California rejects GM labelling initiative
California's electorate voted to reject labelling of genetically modified foods by a margin of 53 to 47 percent.
Unlike in Europe, consumers in the United States have never had labels to help them see when the foods they buy come from GM crops.
Over 4.27 million voters in one of the world’s top ten economies want their families to know where GM is used in food.
The industry will find these figures hard to ignore, and this may account for the lack of triumphalism over yesterday’s “win”.
"It’s disappointing that the flood of corporate money trumped public interest in California" said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of "Yes" supporter the Center for Food Safety.
"Millions of people supported labeling of GE foods in California, and that should send a powerful message to other states and the federal government that public demand for the right to know what’s in our food is not going away."
While in Europe animal feed and all foods containing GM ingredients are labeled (GMO Traceability and Labelling Regulation 1830/2003), attempts to introduce labels on products from animals fed GM feed were narrowly defeated in the European Parliament on several occasions, most recently in 2010.
Following consumer rejection of GM foods when there were introduced in the 1990s all major UK supermarkets operate a no GM policy in own brand foods, and some extend this to limited ranges of animals products.
In Germany and France some companies have responded to consumer concern by introducing a voluntary “not produced using GMOs” label on dairy and other animal products.
Pete Riley of GM Freeze said: “It’s astonishing how far the industry will go to hide its products from its own customers. We have to keep asking – if there’s nothing wrong with these products, why not tell customers where they are? In any other industry big companies spend millions on advertising their products. In California they spent many millions keeping them hidden.
“Biotech and food corporations clearly put a high price on keeping consumers in the dark about GM products, but only barely succeeded. We stand right behind the US consumers preparing even now to demand GM labels in new votes.
“Labelling on GMOs in Europe enables people to vote with their wallets, and the supermarkets have got the message. Labels on animal products produced without GM feed would be an excellent next step here in the UK. More widely ending the use of biofuels based on food crops, where the vast majority of GM crops end up, is overdue.”
