From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Thu Jun 28 2001 - 10:19:45 MDT
On Thu, 28 Jun 2001, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> Brian D Williams wrote,
> > Let's lose the rhetoric and let the market decide.
>
> I agree. 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!
>
The point is there *is* labeling -- its called "organic". People
who want foods manufactured using "organic" methods are completely
free to buy them.
You miss the point that the desire to have foods labeled as "GMO"
isn't motivated by the desire to give the average consumer more
information (that he isn't able to interpret because you don't
know whether it is GMO for > vitamins or GMO for round-up resistance
(e.g. decreased residues of non-round-up pesticides) or GMO for something
that only benefits the farmer. The entire point of the GMO labeling drive
is to somehow cast GMO foods as "bad" and therefore drive up the demand
for organic foods.
Its unsound because biotech is moving in the direction
of foods that are really scientifically better for you.
You can either educate the consumer so he can make a "fully informed"
decision (i.e. public service announcements during prime time TV
explaining in detail everything you wanted to know about GMO
from a National Academy of Sciences appointed panel) *or*
assume that the FDA, EPA and Dept. of Agriculture are doing
a reasonably good job for keeping the food supply safe so
there is no real reason to label things as containing GMO.
Robert
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