crosspost: Oregonian voters frightened into rejecting labeling initiative

[Guest guest]

" JoAnn Guest " <angelprincessjo>

Fri Nov 8, 2002 2:07 pm

Oregonian voters frightened into rejecting labeling initiative

 

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

----

 

Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

A new national survey was released on Tuesday that indicates over 88%

of

Americans want labeling on genetically engineered foods. Contrast this

to the results of Measure 27 in Oregon where only 29% of the voters

approved the labeling initiative.

 

The opponents of Oregon Measure 27 spent over $5 million to frighten

voters into thinking their food prices would go up over 50% if the

labeling initiative passed. If Oregon voters had not been exposed

repeatedly to this false information, we are confident the outcome

would

have been much different, as the new poll suggests.

 

Rest assured, the Oregon battle was just a stepping stone and not a

stumbling block in our efforts to label genetically engineered foods.

 

Posted below is a press release about the results of the new poll. The

actual questions and details can be found at:

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/facts & issues/OregonPollResult.pdf

 

MAJOR FOOD FIGHT DEVELOPING BETWEEN BIOTECH & FOOD INDUSTRIES

 

The U.S. government's lax regulations over genetically engineered

crops

are an accident waiting to happen. We already saw one significant

accident happen when genetically engineered StarLink corn, not fit for

human consumption, found its way into the human food supply.

 

StarLink corn contamination of the human food supply was an

embarrassment to both the biotech and food industries. But it is

really

the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

who

are to blame for developing such faulty regulations in the first

place.

 

Since the StarLink corn fiasco, nothing much has changed. However, a

few

months ago, the USDA announced what their plans are for keeping

biotech

crops that contain pharmaceutical drugs from getting into the human

food

supply. We were shocked to learn that the USDA's primary strategy was

simply to stagger the growing season on the biotech pharmaceutical

crops

by about two to three weeks from the commercial food crops.

 

Even the biotech industry realized this was not going to be enough to

keep pharmaceutical crops from contaminating the human food supply. So

in October, they announced plans to restrict pharmaceutical biotech

corn

from being grown in the large corn producing states of Iowa, Illinois

and Indiana and parts of Nebraska, Ohio, Minnesota and Missouri.

 

However, the food industry has accurately assessed that this is not

going to be adequate to keep food crops from being contaminated with

pharmaceutical drugs. The food industry leaders are calling for the

development of these pharmaceutical biotech crops be restricted to

nonfood crops such as tobacco.

 

Posted below is Wall Street Journal article detailing these

developments

titled " Food, Biotech Industries Feud Over Plans for Bio-Pharming. "

 

There are many players in this growing controversy:

 

1) THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - The USDA policy for keeping

pharmaceutical biotech crops out of the food supply would be almost

laughable if we were not dealing with such a serious issue. You can

read

the USDA's guidelines at:

http://www.thecampaign.org/pharm-2002.pdf

 

2) THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY - When the Biotechnology Industry Organization

(BIO), the trade group that is constantly trying to promote their

products, is calling for restrictions beyond what the USDA is

recommending, you know the USDA regulations are faulty. Posted below

the

Wall Street Journal article is an October 23rd article from the Des

Moines Register titled " Iowa Denied Special-use Corn. " This article

explains BIO's plan to restrict the growing of pharmaceutical biotech

corn from several states.

 

3) THE FOOD INDUSTRY - The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the

National Food Processors Association are pressing BIO to only allow

nonfood crops to be used for the production of pharmaceutical biotech

drugs. It is unlikely that BIO will go along with that request since

so

much money has already been spent developing the pharmaceutical

biotech

drugs in food crops such as corn, canola, potatoes, and tomatoes. The

food industry is saying they may need to recruit consumers into this

battle to win their case.

 

4) THE STATES AFFECTED - Governors such as Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack hope

that pharmaceutical biotech crops will be very beneficial for their

state's economies. Therefore, they are likely to support the USDA's

lax

standards. The positions of both BIO and the food industry would

eliminate their states from benefiting from the economic growth that

pharmaceutical biotech crops could provide. But if their food crops

become contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs, they will have wished

they would have been more cautious.

 

5) THE ORGANIC INDUSTRY - Various supporters of the organic industry

such as The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods have been

trying to point out to the USDA for several years that organic corn is

already being contaminated by pollen drift from genetically engineered

corn. Our position is that no genetically engineered corn should be

allowed to be planted, pharmaceutical or otherwise. Hopefully the

organic industry can leverage the publicity that is being generated by

the pharmaceutical biotech corn controversy to amplify its own

concerns

about contamination. As biotech activist Jeremy Rifkin pointed out at

the Natural Products Expo in Washington, DC in October, " This is a

life

or death issue for your industry. "

 

It is going to be very interesting to watch how this growing battle

over

pharmaceutical biotech crops plays out.

 

It is the position of The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered

Foods

that NO genetically engineered crops should be allowed to be grown

outdoors, regardless of whether the crops are pharmaceutical or just

regular biotech food crops. We want ALL biotech crops restricted to

greenhouses. Confinement to greenhouses is the only way to keep

organic

agriculture from becoming contaminated. And it is the only way to

prevent superweeds from developing and other environmental damage from

occurring.

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label@t...

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign

for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass

legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered

foods in the United States. "

 

 

 

 

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