If this initiative should succeed in Washington State, it would change the entire landscape nationally,” he says. “It would sort of break the logjam, and I think that would give us a chance to provide an informative label with national standards.”
By letting consumers know if genetically engineered (GE) organisms are in food they buy, Initiative 522 would do here in Washington what 64 countries – but no other state in the US – have done: mandate immediate labeling.
Yet absent this initiative and nearly $22 million spent on persuasion, Americans appear to want GE labels on their food, according to polls. “Over the past 25 years, surveys have repeatedly shown that 90 percent of people in the US want GE foods to be labeled,” says Philip Bereano, professor emeritus of technology and public policy at the University of Washington. “Because the surveys go on to show that over two-thirds of people would not buy GE foods, the industry knows the vote in Washington State will be a critical turning point in the profitability of GE food.”
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