By R. Scott Rappold
WebMD Health News
Oct. 8, 2014 -- Pick up a packaged product in any grocery store aisle in Colorado, and you can read the label to see if it has trans fat, high-fructose corn syrup, or any other ingredients health enthusiasts might want to avoid.
But should labels say whether genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were used in the making of food? GMOs have been used in the U.S. for almost 20 years to grow bigger crops that are more resistant to pests and weeds.
Large-scale food agricultural companies inject seeds with genes from other plants to produce pesticide-resistant crops and to help the plants create their own insecticide.
Up to 90% of the corn, soybeans, and sugar beets (used for sugar production) grown in the U.S. are genetically modified. Corn is found in a variety of foods, including high-fructose corn syrup, and is also used to feed meat-producing animals.
The GMO labeling question is one of the most debated issues in food safety across the world -- and this fall, voters in Colorado and Oregon will decide if their states should require the labels.
Many people don’t know what GMOs are. But with millions of dollars flowing into both states to fight and support the ballot measures, they’re about to find out.
GMOs in Wide-Scale Use
Two years ago, Larry Cooper, a Denver-area small business owner and community activist, had never heard of GMOs.
“When I found out, I was shocked what was in my food and what we were giving to my grandkids,” he says. Cooper now co-chairs Right to Know Colorado, the group backing Proposition 105 in the November election.
The proposition wouldn’t ban GMOs in Colorado, but it would require that foods with GMOs sold in the state have the words “produced with genetic engineering” on a clear and visible place on their labels by July 2016. Restaurant food, meat from animals that have not been genetically engineered, and alcoholic drinks would be exempt.
The FDA in 1992 said genetically-modified crops are no different than regular crops and did not need to be labeled. The agency hasn't changed its stance.
“Why isn’t this labelled in the ingredients already? Why wouldn’t they [certain food companies] want to label GMOs?” Cooper wonders. “I just don’t understand that. What are these companies hiding? Why do they want to leave me in the dark and not let me know what I’m eating?”
Too Many Unknowns
The debate over GMOs is centered on the unknowns of a relatively new process.
The National Academy of Sciences has convened several independent panels over the years to review GMO research, and they found no evidence that eating genetically modified food impacts people's health.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science agrees, but the organization said in a 2012 statement that all new genetically modified crops must get tested to show any new proteins added from the parent crop are neither toxic nor allergenic.
source : Food Fight: The Debate Over GMOs in Colorado
