Musings about our farm, organic farming, regional foods and markets.

Plus, what's in the news about foods, systems and regulations around the world.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Californians Say No To Prop 37 (GMO Labeling), Or Do They?



I must say I was sickened to my stomach when waking up to the news this morning that Proposition 37 in California advocating labeling of genetically-modified foods has gone down in flames. This represents an historic spurned opportunity on the part of a large and very powerful populace to achieve transparency through freedom of choice.

Somehow, this noble proposition was fated to be foiled. Despite polls noting almost overwhelming support from Californians just a month ago, once the big crushing wheels of influence started turning, once the big guns started hurling dirt and money, lies and deceit at the issue, there was only going to be one winner – the forces of power and greed – and one loser, individuals and small companies upholding beleaguered truth, which ultimately got trampled under the crushing weight. Ultimately most impacted in all this, however, is the general public, or least all those who care enough about their health to want to know what’s in their food.

What does this say about the will of Californians, who had the chance to send out a clear unambiguous message about their freedom to choose what is contained in their food? After all, they can choose whether to buy organic or not, nutritionally dense, or not, with unpronounceable additives, or not. Why not the choice to buy genetically-modified food, or not? Where is the extra cost or harm for consumers in that? And, if consumers would choose to pay a premium for non-GMO food (as they often do for certified organic food), so be it. And yet, no. This is all about the unfettered power of corporations. The Monsantos, Dow Chemicals, DuPonts, even Pepsicos, Coca-Colas of this world could not possibly contend with any such measure that might affect their bottom-line one iota. Let them eat GMO cake, but let’s not let on. Meantime, in the privacy of their swanky mansions, luxury yachts, elite hotels, five-star restaurants, the rich and powerful are wont to chow down on the choicest organic fare they want the masses to eschew.

This is as much a battle about scale as it is about obfuscation. Big corporations want a clear unobstructed path to obscene profit, devoid of regulation, to hell with any health consequences. To do this they need to maximize market share, even monopolize the market. They operate by blinding the masses with their own bogus in-house "research" that, unsubstantiated by independent review, masquerades as "science". They pay off the messenger and have the mainstream media promote it. Many (just over half of Californians, for example) are prepared to just suck it all up. And yet, consumer awareness has certainly been awakened by the tireless efforts of rights advocates like the Organics Consumers Association, health practitioners like Dr. Mercola, and alternative media like Natural News. Progress is being made, just not enough, yet, for truth to prevail, at least in California or the rest of the United States and Canada. In Europe, China, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, yes, the people are awakened by government oversight and regulation to truth and transparency through GM labeling of foods; they are free to effect their health through ethical food choices.

Meantime, it becomes more critical than ever for organic farmers to grow organic food and provide it to the public directly through farmers markets and through selling to small-scale food purveyors, secure in the knowledge that certified organic produce and products are the consumers’ only guaranteed route to GMO-free food. Our collective good health depends on it.


Postscript

As reported by Jon Rappoport at Natural News:

….. As of 2:30PM today, Thursday, November 8th, two days after the election, many votes in California remain uncounted.

I tried to find out how many.

It turns out that the Secretary of State of CA, responsible for elections in the state, doesn't know.

I was told all counties in California have been asked, not ordered, to report in with those figures. It's voluntary.

So I picked out a few of the biggest counties and called their voter registrar offices. Here are the boggling results:

Santa Clara County: 180,000 votes remain uncounted.

Orange County: 241,336 votes remain uncounted.

San Diego County: 475,000 votes remain uncounted.

LA County: 782,658 votes remain uncounted.

In just those four counties, 1.6 million votes remain uncounted.

The California Secretary of State's website indicates that Prop 37 is behind by 559,776 votes.

So in the four counties I looked into, there are roughly three times as many uncounted votes as the margin of Prop 37's defeat.

And as I say, I checked the numbers in only four counties. There are 54 other counties in the state. Who knows how many votes they still need to process?

So why is anyone saying Prop 37 lost?.......

Learn more: