In a speech made by Barack Obama in 2008 the Democratic presidential nominee promised to “let folks know when their food is genetically modified, because Americans have a right to know what they’re buying.” That campaign promise has not been kept. In response, the Center for Food Safety is running a campaign called Just Label It, attempting to collect enough signatures to make the FDA take action. Ninety percent of American citizens believe that foods containing genetically modified organisms, or GMO, should be labeled so consumers know of such materials. Sixty-to-seventy percent of processed food can contain GMO yet under Food and Drug Administration regulations the food industry is not required to label such products accordingly. The Center for Food Safety, a consumer advocacy organization, asserts that the FDA’s revolving door with agribusiness is to blame. For example, when the FDA hired a former Monsanto lawyer he wrote the regulations for his former company’s use of the Bovine Growth Hormone to stimulate milk production. Large amounts of the artificial hormone and puss were found in milk, causing a consumer backlash.
Source:
Article Title: “Thanks to the FDA, You Really Have No Idea What’s in Your Food” Alter Net, October 7, 2011.
Article author: Ari LeVaux.
Student Researcher: Amanda Borrero, Florida Atlantic University
Faculty Advisor: James F. Tracy, Florida Atlantic University