The United State of GMOs - Keeping Us in the Dark Vani Hari - Food Babe
go to original October 15, 2012

Representing North Carolina at the DNC, I believed it was my obligation to hold the leaders I helped put in office accountable for their actions. (TheFoodbabe)

As a delegate from North Carolina at the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC), I sought the truth about GMO-labeling from the leaders of our country and was completely appalled at what I discovered. As many people may know, our food is missing a very important label – one that President Obama, the FDA, and the USDA have made a concerted effort to deny us from having.

This label is for foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are in 90% of our processed food. GMOs are foods biologically manufactured in laboratories – injected with new DNA, viruses, herbicides, insecticides and/or other chemicals – to be resistant to synthetic chemicals and are completely different than hybridizing techniques allowed by nature. Furthermore, GMOs receive patents by the U.S. Patent Office because they have been deemed to be unique and different. Over 50 countries around the world require GMOs to be labeled or regulated. The U.S.A. does not.



President Obama promised to label genetically modified foods during his campaign in 2007 but once elected into office, he abandoned this stance. Why? Upsetting Big Ag and the chemical industry was not going to help him get re-elected in 2012. Protecting the rights of American consumers and keeping his campaign pledge were obviously of secondary importance.

Despite polls consistently showing that more than 90% of the population want GMOs to be labeled, our leaders in Washington refuse to acknowledge this truth and will not implement mandatory GMO-labeling at the federal level.

Lucky for us, we can take matters into our own hands and we don’t have to wait for Washington. In California, there is a ballot initiative – Proposition 37 – where citizens of that state will vote as to whether GMOs should be labeled or not. If California votes “yes” and approves this measure, it will have a ripple effect on the rest of the nation and encourage other states to do the same.

I am not sure how we can move this country “Forward,” as President Obama suggests, if our food policy and the resulting health of our nation continues to go backwards. Labeling GMOs will allow us all to finally understand what we are eating. As American citizens, it is our fundamental right to know what’s in our food.

Read more at The Food Babe

To Learn More Visit: California Right to Know Campaign and join the conversation on my Facebook page.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!