Going into next week’s U.S. election, Greg Palla, a California farmer, isn’t sure if the state’s referendum on the labelling of genetically modified foods will succeed or not.
But Palla is certain of one thing — farmers and the agricultural industry need to explain GMOs to the public because consumer ignorance and related fears are a massive issue in America.
“If we are fortunate enough to have this measure go down to defeat, it’s definitely a wake-up call for agriculture and the food industry to do a better job, conveying the message of the safety of biotech crops to the marketplace,” said Palla, who grows cotton, wheat, corn and vegetables near Bakersfield.
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“We haven’t done a good enough job.… Otherwise, we wouldn’t be facing this.”
On Nov. 6, Californians will vote on Proposition 37, a ballot initiative called the California Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. In short, GM food would be labeled as such in California if the measure is successful.
Palla doesn’t know if his fellow Californians will approve or reject the measure because a week before the vote, polls are indicating that Proposition 37 is essentially a coin flip.
Steve Wellman, a Nebraska farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, said if the proposition is successful, several other states would likely follow California. According to a website supporting mandatory labelling in Vermont, bills calling for GM labelling have appeared in 19 state legislatures over the last couple of years.
As an example of the widespread outcry for labelling, an organization called justlabelit.org says 1.2 million Americans have signed a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requesting mandatory GM labelling.
As well, on the other side of the political spectrum, the Texas Republican party backed mandatory labelling as part of its platform in 2012.
In the summer of 2011, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, an international food standards organization, adopted global labelling guidelines for GM foods. The new rules allow countries to create their own GM labelling laws without fear that such regulations will lead to trade challenges.
Proponents of mandatory labelling, including the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, claim the governments of Canada and the United States are isolated on this issue because the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and dozens of other countries require labelling of GM food.
Lorne Hepworth, president of CropLife Canada, a plant science trade association, said Canada already has voluntary labelling of GM food.
“In Canada, we already have in place mandatory labelling laws as it relates to safety and nutritional composition. Since there is no safety issue here, there is no requirement for mandatory labeling (of GMOs),” he said from his office in Ottawa.
“The role of government, historically, is about environmental and safety and food safety…. So if you now have government making rules about market preference, that’s a whole new role for government.”
In addition, Canadian consumers who don’t want to buy GM food already have appropriate options because they can choose to buy certified organic products, Hepworth said.
When asked about a public opinion survey showing only 41 percent of Canadians believe GM food is safe, Hepworth said the biotech industry has made efforts to inform the public over the last two decades.
“This issue of how we informed the public about this technology … goes back quite some time. Has it been as successful as we all would like? One could argue maybe not.”
However, government and regulators of the biotech sector also have a responsibility to reassure consumers about GMO foods, Hepworth said.
“Not to be a cheerleader for any given product but to stand up and… promote and defend the regulatory system,” he said. “In the same survey, if you asked people how many are aware that the CFIA and Health Canada regulate this technology in a very robust fashion, maybe you’d get a very high number saying they didn’t know that.”
Consumer education and open communication are essential ,but the North American agriculture industry cannot ignore the issue of GM labelling, said Sylvain Charlebois, a University of Guelph marketing professor and food safety expert.
“It’s not going to go away,” he said. “I was on panel (discussion) last week and people are absolutely polarized (about GM food).”
