If Prop 37 is approved by voters, it will require labeling on raw, or processed food, offered for sale to consumers. Specifically, if the food is made from plants, or animals, with genetic material changed in specified ways.
This initiative is also known as “the right to know” initiative.
There are certain foods that are exempt from this initiative. According to Ballot Pedia, these are foods that are “certified organic; unintentionally produced with genetically engineered material. It goes on to explain “made from animals fed or injected with genetically engineered material but not genetically engineered themselves; processed with or containing only small amounts of genetically engineered ingredients.”
Prop 37 is the vote on the right to know if our food is genetically modified.
Foods (plant or animal) known as Genetically Modified Organism have been altered in some way to be different than nature intended.
One example is mouse DNA shot into a pig so that the pig is more environmentally friendly. Plums engineered to resist plum pox or the arctic apple that resists browning are other such examples.
Okanagan Specialty Fruits has developed just such an apple and has asked for U.S. approval. Apple growers are not sure that they want this.
How Big Is The Problem?
It is currently estimated that up to 75% of our local grocery store shelves are full of GMO’s. How much of that is the consumer truly aware of?
If you believe that “Food is Love – Food is Life – Food is Family.” then vote yes on Prop 37.
Visit Right to Know to learn more.
Have a good think about why some of these giants are opposed to the labeling. The labeling that the citizens of almost 50 other countries already have as a part of their daily life.
I believe in the freedom of choice. You should have the freedom to choose what you are eating. Clarity in food labeling is needed for this to be accomplished.
Consider your options and then allow your vote, and your grocery dollars, to speak for you.