Mandy forwarded on this note from Jenny:
There could not be a more exciting time to be working on the issue of labeling genetically engineered food here in Washington. GE labeling will be up for a vote on the ballot in November and the fight has already begun. To learn more and get involved, join us for our:Recently, over 340,000 petitions signed by concerned citizens of Washington were delivered to get the issue of GE labeling on the ballot. Now, all eyes are on Washington.GE foods are largely untested and potentially unsafe, and what’s worse, they’ve been on the shelves of our grocery stores for over 15 years without our knowledge or consent. We all have the right to know what we are eating and make our own decisions about what we are feeding our families.We think this is a basic, common sense right but agribusiness companies, like Monsanto, are sure to spend millions trying to mislead voters about this initiative. We can win if we act now to lay a strong groundwork of support for the initiative, so that next fall Washington voters know the facts and stand up for their right to know.We can start now by taking action locally here in Seattle. The best way to get involved with this grassroots movement for a just, transparent food system is to come out to the “Let Me Decide” Campaign Action Meeting on Tuesday January 22nd at 7 pm at the Good Shepherd Center.To RSVP to this event, please edit this doc:Looking forward to seeing you there!
Watch this environmentalist’s perspective on GMO.
http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/
GM is safer than conventional hybridization (which we humans have been doing since before recorded history)
this is an important initiative.. and much larger than Wallyhood yet mor eimpactful on our lives.. I shall watch this video later.. i defer to the example of how animals will refuse GMO food .. instinctfully.. also due to Monsantos major investment in squelching the movement I know something is wrong.. its like big pharma and major health insurance companies … ‘control’ of the population by refusing to allow options or other means of thinking.
Hard one to sort out, it seems prudent to be equally distrustful of both sides. It isn’t hard to spot the woolly headed, anti-science elements in the “con” side, and not much harder to detect the selective reporting on the “pro” side. I stopped reading Lynas’ story at “We also know from many studies that organic is much less productive …” The way I see it, people could “know” that only if they’ve been kept in the dark for while, so one would have to be rather skeptical of anything else he comes up with.
The petition text is gone from the foodwaterwatch site above. I’m wondering if the labels would be just “GE”, or there would be more detail on traits? For example, he mentions pest resistance in corn (?), but there’s also a herbicide resistant trait going around, and the implications of these two are very different, for the environment or for the consumer.