In 1992, Monsanto successfully lobbied President George H.W. Bush’s administration to deregulate its controversial and untested technology of genetic engineering or genetic modification. Vice President Dan Quayle made the announcement, saying, “We will ensure that biotech products will receive the same oversight as other products, instead of being hampered by unnecessary regulation.”
The official policy is based on industry propaganda rather than peer-reviewed science; it claims that genetically engineered food, crops, and animals “substantially equivalent” to conventional food and crops. No safety testing or labels are required.
The result is that genetically engineered foods are everywhere. Nobody knows that they’re eating them, and there isn’t any scientific research that could tell us what effect this is having on human health. Study after study indicating serious damage to animals fed GMOs have been downplayed or ignored. Links to human hazards, such as the genetically engineered L-tryptophan disaster of 1989, which killed scores of Americans and permanently injured thousands more, or experiments in 1999 in the UK by renowned scientist Arpad Pusztai, have been literally suppressed.
The Truth in Labeling Coalition is trying to get President Obama to fix what Dan Quayle got wrong. TLC has submitted a citizen’s petition to the Food and Drug Administration making the case that failing to label genetically engineered foods is a violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act which prohibits misleading consumers by failing to reveal facts that would affect their decision as to whether or not to buy a product.
The Organic Consumers Association supports Congressman Kucinich’s Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act, but an act of Congress isn’t necessary to safety test and label genetically engineered foods. President Obama could simply direct the FDA to reverse the Monsanto Mandate forced on us by Bush-Quayle, and put an end to the idea that genetically engineered foods and crops are trustworthy and don’t need to be labeled, as they are in the European Union.
It shouldn’t be that hard to get President Obama to do the right thing. On the presidential campaign trail in 2008, he went on record in support of mandatory labels for genetically engineered foods.
Please support the Truth in Labeling Act’s citizen petition by writing to President Obama and the FDA.
Read the Citizen Petition & Take Action
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.