Genetic Engineering: Just Label It! Campaign

Beyond Pesticides is a partner with the Just Label It campaign, which is made up of a broad-based coalition of 460 partner organizations demanding that consumers have the right to know what is in our food. The campaign has already generated over a half-million consumer comments in support of a petition which calls for food that is produced with genetically engineered (GE) ingredients to disclose this information on the label. The petition was filed with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and written by attorneys at the Center for Food Safety.

Sign the petition and submit your comments at www.justlabelit.org/takeaction.

Why Label It?

Beyond Pesticides’ goal is to push for labeling as a means of identifying products containing GE ingredients in an effort to sway consumer demand. The European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia, and China, require labeling for GE foods. Recently, the German corporation BASF announced that it would stop developing genetically engineered products targeting the European market, in part due to low consumer demand. Given that a that 93% of Americans support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, Beyond Pesticides believes that we can have the same impact here as in Europe.

The best way to avoid genetically engineered foods in the marketplace is by purchasing foods that have the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Organic Seal. Under organic certification standards, genetically modified organisms and their byproducts are prohibited. For many other reasons, organic products are the right choice for consumers.

Unfortunately, the current lax regulations on genetically engineered crops in the U.S. presents a unique risk to organic growers. Wind-pollinated and bee-pollinated crops, such as corn and alfalfa, have high risks of cross pollination between GE crops and unmodified varieties. No provision exists to effectively protect organic farms from contamination, although EPA has required “refuges” or non-GE planted barriers around sites planted with GE crops.

Sign the Petition

About the Campaign

The JUST LABEL IT: We Have the Right to Know campaign is dedicated to the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, also referred to as genetically modified, or GMOs. The JUST LABEL IT message is simple: consumers have a right to know what is in our food so we can make informed choices about what we eat and feed our families. At the Just Label It website, people can submit a comment to FDA in support of the petition.

For more information, and to see all of the Just Label It partners, see justlabelit.org.

California's Proposition 37 Ballot Iniatitive:
From a Narrow Defeat Comes a National Movement

(November 6, 2012) Proposition 37, a statewide ballot initiative in California, would have required the mandatory labeling of GE food in the state. However, after a hard-fought election, the measure was scarcely defeated 53% to 47%.

The amount of money spent by the opposition is proof that this movement is a serious concern for those in industry who want to keep consumers from knowing what’s in their food. Even after being outspent 5:1, $46 million to $9 million, with the "No" folks spending close to $1 million dollars a day in the month leading up to the vote, the polls were razor thin right up until Election Day.

And on Election Day, as a testament to the staying power of this movement, over 4.2 million Californians cast their ballots for the right to know what's in their food. The next step requires national action, and Beyond Pesticides and the JustLabelIt campaign are asking supporters to do three things:  sign the FDA petition for mandatory food labeling, tell friends and family to do the same, and urge your elected representatives to support GE labeling. Recall, in 2007 on the campaign trail President Obama endorsed the idea that Americans have a right to know what’s in the food they’re buying. So we have support from the President, but we need to let him know that we’re paying attention, and he needs to act. With pressure from this burgeoning movement of concerned Americans across the county, we can bring much needed transparency to our food system.

Proposition 37 was initiated by a grassroots organizing effort with the help of thousands of volunteers across the state of California. The Right to Know campaign gathered nearly one million signatures statewide within a 10 week period, and more than 2,000 organizations – including Beyond Pesticides along with food manufacturers and retailers, consumer, environmental, farming, health, faith-based, political and labor groups – endorsed Proposition 37.