Page 11 - the NOISE January 2014

GMO Update
Story by cINdy cole
on December 5, 2013, Hawai’i Mayor Bil- ly Kenoi signed anti-GMO Bill 113 into law. The new law prohibits open air cultiva- tion, propagation, development and testing of genetically engineered crops or plants on the Big Island. This makes Hawai’i the sec- ond county council in the state to put GMO restrictions into effect. Kaui’i passed similar legislation in November.
With the exception of GMO papaya, which is so prevalent that it was grandfathered in under the new law, farmers will be prevented from growing GMO crops. But none of the big biotech companies like Monsanto and Syngenta are operating on the Big Island yet and this new law aims to keep it that way.
In a letter he sent to the county council regarding his decision to sign the bill, Mayor Kenoi said a year of “research and data col- lection” would follow in order to “investigate factual claims and to seek out new directions that farming in our community should take.”
“Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land,” he wrote, “And we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources. We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place is unlike any other in the world. With this new ordinance we are conveying that instead of global agribusiness corporations, we want to encourage and sup- port community-based farming and ranching.”
In other GMO news, Whole Foods an- nounced that they will stop selling Chobani brand yogurt by early 2014. One of the rea- sons cited is that Chobani uses milk from cows that have been fed GMOs. While Whole Foods does carry other brands that contain GMOs, this action is a step in the right direction, ac- cording to GMO Inside, a coalition of organiza- tions that support GMO labeling and bans.
Chobani says that GMO-free feed is difficult to find and, even when it is available, it is too expensive. Most animal feed in the US is de- rived from corn and soy products, of which over 90 percent comes from GMO sources. In a telephone interview with the New York Times, Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya said, “The farmers need to be able to find those feeds and feed it to their cows — and the economics around it need to make sense for them.”
Whole Foods does not represent a huge market for Chobani with only 370 stores in their nationwide chain. But this move to target a particular brand because of its GMO policy rep- resents a step forward in consumer demand impacting the way companies do business.
But the Grocery Manufacturers Associa- tion (GMA), which calls itself “the voice of more than 300 businesses in the consumer packaged goods industry and closely related fields,” is not going down without a fight. The GMA sent a letter to the federal Food & Drug Administra- tion (FDA) requesting its intervention to allow GMO foods to be labeled “natural.” The GMA represents biotech companies like Monsanto & Syngenta along with food producers like Coca- Cola, ConAgra, PepsiCo, & General Mills.
The GMA’s request was prompted by 65 class
action lawsuits filed against food manufactur- ers arguing products containing GMOs should not be labeled “natural.” The December 5 let- ter states: “GMA’s members have a strong in- terest in ‘natural’ labeling for foods containing ingredients derived from biotechnology. Sev- eral of the most common ingredients derived from biotechnology are from crops such as soy, corn, canola, and sugar beets.” These ingredi- ents, along with a number of other GMOs, are commonly found in processed foods. The GMA stated it “intends to file a Citizen’s Petition sole- ly directed at the FDA to issue a regulation au- thorizing foods containing ingredients derived from biotechnology to be labeled as ‘natural.”’
PepsiCo settled one such lawsuit in Au- gust over its use of the phrases “All Natural,”
“AllNaturalFruit”and“Non-GMO”onbottlesof its Naked juices. The company claimed those phrases were intended to describe only the fruit and vegetable juices in the product, not “the vitamin boost added to some Naked bev- erages.” PepsiCo will end up paying a total of $9 million to consumers as a result of the set- tlement. It will also remove the “All Natural” phrase from its packaging but will continue to use the “Non-GMO” label even though its juices are not certified as such.
Consumer advocacy organizations are ap- palled by the GMA’s request. Speaking to the New York Times, Scott Faber, vice president of the Environmental Working Group, called the GMA’s request “audacious.” He added, “It’s like they’re trying to get the government to say night is day and black is white.”
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) urged the FDA to resist pressure from the GMA. “There is nothing natural about genetic engi- neering,” said Colin O’Neil, director of gov-
ernment affairs for CFS, “which is exactly why the Grocery Manufacturers Association wants the FDA to create a special exemption for it. ‘Natural’ is a great marketing tool and the in- dustry doesn’t want to be restricted in using it. The FDA should not respond to GMA’s de- mands for a special GMO loophole. The FDA has a duty to protect consumers, not industry.”
“Genetic engineering, by its very definition, is not a natural process,” said Mr. O’Neil. “It is an artificial and novel process, which often involves inserting foreign (often bacterial) genetic material into a food plant, crop or animal. The US Patent Office has granted nu- merous patents on genetically engineered plants, finding they have novel elements in them that are not naturally occurring.”
Ironically, the GMA and its member com- panies have fought aggressively, spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat labeling initiatives in several states, to prevent its members from having to put the label “GMO” on their products. But now it wants the fed- eral government to intervene to allow these same companies to call their products “natu- ral.” So labeling “frankenfoods” is okay — as long as big agri-business corporations get to determine what those labels say.
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