For ten days between the dates of May 22 - June 10 in 2014, I posted myself in front of public libraries (for nine days) and at the Folklife Festival in Seattle (for one day only) to request from Washington State registered voters their signatures and voter information on a ballot initiative that if passed, would make mandatory the labeling of genetically-engineered foods, many times referred to as GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). This ballot initiative, called I-1338 is a revised version of an initiative that already reached Washington State voters in November 2013, Initiative 522 (I-522). I-522 lost by a margin of less than 2%, although some popular media claims the margin was larger. In addition, the money spent in opposition to I-522 was the largest amount ever raised for or against a Washington State initiative, the sum exceeding 22 million US dollars. Spending to support I-522 only amounted to 8 million US dollars. So why make the effort if Washington State voters voted down the bill last year and, with when large food corporations are spending so much to make sure GMO labeling does not pass?
The answer is food. In truth, I wish food was healthy and did not need labeling except for the ingredients label and allergy warnings. But today, it is not uncommon to see labels like FREE RANGE, ORGANIC, FAIR TRADE, GRASS FED, NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS - NO ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS - NO PRESERVATIVES, RAW, CRUELTY FREE, VEGAN, and in recent times NON-GMO. But while the consumer is bombarded with all these marketing tags to influence their purchase, the larger picture of food containing harmful products and for that matter, unhealthy food, remains cloaked. Corporations will argue that they use low levels of harmful products and genetically modified foods in order to reduce the costs of food production, increase the shelf life of food and, in turn, reduce the cost of food to the consumer. What is not mentioned is that the results of doing this increases their profits and in gaining more sales a larger market share. Large food corporations use both natural and synthetic compounds in preserving, flavoring and coloring foods. And since the early 1990s, they have on the production end manipulated the chromosomes of seeds to make crops that resist pests and/or endure a regime of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. This is when GMOs began filtering into foods in North America.
Look at the changes in health statistics for North American children since the 1990s. Obesity is now the norm, diabetes is a major risk and allergies or intolerance to certain foods is also increasing. Media reports evade the real contributions to this growing health crisis, making reports concerning the loss of exercise through the adoption of the latest technologies. Our health care system, since it is primarily runs on profit, is held captive by pharmaceutical companies who promote drugs to combat these new health problems. The prescriptions, however, most time come with major side effects that involve taking another pill to offset the side effects. It is a vicious cycle, but one that can change through one fundamental change, and that is gearing our food production to the growth and distribution of healthy food instead of large amounts of food that is cheap, convenient and profitable.
Thus, I committed time and effort to ask thousands of Washington State voters for their support. 532 of them took the time to supply me with their voter information and signatures. They could see an importance in people voting with their dollars for healthier foods. But tragically, Washington State voters will not have a chance this year to pass I-1338. The organization collecting the signatures from volunteers for the ballot initiative, Respect for Mother Nature Committee of Washington, did not meet the 50,000 signatures needed to bring the initiative to the voters again. Volunteers were weak and only one food store showed interest in the new initiative after the smear campaign of agribusinesses in 2013. Voters in the state of Vermont, however, passed a GMO food labeling initiative this year. Farmers in Benton and Jefferson Counties, Oregon continue to struggle for ending the growth of GMOs state wide. Two battles were lost in Washington State, but the fight for healthy food still wages on.
