Who’s Deceiving Whom? Prop 37 Has Corporations Running Scared

[marmar]

from Civil Eats:



Who’s Deceiving Whom? Prop 37 Has Corps Running Scared

September 21st, 2012
By Anna Ghosh


Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Pepsi and Coke are scared. They’re afraid that California’s proposition 37 to make labeling of genetically engineered foods mandatory will end their unchecked, unquestioned power to hide GE ingredients in the majority processed foods without their customers’ knowledge. Which is why they’ve poured millions into an anti-Prop 37 propaganda campaign they’re calling “Stop the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme.” But who’s deceiving who?

These corporations have enjoyed the transgenic food version of “don’t ask, don’t tell” that lax regulation has afforded them for more than two decades. During this time, GE ingredients have permeated the vast majority of our food supply with little independent, long-term scientific scrutiny (Finally this week, the first long-term peer-reviewed study on GE food was released and the results are frightening). Proposition 37 and several other statewide mandatory labeling initiatives in the works are about giving the power of information back to consumers and ending the tyranny that large corporations have had over our food supply.

But first, let’s dispel some of the top myths that the “Stop the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme” front group has been busy spinning.

Myth #1: GE labeling will mean higher food costs.

TRUTH: Opponents of labeling claim that mandatory GE food labeling would increase food costs for the average family by $600 to $825 per year, but since the opponents are the ones doing the analysis, it’s not surprising that they’re grossly overestimated. On the contrary, an impartial consulting firm did a study in 2001 for the U.K. Food Standards Agency and found that GE labeling would increase a household’s annual food spending by only 0.01 to 0.17 percent — a very small figure ranging from an increase of $.33 to $5.58 in 2010 real U.S. dollars (inflation-adjusted) annually. Plus, food companies change their labels all the time (New and Improved! Heart Healthy!). .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2012/09/21/who%E2%80%99s-deceiving-whom-prop-37-has-corps-running-scared/

[Berlum]

1. Human beings have a right to know

...what is in the food they are eating...Only a corporately funded, fascistically inclined bent-knee scumsucking, Republican-values, toe-tapping sockpuppet could possibly "argue' otherwise. Obviously.

[appal_jack]

2. Yes, indeed. K&R, n/t.

[Berlum]

3. Indeed, yes.