Defeat of Required Labeling for Genetically Modified Foods

by Steve Eastman, Faith Issues

California’s Proposition 37 was defeated Tuesday night.  The news did not get much play across the country after the initial announcement.  And it really depends on who you talk to on whether you believe it was defeated at the polls or by experts who make the official calls on election results.

First we’ll start with the mainstream media.  The “Los Angeles Times” reports the measure was defeated by 53.1 percent of the vote versus 46.9 percent, which breaks down to 4.8 million “No” votes to 4.3 million “Yes” votes.  Now catch this next point.  It’s important.  You’ll see why in a moment.  The “Times” claims the proposition was strongest in coastal areas such as Los Angeles County and weakest in agricultural areas such as the Central Valley.

Now let’s switch to an alternative view.  Investigative reporter Jon Rappaport, who writes for PrisonPlanet.com, looked into how much of the vote was actually counted as of 2:30 PM Thursday.  He only had a chance to check four of the state’s largest counties — Santa Clara, Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles.  Hm, sound familiar?  Those are the coastal counties where the “LA Times” reports the proposition had its greatest support.  Guess what?  Rappaport found a total of 1.6 million votes in those counties were uncounted, which is equivalent to more than three times the so-called margin of defeat.  

If you haven’t followed this issue, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about.  A genetically modified food is one that corporations have tampered with to help their bottom line.  For example, one kind of GMO corn comes with its own built-in pesticide, thanks to a bacterial gene that doesn’t really belong there.  The Food and Drug Administration says there no difference between GMO and non-GMO, but they’re the same people who say that Nutrasweet is safe.

One way we can judge the unpopularity of genetically modified foods is by comparing the amount of money spent by the opposing campaigns.  The chemical companies, led by Monsanto, DuPont and Pepsico, paid out $46 million to convince folks to vote against common sense.  The natural health groups, led by, Dr. Joseph Mercola’s website, spent $9 million and almost won.  On the other hand, maybe they did get enough votes, but they just were not counted.

The battle isn’t over.  There’s talk of similar campaigns starting up in Oregon, Vermont and Connecticut.  This is one case where much of the rest of the world has America beat.  61 countries require labeling of genetically modified foods.  But don’t tell the Food and Drug Administration.  The FDA thinks it knows best.

© 2012 Faith Issues

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