Friday, July 4, 2014

GMO labeling closer to Oregon November ballot | KOIN.com

GMO labeling closer to Oregon November ballot | KOIN.com:





Supporters of a plan to have voters decide whether to label genetically modified foods turned in enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
“I’m not going to be surprised in November when we become the first state to make GMO labeling the law through a popular vote,” said Julia Degraw with Food and Water Watch.
The Oregon Right to Know campaign collected more than enough signatures in just six weeks, organizers said in a release.
The campaign leaders turned in the signatures at the state capitol and then held a brief news conference.
“There’s not enough information about whether or not these things are safe for our families. And if we don’t know, don’t we have a right to know whether or not we’re choosing to ingest these things and feed them to our kids?” said Degraw.
According to a fact sheet from the World Health Organization, “no effects of human health have been shown as a result of consumption of” GMOs.
Dr. Martin Donohoe, an internist from Portland, said she doesn’t buy that response.
“The data from open independent science, to me, is concerning enough that at the very least, we need to label our foods just so we can be informed consumers,” said Donohoe.
A source of concern among voters in Washington who turned down a similar initiative last year was cost labeling. Opponents of the Washington GMO campaign said it would increase the price of food.
Degraw said there is no truth to those claims.
While opponents in Oregon have not begun to campaign yet, those for labeling expect a strong counterattack from those against it.
“It doesn’t matter how well funded an opposition is and how much they lie to the public or terrible ads they run – when you’ve got Oregonians talking to Oregonians saying this is how I’m voting and why, that’s how we win,” said Degraw.

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