Author Topic: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says  (Read 1355 times)

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Offline DeeDee

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WASHINGTON -- It's pretty rare that members of Congress and all the witnesses they've called will declare out loud that Americans are just too ignorant to be given a piece of information, but that was a key conclusion of a session of the House Agriculture Committee this week.

The issue was genetically modified organisms, or GMOs as they're often known in the food industry. And members of the subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture, as well as their four experts, agreed that the genetic engineering of food crops has been a thorough success responsible for feeding the hungry, improving nutrition and reducing the use of pesticides.

People who oppose GMOs or want them labeled so that consumers can know what they're eating are alarmists who thrive on fear and ignorance, the panel agreed. Labeling GMO foods would only stoke those fears, and harm a beneficial thing, so it should not be allowed, the lawmakers and witnesses agreed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/gmo-labels-congress_n_5576255.html?ir=Green
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Offline Pookie

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Re: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2014, 09:28:39 AM »
jawdrop wow1   bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead

Then I read some of the comments and got even more depressed.  I really hope the people who commented that GMOs are safe are just shills being paid to post there, and not folks who truly believe what they wrote.   :'(
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Offline Mo

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Re: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2014, 09:37:17 AM »
I have seen some companies labeling their food as being None GMO...doesn't that work just as well :-\ 

Offline DeeDee

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Re: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2014, 10:24:21 AM »
I have seen some companies labeling their food as being None GMO...doesn't that work just as well :-\ 


It works for me. I see that label a lot on things I buy. Of course, I head straight for the organic section to do most of our shopping because I'm just not inclined to write every company on earth to ask if they use GMOs in product-X.
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

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Re: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2014, 12:41:30 PM »
I have seen some companies labeling their food as being None GMO...doesn't that work just as well :-\ 

I guess my question would be, what exactly do they mean by "non-GMO?"  Given how strict (I'm being sarcastic when I say that) the labeling laws are, is "non-GMO" some sort of fluff phrase that's used, or is it legitimately non-GMO?  Because I could see the game being played that "non-GMO" on the label translates into "less than X% of the ingredients are non-GMO (and the remaining are or could be)."

Hi, Mo, it's great to "see" you!  When you can, please post an update on how things are going!
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Offline DeeDee

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Re: Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2014, 01:18:00 PM »
I guess my question would be, what exactly do they mean by "non-GMO?"  Given how strict (I'm being sarcastic when I say that) the labeling laws are, is "non-GMO" some sort of fluff phrase that's used, or is it legitimately non-GMO?  Because I could see the game being played that "non-GMO" on the label translates into "less than X% of the ingredients are non-GMO (and the remaining are or could be)."

This is what the seal looks like:

http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/understanding-our-seal/

This is what it means:

Quote
What does “Non-GMO Project Verified seal” mean?
The verification seal indicates that the product bearing the seal has gone through our verification process. Our verification is an assurance that a product has been produced according to consensus-based best practices for GMO avoidance:

We require ongoing testing of all at-risk ingredients—any ingredient being grown commercially in GMO form must be tested prior to use in a verified product.

We use an Action Threshold of 0.9%. This is in alignment with laws in the European Union (where any product containing more than 0.9% GMO must be labeled). Absence of all GMOs is the target for all Non-GMO Project Standard compliant products. Continuous improvement practices toward achieving this goal must be part of the Participant’s quality management systems.

After the test, we require rigorous traceability and segregation practices to be followed in order to ensure ingredient integrity through to the finished product.

For low-risk ingredients, we conduct a thorough review of ingredient specification sheets to determine absence of GMO risk.
Verification is maintained through an annual audit, along with onsite inspections for high-risk products.

Learn more about the:

Non-GMO Project Standard -- http://www.nongmoproject.org/product-verification/non-gmo-project-standard/

So, yes. It COULD contain less than 1%, but they go for European standards which are safer than what we have here in the US since we have no standards at all, and thanks to Monsanto lobbyists and sarcasmalert our loving government that takes such good care of our health issues, we obviously won't any time soon .
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

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