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News :: Elections & Legislation |
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Corporations Pool 5 Million To Kill GMO Labelling Ballot Initiative |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sehvilla Mann
Email: smann (nospam) stu.parkland.edu (unverified!) |
31 Oct 2002
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Oregon may soon become the first state to require labels on genetically engineered food. A ballot initative, known as Measure Twenty Seven, would require food producers to label genetically engineered ingredients in food produced or sold in Oregon. 70% of food sold in the state would be affected. The labelling measure has been fought by food and biotechnology companies such as Monsanto, Dupont, General Mills, and Pepsi, calling themselves the Coalition Against the Costly Labelling Law. The campaign has spent over five million dollars, outspending labeling advocates 25 to 1. (4 min. audio and full transcript) |
[This is the transcript of a the Radio piece]
VO: Oregon may soon become the first state to require labels on genetically engineered food. A ballot initative, known as Measure Twenty Seven, would require food producers to label genetically engineered ingredients in food produced or sold in Oregon. 70% of food sold in the state would be affected. The labelling measure has been fought by food and biotechnology companies such as Monsanto, Dupont, General Mills, and Pepsi, calling themselves the Coalition Against the Costly Labelling Law. The campaign has spent over five million dollars, outspending labeling advocates 25 to 1. John Stauber, the executive director of PR Watch in Madison, comments on the corporate Coalition.
Stauber: Rather than Monsanto and Dupont leading the way, they fund phony Astro-Turf coalitions and carefully recruit pro industry scientists, pro-industry farmers - they create coalitions with wonderful-sounding names claiming that their only objective is to save consumers' money, and they let so called third parties battle for them. But the funding, the strategy, the money is all coming from the biotech and food industries. Unfortunately since the real public interest side of this issue, voiced by consumer and environmental groups who are in favor of labeling, don't have millions and millions to spend it becomes a one-sided debate.
VO: In the days before the election, the Coalition Against the Costly Labeling Law has flooded Oregon voters with television, print, and radio ads to persuade them to reject labeling. The Coalition repeatedly refused to comment on their campaign referring reporters to one of their ads.
Ad: Measure 27 would force farmers to use a complex, misleading labeling scheme no other state requires. It would increase our production costs, increase food prices, and put Oregon farmers at a competitive disadvantage. It would also cost taxpayers millions for more government bureaucrats and red tape.
VO: The opposition estimates that mandatory labeling of Genetically Engineered foods would cost more than five hundred dollars a year for a family of four. William Jaeger, Economist at Oregon State University, estimated the cost at less than ten dollars a year per person, using figures from coutries such as Australia, where labeling is mandatory. But costs aren't the only argument. Much of the debate centers around consumer choice. Stauber comments:
Stauber: We hear giant companies like Dupont and Monsanto always praising the market, the free market, but the market can only work if people are able to make informed choices. And surveys show that once people find out that this food has not been adequately safety tested, and may not be safe for humans and the environment, they're not interested in eating it. So a lot of people wouldn't purchase genetically engineered food if they were given a choice in the marketplace, and frankly the genetic engineering industry is totally opposed to the free market in this instance, and wants to literally force genetically engineered food down our throats which they've been doing.
VO: Both sides of the debate see Tuesday's vote as central to deciding the fate of Genetically Engineered food in United States markets. Craig Winters, the executive director of The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods explains.
Winters: They know that if they lose Oregon, that they've essentially lost the entire country cause the food manufacterers are faced with the situation where they are either going to not sell products to Oregon, or they will have to segregate them and the whole process. They are simply going to say 'why don't we just go ahead and simply eliminate genetically engineered ingredients out of our product line for the whole country.'
VO: This is Sehvilla Mann with Danielle Chynoweth for Free Speech Radio News. |
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by ML
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Current rating: 0
06 Nov 2002
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pig110902,0,1978918.story?coll=sfla%2Dhome%2Dheadlines |