Just like when Washington state went at the GMO issue last year with Initiative 522, which thankfully failed, passing Oregon’s Measure 92 would require thousands of common food items to be specially relabeled or remade to be sold in the state. That would bring a monetary consequence to food suppliers and probably consumers — the kind who don’t regularly shop at Whole Foods. It will also offer incomplete information, as some GMO-linked foods get the label and others don’t. But my biggest problem with the ballot measure is that it shoves personal responsibility to the side.
… I don’t shop in a way that ensures every food with a genetically modified ingredient or proximity to genetically modified organisms is kept out of my cart. I wouldn’t even if foods were GMO-labeled, the current-day scarlet letter Measure 92 hopes to give most GMO-ingredient-associated foods sold in Oregon. And foods boasting they’re organic or don’t contain GMOs already exist. I don’t choose to buy them. …
I’ve decided to trust the best available science I have at my disposal as I make my purchasing choices. (Then again, you should note that I trust President Obama has America’s best interests at heart, even though I think he most often has the wrong solutions. So consider the source.)
If you’re a fence-sitter on the value of GMOs, here are links to positions about genetically engineered food, all of which say GMOs haven’t been found to be harmful and GMO-inclusive foods are nutritious: from the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Even though the science has me thinking genetically engineered food won’t make the sky fall or, worse, make my kids sick, the good news for Oregon voters is that you don’t need to have 100-percent assurance that GMOs are a good thing by Nov. 4. Measure 92 doesn’t ask if you are a GMO believer or skeptic or in what amount. It asks if food producers should have the added burden of labeling food sold in Oregon differently, experiencing any detrimental impact that has on them and their customers.
I know I’m against that. And I’m against a societal expectation of entitlement and being spoon-fed information. Homework starts in grade-school for a reason. Potato smiles aren’t the only thing to love about it.
