Advocates have collected more than half a million signatures to get a November measure in front of voters which would force special labels on virtually all foods sold in the state - outside Whole Foods, anyway. They say they are promoting transparency and trust, but those are two things lacking in the Organic Food industry, since dozens and dozens of inorganic ingredients are allowed without it losing its 'label', there is no surprise checking of organic farms and 25 % of imported organic food has been found to be not organic at all, even more in the actual countries we are importing organic food from.
And what is exempt from the initiative? Organic food made using plants or animals with engineered genetic material - GMOs. That's right, traditional food with GMOs would need to be labeled but not organic ones. Oh, and alcohol is exempt too.
What do you mean GMOs can't enter the food stream until they are safe? They should be labeled for transparency. Unless they are in organic food. LA LA LA LA LA. Credit: Shutterstock
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not give any special status to organic or genetically modified foods(1) compared to traditional foods for a simple reason. 'Organic' is just a process, not a food type, and genetically modified foods have yet to cause a single stomachache in a decade and a half of use - they are not a different food type either. The list of illnesses and deaths due to tainted organic food is, however, as long as your arm. Since the FDA has no positions on GMOs but California is creating an artificial one, that means we will see a raft of frivolous court decisions - even sillier than when the Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act keep each other from restoring endangered fish.
"This could become a lawsuit magnet well beyond the borders of California," Tom Scott, executive director of the Sacramento-based California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, told the Associated Press. "You're just going to see trial lawyers walking up and down grocery store aisles saying this doesn't meet the labeling requirements."
The secretary of state this week certified the measure for the state's November ballot. Look for progressive science bloggers to dutifully frame their fellow voters as 'anti-corporation' and not anti-science.
NOTE:
(1) Yet. Congress is trying, spearheaded in typical anti-science fashion by one of my own Senators in California. That 53 out of 55 are Democrats is not proof that progressives are anti-science about food, supporters claim, 2 out of 55 means it is bipartisan. However, if 49% of the right denies evolution, compared to only 40% of the left, it means Republicans are anti-science, to progressive science media:
Anti-GMO Republicans in the House:
Richard Hanna (NY-24)
George Miller (CA-7)
Anti-GMO Democrats in the House:
Peter DeFazio (OR-4)
Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Louise Slaughter (NY-28)
Keith Ellison (MN-5)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-7)
Peter Welch (VT-At Large)
Hansen Clarke (MI-13)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-3)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-25)
Anna Eshoo (CA-14)
Sam Farr (CA-17)
Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Rush Holt (NJ-12)
Chellie Pingree (ME-1)
Jim McDermott (WA-7)
Madeleine Bordallo (GU-At Large)
James Moran (VA-8)
John Olver (MA-1)
Jared Polis (CO-2)
Charles Rangel (NY-15)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-1)
Pete Stark (CA-13)
Howard L. Berman (CA-28)
Robert Brady (PA-1)
David Cicilline (RI-1)
Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11)
Steve Cohen (TN-9)
Dianne DeGette (CO-1)
Bob Filner (CA-5)
Barney Frank (MA-4)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-4)
Janice Hahn (CA-36)
Michael Honda (CA-15)
Barbara Lee (CA-9)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-16)
James McGovern (MA-3)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)
Jackie Speier (CA-12)
John Tierney (MA-6)
Melvin L. Watt (NC-12)
Lynn Woolsey (CA-6)
Maxine Waters (CA-35)
Grace Napolitano (CA-38)
Anti-GMO Democrats in the Senate:
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Patrick Leahy (VT)
Bernie Sanders (VT)
Daniel Akaka (HI)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Ron Wyden (OR)
Mark Begich (AK)
Jon Tester (MT)
Richard Blumenthal (CT)
Jeff Merkley (OR)
Sanders of Vermont caucuses with Democrats but is technically independent. However, he is a full-on anti-science kook.
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