Some governments refuse to enforce labeling of foods containing genetically modified materials to indicate as such – so people power is stepping in to do the job for them.
Label It Yourself arms consumers with information to identify products most likely to contain GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms). Label templates can be downloaded from the site for creating stickers to affix to these products in supermarkets in order alert other consumers.
Here’s what some of the stickers look like:
I imagine this campaign has some food company legal departments going absolutely nutso.
According to the group’s web site:
“The Label It Yourself (#LIY) campaign empowers people to make educated decisions about what is in their food, without waiting for government or corporations to do it for them.”
40 countries require labeling of genetically engineered food – but the USA isn’t among them. This is in spite of the vast majority of Americans supporting GMO labeling.
This campaign is going to need a whole lot of labeling going on considering an estimated 80% of processed food in the nation contains GMO ingredients – and that includes some foods marketed as being “all natural”.
A concern I have with this campaign is it speaks of products “most likely” or “potentially” containing genetically modified material. An action like this requires absolute certainty I feel – putting a skull on a product, a universally recognized symbol of danger, is not something that should be done using a “best guess” approach.
I’m concerned some products might be incorrectly labeled as GMO and it’s important that they aren’t in order to a) maintain credibility of the campaign and b) so it doesn’t impact on sales of products made without GMO’s.
If you decide to become a GMO labeling rebel – please ensure you research your targets properly. I’m not even sure of the legality of this sort of action and I wonder if a store owner could prosecute for vandalism.
Anyhow, an interesting idea and it could be a very powerful campaign – just be very cautious if you decide to join in and bear in mind the old saying, “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist”.
However, I whole-heartedly agree products containing GMO ingredients should clearly indicate that – and it shouldn’t have to come to this in order to motivate governments to allow consumers to be properly informed.
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