Polls Show: Everyone Wants GMOs to be Labeled

According to ABC News, 90 percent of Americans want to know whether or not the food they are eating has been genetically modified. While there is no conclusive data showing that GMOs are bad for human health, health is not the entirety of the issue. Full disclosure is the issue, and it's this writer's opinion that knowledge is power. Consumers should be fully informed about what they're putting into their mouths, but so far, Monsanto is winning the battle against full disclosure.

But public opinion and outcry aren't going to change just because Monsanto was, essentially, granted immunity from prosecution for any possible consequences their genetic horseplay causes. Monsanto is dead set on controlling the food supply for the entire world, it seems, even though the data doesn't back up their claims that GMOs increase productivity. According to the Rodale Institute, which conducted a 30 year study of organic and conventional farming methods, GMOs do not do what Monsanto wants us to think they do:

In a 30-year study that pits organic farming against conventional farming (including genetically modified (GM) farming starting in 2008), organic practices outperformed conventional practices leading to higher yields and higher net incomes for farmers.

The above is quoted from this article on KSL. So, that being the case, why, OH WHY, are we still having this debate? Oh, that's right, because money talks. Don't believe me? Why don't you just go ahead and find out who is heading up the FDA these days. You don't really have to, though, because I looked it up for you. His name is Michael Taylor, and he was appointed to the position by President Obama in January 2010. Guess what his employment history looks like? He was a lawyer, then a lobbyist, for (you guessed it) Monsanto. Shocked? Yeah, me neither.

Sad News!

According to Salt Lake Tribune, our friends at Morgan Valley Lamb will be closing up shop. Morgan Valley has been providing Utah with fresh, organically raised lamb for over a decade. The land on which their herd grazes is being sold by the family that owns it, so the Gillmor's have to leave. Did you know that 600,000 acres of Utah farmland was lost just in the five years between 2002 and 2007. Morgan Valley's parcel of 10,000 acres seems like a tiny portion of that, but it represents a disturbing trend that should be of greater concern to the public. Check out this story in Issue 8 for more about it.