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	growing child food

Sidebar: The People Fight Back

Public protest over GE foods is making a difference. Time magazine reported in January 1999 that 81 percent of Americans want food labeling, and 58 percent would not buy GE foods if they were labeled. Gerber and Heinz pledged to shun GE ingredients in their baby food products in 1999. Although the Grocery Manufacturers of America announced last fall the launch of a $1 million advertising and educational campaign to fight the prolabeling movement, this is a grassroots matter that is taking on its own momentum.1

Monsanto, succumbing to consumer alarm, announced in October 1999 that it would not develop sterile seed, or “Terminator” technology, which would have made farmers beholden to seed companies year in, year out. (The USDA developed this technology along with the corporation in 1998.) Meanwhile, US farmers are scrambling to avoid using GE seeds in their forthcoming crops, and the seed companies are concerned there won’t be enough conventional seed to fulfill the disenchanted farmers’ demand. In December 1999, a group of farmers from Iowa, Indiana, and France sued Monsanto for selling GE crops without first ensuring they were safe for consumers and the environment. The US’ two largest natural food retailers, Wild Oats Market and Whole Foods Markets, announced in January that they would drop GE ingredients from most of their private-label foods. Some US manufacturers, such as Eden Foods, have long pledged to shun GE ingredients.

The medical community is also beginning to take a stand against genetically modified foods. The American Medical Association announced in September 1999 that it would review its decade-old policy on agricultural genetic engineering, following a move made by the British Medical Association for a moratorium on all GE plantings. In response to public alarm, the FDA held hearings in November and December 1999 in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Oakland, to give the consumers a voice. Although the admissions process was strict, hundreds of people attended to voice their concerns.

Finally, some of our elected officials are daring to take a leadership role on this issue. In October 1999, Democratic whip David Bonior (D-MI), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), and Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) collected 49 congressmember signatures calling for FDA Commissioner June E. Henney to implement food labeling. Rep. Kucinich introduced in November 1999 a bipartisan bill for mandatory labeling because of genetic engineering (H.R. 3377, the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act). “If we are what we eat,” Rep. Kucinich says, “consumers must know what they are eating.” In committee at press time, this bill calls “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to require that food that contains a genetically engineered material, or that is produced with a genetically engineered material, be labeled accordingly.”

The following members of Congress were cosponsors for the bill, which is currently in committee:
Rep. David E. Bonior (D-MI)
Rep. Jack Metcalf (R-WA)
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Rep. Patsy T. Mink (D-HI)
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Rep. Michael F. Doyle (D-PA)
Rep. Lynn N. Rivers (D-MI)
Rep., Maurice D. Hinche (D-NY)
Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-IL)
Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ)
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA)
Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-CA)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA)

If you would like to send an e-mail letter to the FDA, your congressional representative, and senators, go to the Center for Food Safety’s action alert at www.foodsafetynow.org. To track the legislation’s progress in Congress, go to www.house.gov and search bill H.R.3377. You can also go to this website to find out how to contact your local representative and urge him or her to support

NOTES
1. Rick Weiss, “Next Food Fight Brewing Is Over Listing Genes on Labels,” Washington Post, August 15, 1999, A-17.

For More Information
Kneen, Brewster. Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology. New Society Publishers, 1999.

And visit these websites:
Campaign for Food Safety www.purefood.org. This website also provides a list of organic food suppliers and natural food co-ops nationwide at www.purefood.org/purelink.html.
Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods www.thecampaign.org.
Center for Food Safety www.centerforfoodsafety.org.
Friends of the Earth US www.foe.org.
Genetically Manipulated Food News www.home.intekom.com/tm_info /rw90923.htm.
Greenpeace True Food Campaign www.truefood.org.
Religious Alliance for Bio-Integrity www.bio-integrity.org.
Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org.