Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Washington state residents likely to vote on GMO food labels - Seattle GMO | Examiner.com

Washington state residents likely to vote on GMO food labels - Seattle GMO | Examiner.com

Hearings have been held in both the Washington state Senate (Feb. 14) and the House (March 5) on the initiative to label GMOs in food. It is highly unusual for the legislature to take action on an initiative so it is likely that I-522 will show up on ballots next November. It behooves Washington residents to educate themselves about this important issue.

A majority of Americans favor labeling GMOs
According to a poll taken two weeks ago by the Huffington Post, 82% of Americans think that GMOs should be labeled, 9% believe they don't need to be labeled and 8% aren't sure. The poll also showed that, while most people think that GMOs should be labeled, many people don't really know too much about GMOs.

What is a GMO?
A genetically modified organism, or GMO, is the term commonly used for crops that have been genetically engineered (GE) to produce some desired trait. The first GE crops were tobacco plants modified in 1986 to be resistant to direct application of herbicides. The following year, tobacco plants were engineered to resist insects. There followed a host of field trials to also develop plants resistant to viral and fungal diseases and to modify traits such as ripening, starch content and so on. In 1995 the FDA approved GE corn, soy, cotton, canola, potato, squash and tomato for commercialization and the amount of GE crops since then has been steadily increasing. Most often the genes are altered to render the plant resistant to either insects or herbicides.

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