By Madie Murray

By a very respectable margin, voters chose to make the Islands in San Juan County a GMO-free zone, reassuring the fact that all foods grown on our islands will truly be organic and free of genetically modified organisms.  There is also a movement afoot to make sure there will be a good supply of affordable non-GMO seed sources available for all to purchase.

There is more good news on the horizon.  A petition is now circulating gathering signatures in an effort to require mandatory GMO labeling in Washington State.  What this means is that the big boys (Monsanto, Dow, PepsiCo, DuPont, to name a few) will be spending another $46 million in our state to defeat the measure as they did recently, very narrowly, in California.  You can rest assured, however, it will be on the ballot again in California, perhaps at the same time it is on the ballot in Washington, and there is no doubt in my mind that GMO labeling will be required in all states at some point in the not-too-distant future. “It’s not a question of whether, but when,” said Gary Hirshberg, chairman if the “Just Label It” campaign in California.

A labeling initiative is also planned for Oregon and, beyond that, efforts are being made to force change at the U. S. Food and Drug Administration where a citizen’s petition is pending with the agency demanding a re-examination of its policy against labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients.  (Reuters November 7 article https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign-gmo-labeling-idUSBRE8A62D320121107)

Monsanto’s claim that GMO foods are “perfectly safe” sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco industries’ claims of the past, doesn’t it?

If you wish to help create a healthier Washington state and keep the pressure on the FDA, go to https://www.labelitwa.org to download a copy of the petition and start gathering signatures for GMO labeling in Washington State.  We can make a difference again!

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