GMO food labeling lets Rhode Islanders decide

By Donna M. Nesselbush

I don't know about you, but I like "choice," and so do an increasing number of

Rhode Islanders who care deeply about what they eat. Whether it is parents looking for

the best food for their children or our top chefs interested in the freshest ingredients, “buy

local” appears to be gaining traction. Great organizations like Farm Fresh RI and the RI

Food Policy Council are working to make local food sources more prevalent, more sus-

tainable and more affordable. We are proud of our reputation as a leader in this area.

I feel strongly that "you are what you eat." Knowing this truism, people across

Rhode Island are telling us they want more information about the food they put in their

shopping carts. One of the most spirited issues right now surrounds genetically modified

foods. Are they good for us or bad for us? The problem is that we really don't know.

In an average grocery store, roughly 75 percent of processed foods contain "ge-

netically modified organisms" or GMOs. Unfortunately, Rhode Islanders shopping at

their neighborhood Shaw’s or Stop & Shop or Dave’s don’t know if the food they are

buying contains GMOs, because there is no labeling requirement. This needs to change.

In the spirit of Roger Williams, Rhode Islanders have a "right to know" what we are eat-

ing, and we, as a state, should join the growing coalition of states requiring labeling of

GMO foods. Vermont, Maine and Connecticut have already passed GMO labeling legis-

lation, and a similar bill in Massachusetts has the support of 75 percent of the legislature.

Additionally, over 60 countries, from Russia to Italy (and almost all of the developed

world) have enacted similar legislation. The European Union has required GMO labeling

since 1997.

Genetically engineered food is prevalent in grocery stores, yet the U.S. govern-

ment does not perform or require independent safety testing. Perhaps this is because the

biotech industry allegedly, according to the Food and Water Watch, has spent $547 Mil-

lion lobbying Congress from 1999-2009. To make matters worse, according to the same

organization, over 300 former Congressional and White House staff members are now

employed by biotech firms as lobbyists. This doesn't smell right, alongside a growing

body of evidence linking GMOs to personal health risks and environmental impacts.

While further research is needed, public opinion polls repeatedly show more than 90% of

Americans want to be able to make informed decisions about whether or not they pur-

chase and consume GMOs.

Despite the overwhelming support of the American people, the Grocery Manufac-

turers Association, representing the largest chemical and food processing companies, are

fighting labeling requirements here and in other states, because they would prefer to keep

consumers in the dark about what they are eating. So much for "you are what you eat"

and “the customer is always right.” They claim that providing factual information about

our food will confuse consumers and raise food prices.

Fortunately, we don't have to rely on industry-funded assertions of impossibility

and impracticality. Dozens of countries have labeled GMOs without increasing food

costs, and state after state is considering jumping on the bandwagon. I believe that every

Rhode Islander deserves to know whether food contains GMOs, and the time is now for

our state government to step in.

I have filed legislation in the Senate that would create a GMO labeling require-

ment in Rhode Island, and I thank Representatives Raymond Hull, Dennis Canario and

Blake Fillippi who have also filed GMO bills in the House. There are differences in the

various pieces of legislation, but the point is to require that products containing GMOs be

plainly labeled, so that consumers can simply decide for themselves whether or not to

buy them and eat them. I have nothing personally "against" GMOs, I just think people

have a right to know if they are eating them.

Let’s make Rhode Island the next state to join the trend toward a transparent food

supply for all Rhode Islanders where the ingredients are not masked by the huge corpora-

tions that, not surprisingly, may be motivated more by money than by health.

Donna M. Nesselbush is a Democratic Rhode Island state senator representing

District 15, which includes portions of Pawtucket and North Providence. She introduced

legislation this week to require labeling of food containing genetically modified organ-

isms.