From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Thu Jun 28 2001 - 17:21:28 MDT
John Clark wrote,
> Harvey wrote:
> > I don't understand how any pro-market individual can be against
> > labeling. The fact that most people won't be able to use information to
> > make a good choice does not justify suppressing information and choice!
>
> I'm not against labeling, I don't want to suppress anything, if
> you want to put
> on the label of you line of canned beans that it's genetically
> modified go right
> ahead, I just oppose forcing people to do so. Yes, some would be
> interested
> in that information but I'll bet even more people would like to
> know the sign
> of the horoscope of the person who picked the beans. I wouldn't require
> that information be on the label either.
I think I really got off on the wrong foot on this issue. Let me clarify.
I am not talking about undetectable influences like horoscopes. I am
talking about the introduction of chemical ingredients such that the list of
chemicals making up a food is different. Golden rice = rice +
beta-carotene. If I mixed up a batch of rice in a vat, added beta-carotene,
and then sold it as "rice", I would be arrested. The ingredients list would
be lacking one of my ingredients. I don't see why GMO rice that is
chemically the same as rice+beta carotene should be exempt from proper
labeling. Just because the new chemical has been added through genetics
does not make it invisible. The final product is clearly different than
other rice. That's the whole point. Why not call it "golden-rice" and
label it as having more beta-carotene? O
f course we do this already. However, I think Roundup corn is similar.
This plant adds a pesticide to the corn. You can measure this in the
finished product. Why should it not be included on the list of ingredients?
If I sprayed Roundup into a can of corn and sold it as "corn" with no
indication of the extra ingredient, this would be wrong. Even if I
duplicated the exact recipe and ratio, I would be guilty of mislabeling
food, because I didn't disclose all the ingredients. GMO is just a more
advanced method for mixing up our food recipes. The same old rules for
listing all ingredients should apply. We should not exempt GMO food from
disclosing all ingredients. Otherwise, we could mix up a high-salt GMO corn
and market it as "salt-free".
(And again, I will note that this is my personal preference. I don't trust
the public to be able to handle full disclosure. However, I am not ready to
rescind the public's right to know either.)
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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