Three legislative bills were recently introduced that would require all GMOs to be properly labelled, as well as prohibit the import and sale of GM salmon. The bill would not only require all GMOs to be labelled in the state of Oregon, but any food products that contain GMOs that are not properly labelled beginning on January 1, 2014 will be deemed misbranded with the manufacturer held liable for breaking the food labelling requirements. If the bill isn’t passed, a new bill as a backup will be introduced that will at least require all GE salmon to be properly labelled. You can view the three bills below.

The Oregon House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources recently heard testimony on the three bills. Supporters of GMO labelling throughout the state have been busy spreading the word about the lack of proper GMO safety testing. GMOs have been linked to causing organ damage, gastrointestinal problems, allergies, and even cancer. Biotech employees are required to wear a full body suit and mask while spraying our food with toxic chemicals, on top of the GMOs. The Centre for Food Safety, a nonprofit public interest and environmental advocacy group, says GMO labelling legislation has been proposed in nearly half of all states. Even though a single one has yet to pass, awareness about the presence of GMOs throughout the food supply is growing.

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https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Measures/Overview/HB2175

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Measures/Overview/HB2530

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2013R1/Measures/Overview/HB3177

“The profit-driven motives to prohibit GMO labelling are reprehensible and represent an egregious indictment of the current health care system,” said Dr. Mary Zesiewicz, a board-certified psychiatrist, to state lawmakers in Colorado during a recent hearing. During her testimony, Dr. Zesiewicz explained that she has “seen an alarming increase in chronic health conditions” at her practice, many of which appear to be linked to GMO consumption. (2)

All across the world people are waking up and paying attention to what is happening within the food industry. It’s funny how the major shareholders in multinational food an biotech corporations are also major shareholders in major multinational pharmaceutical corporations, like fidelity investments, the vanguard group and state street corporation. A genetically engineered food is a product that has had its DNA artificially altered. The safety of genetically engineered foods for human consumption is not adequately tested. There have been no long-term studies conducted on the safety of genetically engineered foods. Over 50 countries that make up a majority percentage of Earth’s population currently require mandatory labelling for all GMO “food.”

Not to long ago, Barack Obama signed a bill into law that allows Monsanto and other biotechnology companies to override United States federal courts on the issue of planting experimental genetically engineered crops all across the US. This act gives more authority to the corporations then it does the US government. This new law forces the USDA to approve all GMO planting permits desired by the Monsanto corporation and other biotech firms no matter what. You can read more about it here.

GMO labelling was introduced to give people the freedom to choose between GMOs and conventional foods. If food is produced using genetic engineering, it must be indicated on its label. Although they shouldn’t be, labelling practices are quite complicated and must be regulated along side issues of legality, feasibility, standardization and coherence. What must be labelled and why shouldn’t be so complicated, but it is. It’s no secret that those who work for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA) have admitted that corporate interests force the agencies to change policies that harm their agenda. The UCS sent question surveys to approximately 8000 workers from both the FDA and USDA, over half who work as field inspectors responded saying that their agency practices harm public health in order to appease corporate interests.

Most foods that contain any genetically modified plants or micro organisms that were used in production require indication of some sort. This is a problem because numerous products are exempt from labelling obligations. These exemptions primarily concern additives, and processing aids, but also apply to meat, milk and eggs. The United States has openly admitted to believing that there is no difference between GMOs and natural organisms. The FDA and USDA, along with the Codex Alimentarius Committee, suggest that no country should require mandatory GMO labelling on food items. This is ridiculous, science has already shown that GMOs act differently in the body and are a threat to health. Workers usually have to wear full body suits and masks when spraying our food with toxic chemicals. They are toxic chemicals that are responsible for mutating cells and causing cancer. Cancer is a billion dollar industry and big pharmaceutical companies fund all major medical research.

The Council on Foreign Relations put out a statement not to long ago saying:

The United States has not experienced any regulatory failures. There have been no major food safety scares, and the minor ones have had a short lives political impact. The United States has in place a relatively well-established set of national regulatory bodies which appear to function reasonably well. The United States has experienced a decline in public confidence in government regulation due to the perception that it was ineffective, so they created a new set of regulatory institutions and administrative mechanisms to improve public accountability. (1)

It’s funny how The Council on Foreign Relations is headed by the Rockefeller family. The Rockefeller’s and it’s foundation is heavily involved with all of the major food corporations that control the worlds food supply, not to mention that this family has their hand in the same corporations that control the health/pharmaceutical companies as well. Why do we give so much credibility to these corporations and the people that run them? Why do we continue to believe everything that is written and ‘sourced’ from corrupt organization? All it takes is a little research. People say “what can we do about it?” Well the first step is becoming aware, then the next step is to begin making changes you can make yourself. From there, things will expand outwards. Don’t forget, you always have a choice. You can buy organic, grow your own food or choose to minimize your GMO and conventional food consumption.

I live in Canada and fortunately my country does have a regulation on GMOs. But we are no different, the corporations that control the food industry and the governing bodies that set the standards are global organizations. Countries can easily hide behind the ‘right act’ simply by setting regulations. Canadian regulation of foods derived from biotechnology is a seven to ten year process to research, develop, test and assess the safety of a new GM food. By the time this is complete, the damage has already been done. The problem is, labelling is only required if there is a health and safety issue. The same group of people who fund the medical industry and all of it’s research are funded by the big pharmaceutical companies, which are the same group of people who own the food industry! Conflict of interest, don’t you think? It’s time to stop handing over our power to multinational corporations.

Sources:

http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/regulation/regulatory_process/

http://www.cfr.org/genetically-modified-organisms/regulation-gmos-europe-united-states-case-study-contemporary-european-regulatory-politics/p8688 (1)

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/sr-sr/pubs/biotech/reg_gen_mod-eng.php

http://www.naturalnews.com/039734_Oregon_GM_salmon_GMO_labeling.html (2)

http://www.oregonrighttoknow.org

http://www.denverijournal.com/article.php?id=8362