Mobilizing for GMO Labeling
Most Americans agree we have a right to know what’s in our food, and a right to choose safe, healthy food for our families and ourselves. And yet 80% of the packaged foods in America contain Genetically Engineered ingredients that have not been proven safe, and are not labeled!
This past spring NCGA and a group of stakeholders including Environmental Working Group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Organic Valley, The Organic Center, the Center for Food Safety, Stonyfield Farm and others, began a collaborative process to address the marginalization of organic food and farming and the expansion of genetic engineering in agriculture. As an initial result of this collaboration, a major GMO labeling campaign is being launched this September.
The campaign’s goal is to bring together a diverse coalition including food producers, retailers, growers, consumer groups, environmental organizations, faith-based institutions, medical doctors, educators, nutrition and hunger organizations, concerned parents, food lovers, and others to create a consumer movement calling for the mandatory labeling of foods containing ingredients grown with genetic engineering. We are standing-up for the consumer’s right to know!
The campaign is in the process of engaging the coalition of partners now, and VFC is joining the campaign. In September, we are receiving materials that we will share with VFC owners through our website, blog, facebook and emails. These materials link to a website where you will find an engaging video on the consumer’s right to know, information on GMOs and a series of actions that individuals can take. One of the actions involves sending a message to Washington calling for mandatory labeling of GMOs to respect the American public’s right to choose whether or not they buy GMOs.
Between October 1st and October 16th, marchers from all across the country are walking from New York City to the White House, in Washington DC, demanding labeling of all Genetically Engineered Foods, in what is now called the GMO Right2Know march.
Early supporting organizations include the National Co-operative Grocer’s Association, International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), Non-GMO Project, Center for Food Safety, Food Democracy Now, Organic Trade Association, The Organic Center, the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association (INFRA), Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, and the Northeast Organic Farmers Association of NY. Business sponsors include Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Kamut International, Nutiva, Nature’s Path Foods, Inc., Organic Valley, Rapunzel, Stonyfield Farm, and United Natural Foods Inc.
“While most Americans agree we have a right to know what is in our food, the federal government has resisted labeling genetically engineered food for over a decade,” says Right2Know March organizer Katherine DiMatteo, President of IFOAM. “It’s time to demand that the government be responsible to its citizens and enact mandatory labeling of GMOs instead of pretending that GMO crops are the same as traditional crops.”
“After 30 years and billions of dollars in research, only two principal traits have been successfully developed: herbicide tolerance and insecticide production. Despite industry promises, there are no GMO traits currently on the market for increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other humanitarian or environmental benefit,” says Megan Westgate, Executive Director of the Non-GMO Project, fiscal sponsor of the Right2Know March. “Americans should have the right to opt out of this experiment, and this march is about standing up and demanding that freedom.”
The Right2Know march will be joined by the Sustainable Living Road Show and the Compass Green Mobile Greenhouse Project. Marchers will have a chance to bathe in the ALL-ONE Ark, Dr. Bronner’s “Interblastive Foam Experience!” and eat organic, non-GMO food provided to marchers for a small fee.
For more info on GMOs Click Here.