Hawaii Senate panel to consider GMO labeling

[kalakoa]

not that many crops that have been approved for commercial production

Irrelevant; where the GMO/GE organisms have competitive advantage, they will be propogated through natural selection. Do not pretend that they will not "escape into the wild" and/or that no interbreeding will occur.

not saying that you can't have labels

Labelling requirements belong to one or more Federal agencies which have not seen fit to create regulations pertaining to how and whether GMO products are to be labeled. As such, any attempt by a State or County to require GMO labeling will only result in expensive lawsuits; both sides will be funded by the public, only the lawyers will benefit.

Regardless of the potential merits, I can think of much better uses for the money.

[rainyjim]

I thought you might find this interesting (from federa regulations on organic crop production)

§205.601 Synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production.

(11) Streptomycin, for fire blight control in apples and pears only until October 21, 2014.

(12) Tetracycline, for fire blight control in apples and pears only until October 21, 2014.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=3e8c8892691edb8b698bb72196aafed3&rgn=div5&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32&idno=7#se7.3.205_160

So, for anyone that is unsure what the above means. Tetracyline and streptomycin are two antibiotics commonly used in labs as reporter genes for the production of 'GMO' crops. The above tells us that they are also used in organic agriculture. I find this amusing given Kane's fear of antibiotic resistance from some sort of 'GMO' contamination.

[rainyjim]

Kalakoa...

In general domesticated crops and animals are called domesticated because they have trouble or simply cannot survive in natural ecosystems without assistance from man.

No doubt some crops will escape and proliferate in the wild but in terms of domesticated crops ('GMO' or conventional) this is rare.

That aside were talking about labeling and I specifically was talking about since there isn't that many crops approved for commercial production it isn't that hard to determine which foods on the shelf probably contain 'GMO' ingredients. Think it over again...the fact that not many have been approved for commercial production is relevant to being able to determine which foods on the shelf may be 'GMO' without the use of a label, yes?

In terms of the bigger picture - say the environment and escapes - it may not be relevant that there are few approved for commercial use. But that wasn't what I was talking about in my post. Just FYI.

And I agree! The state / county has no authority in this are it is just a waste of time.

However, it is amusing to note that Maui County banned watermelon and a number of other non-GMO crops because they are polyploids produced by chromosome doubling (not a GMO technique). Funny what uneducated people think they know about the topic - even those who are in the county council.

[kalakoa]

there isn't that many crops approved for commercial production

To be clear: that's "in the US" and "for domestic human consumption", right?

No doubt some crops will escape and proliferate in the wild

Already happened with canola...

banned watermelon and a number of other non-GMO crops because they are polyploids

Did they ban weed? Polyploidy works there too...

[ironyak]

If you're worried about antibiotic resistance, then focus on concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs) as over 80% of antibiotics are fed to livestock and are needed because of the conditions at these operations.

The bacteria with lab plasmids in China's rivers are a concern to me not as a major source of antibiotic resistance, but because they are an indicator for poor biotech containment procedures, lab practices that has existed for decades since recombinant DNA was first developed.

I disagree with inferring ingredients - while corn and soy in the US are most likely GMO, the actual variants used do matter. Some strains are single trait GMO, encoding one bt toxin in corn for example, some encode several bt toxins. Some GMO strains have been pulled from the market such as Starlink corn, and some corn is non-GMO. All of these are currently "corn" in the ingredient list. Again, what is the harm in clear labeling?

I also disagree that this is not a matter for the states as these changes often come from the bottom up. Overall the GMO discussion has many parallels with the trans-fat debate that took decades to work through. While the GMO food science is being sorted out, clear labeling is simple and helpful for the consumer to make informed choices while the slow gears of the federal regulatory agencies come to a science-based decision to support, limit, or eliminate various GMO food products.

IMHO

EDIT: typos

[Wao nahele kane]

Proponents turn to ad hominem attacks skewing concern to fear, pitchforks and complete ignorance etc. They would rather everyone turn a blind eye and follow in blind faith with regard to the politically established "controls" that clearly aren't adequate. Because such concerns are raised they then go on the attack of the individuals expressing simple concern.
When I bring out a pitchfork and am in fear you'll then know what a pitchfork wielded by fear is all about.
Fear and pitchforks... pathetic.
Why not read the 331 page report linked above?
If you still have an issue, write the authors and let them know.

[Wao nahele kane]

Not many GM products? LOL.
Rapeseed, honey (produced from gm crops), cotton, rice, soybean, sugar cane, tomatoes, corn, sweet corn, potatoes, Canola, flax, papaya, squash, Red-hearted chicory, cotton seed oil, peas, vegetable oil, sugar beets, dairy products, vitamins, grapefruit ETC, ETC, ETC. Recently an apple.
And all the products that use the above GM versions within their ingredients and those GM versions not listed. It's a huge list and pretty much impossible to ascertain what the source is for each ingredient.

[Wao nahele kane]

Here's the ISAAA list of GM crops that don't appear to include radiated GM product crops etc. http://www.isaaa.org/gmapprovaldatabase/...efault.asp
Wheat is on the list.

[rainyjim]

a round up ready wheat was designed by Monsanto, but it was never commercially produced.

So you won't have any in your wheat products.

FWIW.

Kane, that list is relatively small compared to all the food products available.

[kalakoa]

round up ready wheat ... was never commercially produced.

Not "commercially" nor "approved for sale", yet somehow loose in the wild:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09...-one-opens