Bill on genetically modified food labels debated

Labeling costs should be no more than when we adopted the HI-5 on our beverage containers and is of little or no consequence when every consumer deserves to know what they are eating, period! Alicia Maluafiti (a paid lobbyist) of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association says "If you pass a mandated labeling bill, you're going to force a mandatory regulatory process and a tax on consumers for 80 percent of the food that's in the supermarket," Malua­fiti said. "It's not fair for every family in Hawaii that's struggling every day to put food on the table." By this standard, it would mean that we'd like to eat food that is cheap (regardless of the long term effects) rather than food that is safe. Either way, we (the consumer) have the right to know and choose what we consume.

Is $46 million in negative advertising a good return on investment? "Instead of quelling the demand for labeling, the defeat of the California measure has spawned a ballot initiative in Washington State and legislative proposals in Connecticut, Vermont, New Mexico and Missouri, and a swelling consumer boycott of some organic or “natural” brands owned by major food companies" And this month, a senator in Missouri, home of Monsanto, one of the biggest producers of genetically modified seeds, proposed legislation that would require the labeling of genetically engineered meat and fish. “I don’t want to hinder any producer of genetically modified goods,” the senator, Jamilah Nasheed, who represents St. Louis, said in a news release. “However, I strongly feel that people have the right to know what they are putting into their bodies.” (STEPHANIE STROM, NY Times, 1/31/13)

Label it!

The anti-GMO crowd embraces the same thinking as those who oppose vaccines and deny global warming. They refuse to accept science in favor of religious, political and/or philosophically based beliefs.

People should just assume that whatever food they are buying contains some genetically modified material, since most of it does. If growers or manufacturers who do not use any GMO products want people to know that about them and their products, then they should include that on thier labels as a selling point. What's the big deal? Why force more cost and government regulation onto the citizenry?

"I and many mothers deserve the right to know what we are feeding our children,"

Exactly. End of story.

difficult to comment on the merits or drawbacks of the debate as the star advert refuses to designate exactly what bill the story refers to. it's so simple to include the bill number and title in the report, at least it would be for a competent reporter or paper.

A couple of omissions in this story. (1) The actual bill this article is about. Itʻs HB174 Relating to Food Labeling; (2) What will it take to get the Star Advertiser editors to check the names of spokespersons from a list of registered state lobbyists? Alicia Maluafiti is a lobbyist for the GMO industry. The Hawaii Crop Improvement Association is an umbrella group of lobbyists from Monsanto, Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Mycogen, BASF, and Dow. This link goes to the Hawaii State Ethics Commission pdf file of all registered lobbyists. http://hawaii.gov/ethics/lobby/lobfiles/reglob/lljun12.pdf

Everyone and their aunty can say, GMO is bad, get rid of it, I won't eat it. But I wonder, really, how many of them even know what the heck DNA is? Let alone what it does in a cell. How does DNA and human nutrition related to each other? The anti-science movement is such a hypocrisy. The same people that claim global warming the the same ones who cry out GMO is dangerous. Global warming evidence came from scientific evidence yet you reject the same science that studies GMOs and its safety. The anti-science movement indeed are the ones who doubt vaccinations and the science behind it, while children around the world die and yearn to be protected from such preventable diseases. The pervasive myths are all over the internet like the RoundUp corn causes tumors. Do you even know who did that study and what happened to it? Nope, cause you probably only read excerpts on it some biased website that had no science behind it. The European Food Safety Association found that it was flawed and that it was not of sound evidence. The scientist would not even release all of his data for further review! Then again, most people can't even understand any of the information on these studies anyways. The anti-GMO folks also claim that it kills people. Uh, name one. I can go on and on about the deaths and disability caused by eating organic food. Talk about right to know, know what E. coli 0157 is and how it is used affecting organic food. They also are the ones who cry out that it is dangerous because "we just don't know." You're right, you just don't know about what genetics is. Ignorance is bliss! If you wish to not be ignorant and get educated, then I urge you to look up the name Mark Lynas. Then there is all the demonizing of Monsanto. Um, yeah, if you steal intellectual property from someone after signing an agreement, you will be sued. If I had a novel device I invented and someone else tries to sell it, I'd be sure to sue them and stop them from using it. Why is that wrong? Just because you wanted Food, Inc. and all the skewed Hollywood documentaries on the big screen and you believe it all and don't even research the issues. Yup, Hollywood is sure full of reliable sources of information. Like Jenny McCarthy and her tirade about vaccinations and autism despite Dr. Wakefield losing his medical license for falsify data, doing unethical actions, and conflict of interest such as being paid by lawyers of autistic kids and their parents. That's a great example of crooked science at its best. As far as adding costs, more regulations means more costs. The costs are called implementation. Read the testimony from these bills and educated yourselves of where it comes from. How much more can we keep choking our hardworking local folks off already? Then you want to talk about special interests and greed of the big companies like Monsanto... Just look up the close ties one of the introducers of the bill is to the environmental groups. Did you know that each time environmental groups like EarthJustice sues the state or the federal government they get to recover their costs from us the taxpayer. Here's one, a low estimate is around $4.7 billion dollars were paid to them in 2003-2007. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Talk about taxpayer rip off! As BluesBreaker mentions too, yes, we special Hawaii folks will need a special label for our food and that might mean exclusions from even bothering with bringing food here in the first place. Why would food producers who are food safety certified want to take more time to specially treat food that is already deemed safe just for us when it will break their margins. Is that good for the public? Thank you to all you conspiracy theorists for perpetuating the anti-science movement and divulge to the world our ignorance.

will bouys who are now gulls be required to be labeled gmo.