WOYP friends! You have until February 16th to tell the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) what you think about Monsanto, genetically engineered (GE) foods, and the importance of accurate food labeling!
A little back story: In 2006 the Center for Food Safety sued the USDA for approving Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready alfalfa. Alfalfa is open-pollinated by bees, who can spread the seed for miles. This means that farms growing organic and non-GE alfalfa could have their crop contaminated by Monsanto’s GE alfalfa.
This poses a serious problem for organic farmers. Current USDA Organic standards state that an organic crop that has been accidentally contaminated with GE seed can still display the official “USDA Organic” seal, as long as the farmer did not intentionally pollinate the crop with GE seed.
So this means the organic food you are buying may, or may not, be genetically engineered. This may come as a surprise to the 75% of consumers who believe that when they are buying organic they are also buying GE-free.
It also forces us to ask: what good is a label if it doesn’t mean what it claims to mean? If Monsanto continues to rule over our food system, we may never have accurate and dependable labeling of GE foods.
The federal judge in the case of the USDA vs. the Center for Food Safety ordered that the USDA complete an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the effects of GE crop on farmers and the environment. The USDA finished the first draft of their EIS on December 14th — and we are now in the 60 day public comment period! (One great thing about EIS is that it mandates a period of time for the public to weigh-in.)
Go to True Food Now to tell the USDA that organic does matter, and that you want correct labeling of GE foods, just like they have in Australia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
