Labeling GMO Foods Has No Impact on Price for Consumers!

Major Study Up Ends Monsanto Argument

 

 

A thorough study (published April 9, 2013) by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) discredits Monsanto's claim that verifying and labeling for non-GMO ingredients would be costly and burdensome.

 

 

Major players in the organic food business are already doing what Monsanto says would be costly.  These manufacturers and retailers have systems in place to verify non-GMO, as well as rGBH hormones, trans fat-free, country of origin, and fair trade.

 

Sellers Get Their Suppliers to Sign Affidavits

 

One of these is the largest consumer-owned natural food retail co-operative in the United States--Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets.  Trudy Bialic, Director of Public Affairs, says that their affidavit system makes sure that products aren't made using child slave labor, come from animals with rBGH hormones, and that all seafood products have been harvested using sustainable sources and practices.

 

Trader Joe's Uses Affidavits

 

Trader Joe's, a privately held chain of nearly 400 stores in the U.S. says that  its private label products are GMO-free, although the company doesn't label them.  A company spokesperson explained:

 

When developing products containing ingredients likely to come from genetically modified sources, we have the supplier of the product in question perform the necessary research to provide documentation that the suspect ingredients are from non-GMO sources.

 

This documentation is in the form of affidavits, identity-preserved  certification of seed stock, and third-party lab results from testing of the ingredients in question.

 

 

Similar to What the USDA Does!

 

The U.S. Department of  Agriculture (USDA), according to the Organic Consumers Association article, "requires test samples from approximately 5 percent of products, all of which must be GMO-free in order to be certified organic.  For the other 95 percent, the agency relies solely on sworn statements."

How Reliable Is This System?

 

Retailers seem to think so, for would producers deliberately deceive retailers, opening themselves up to law suits and scrutiny by the public? 

 

Why is Monsanto Fighting So Hard?

 

Here's the answer the OCA gives:

 

 

A chain-of-custody, legally binding labeling system empowers consumers to make more informed choices about what we eat, without increasing the costs of groceries or burdening retailers and manufacturers.

 

One simple label to identify foods that have been genetically engineered, often using genes of foreign bacteria and viruses, would lead more consumers to seek out sustainable, organic, non-GMO alternatives. 

 

And that--not some phony line about increased food costs--is why Monsanto is fighting labeling.

 

See http://www.organicconsumers.org.articles/article_27317.cfm