven't noticed, globalization has introduced communicable plant diseases, insect vectors, fungus, and a host of other problems that threaten the world's food supply. Hawaii is one of the best examples of this. Just like we found out from the papayas, GMO might mean the difference between starving and thriving. It is unfortunate that these decisions are usually made by for-profit companies and not objective scientists.
Before you jump on any bandwagon, look at the incredible burden and cost it takes to get and renew an "organic" label. If that seems bad, take a look at the regs and see what it takes to be a company that certifies somebody as organic (hint... you can't unless you are already part of the lobbying machine). Tiny farms are exempt from the requirements. Larger ones, not so much. It's not done on the honor system, and it is very expensive. GMO regs are going to be a similar deal.
The government bodies who oversee these labeling requirements aren't run by former owners of small farms. They are run by former heads of the corporations that they represent and will return to some day.
Buy local. If you trust the source.
Simply claiming "we need GMO labels" to me means that you have no idea of the regulatory burden such claims will entail, and what that potentially means to small farmers who try to operate within administrative law.
Personally, I am anti-GMO which is one of the reasons that we raise our own food. But until I see a regulatory process for the GMO issue that doesn't cost a ton of money and drive out farmers on both sides of the issue (more likely the little guy), I'm on the fence. I think if you buy food from somebody you don't know, it should be "buyer beware". Kind of tough in these global economic times, sure. Even being anti-GMO, taking a look at what happened to the papayas, what is currently happening to bananas, if you haven't noticed, globalization has introduced communicable plant diseases, insect vectors, fungus, and a host of other problems that threaten the world's food supply. Hawaii is one of the best examples of this. Just like we found out from the papayas, GMO might mean the difference between starving and thriving. It is unfortunate that these decisions are usually made by for-profit companies and not objective scientists.
Before you jump on any bandwagon, look at the incredible burden and cost it takes to get and renew an "organic" label. If that seems bad, take a look at the regs and see what it takes to be a company that certifies somebody as organic (hint... you can't unless you are already part of the lobbying machine). Tiny farms are exempt from the requirements. Larger ones, not so much. It's not done on the honor system, and it is very expensive. GMO regs are going to be a similar deal.
The government bodies who oversee these labeling requirements aren't run by former owners of small farms. They are run by former heads of the corporations that they represent and will return to some day.
Buy local. If you trust the source.
Simply claiming "we need GMO labels" to me means that you have no idea of the regulatory burden such claims will entail, and what that potentially means to small farmers who try to operate within administrative law.