GMO Food Label

12/14/08

Dear President [Elect] Obama,

I voted for your vision of change. I drove through ice and snow to see you in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last December. I knew then that you would not only win the primary, but that you were a man of great destiny that would restore the American Dream. Then I was sitting behind you as you spoke to my hometown in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Watching 16,000 people in Jerry Ford's hometown cheering you on! Who would have imagined this!

I know you are watching the economy spin out of control because of corporate greed! Its time to support the people who live and work on Main Street! And this includes the government - especially the FDA - to support the health of the people and not the health of the bank accounts of the biotechnology companies!

Please don't let them put their own people in the policy positions as they have for the past 16 years! Yes, 16 years since they bought their way in through contributions to Clinton's campaign. and shame on Gore for letting them get away with it. I hope all your appointments send a message of change! Tom Vilsack does not sound like change in agriculture to me! Just a Democrat instead of a Republican. It won't make Monsanto, DuPont, or Dow Chemical even blink.

We want a labeling law to have the right to know if GMO's are in our food and we need at least a level playing field to have a chance against these giant biotech/chemical companies that brought us the $120 Billion superfund to clean up their last environmental disaster!

We would like to see Dennis Kucinich in charge of regulatory departments like the Health and Human Services, and FDA. This would send a clear message: No More Politics as Usual, No more money/lobbist influenced regulation!

I wish you the best and full support of Natural Law!

God Bless You!
Chris Wege
President, Citizens to Label Genetically Engineered Food

Genetic engineering (GE) is a novel technology that is fundamentally changing the genetic makeup of numerous crops, animals, trees and insects – and forever altering our food supply. Scientists have found that the introduction of genetically engineered and modified plants, insects, fish and other mammals could lead to widespread species extinctions.

Biotechnologists now are able to take the genetic material from one organism and insert it into the permanent genetic code of another, and these creations are now being patented and released into the environment and entering our food supply at an increasing rate. Numerous studies have now shown that GE organisms pose potentially serious risks to human health, wildlife and the environment. In regards to human health issues, GE foods have the potential to cause foods to become toxic, lower their nutritional value, create antibiotic resistance, and cause allergic reactions. GE crops present numerous threats to farmers, as genetic material can spread from GE crops to organic and non-GE crops and cause contamination resulting in economic losses and even loss of livelihoods and farmland. And lastly, GE crops have already caused devastating effects on the environment as they promote greater use of herbicides which are deadly to butterflies, frogs, fish, and other species of wildlife. Additionally, the potential introduction of GE fish could even cause widespread species extinction.

Despite these findings, a few corporations have been allowed to genetically alter many of our most important food crops, with little or no regulation. Most egregiously, under pressure from the biotechnology industry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has refused to regulate GE foods, failing to require any mandatory health or environmental labeling or testing of these foods. Yet consumers now more than ever want GE foods to be labeled so they have a choice in the marketplace. In fact, polls consistently show that more than 80% of Americans want GE foods to be labeled.

The failure to adequately regulate and control agricultural biotechnology has, and will continue to have, devastating impact on farmers, consumers, crops and the environment. Unsuspecting consumers by the tens of millions are being allowed to purchase and consume unlabeled genetically engineered foods, despite findings by FDA scientists that these foods could pose serious risks. New genetically engineered crops are being approved by federal agencies despite admissions that they will contaminate native and conventional plants and pose other significant new environmental threats. In short, there has been a complete abdication of any responsible legislative or regulatory oversight of genetically engineered foods. Clearly, now is a critical time to challenge the government’s lack of regulatory oversight on this technology, and demand labeling of all GE foods so that consumers have a choice in the marketplace.