Vermont was the first state in the US to
abolish slavery. Today it became the first for passing a mandatory GMO
labelling law. It is really unclear how this move will help consumers. In fact,
it will certainly increase food price as labelling exercise would involve a lot
of monitoring and testing procedures throughout the agriculture supply chain.
Enjoying a GM corn in the US.
With or without GM labelling, food price is
already increasing. GM labelling law will only escalate the rise.
In some cases, the price might remain the
same with some essential ingredients being omitted. One example is Post’s
Grape-Nut cereals. After going “GM-free”, the recipe has been modified and it
no longer includes Vitamin a, Vitamin D, Riboflavin and vitamin B12. Consumers
are being short changed for the price they are paying. But are they aware of
this?
While I don’t condone GM labelling, it
might even be a blessing in the long run.
If we start checking our shopping carts at
a grocery mart, almost everything in there contains at least one GM
ingredients. High-fructose corn syrup; soy, corn and canola oil; lecithin and
other soy isolates; oils, fat and shortening from GM corn, soy and canola; and
any derivatives from soy and corn are found in almost all our foods.
Dairy products can be made of milk from
cows injected with rBST – a recombinant hormone that makes cow produce more
milk. GM corn and soy are fed to almost all poultry and livestock animals. That
would leave us with a hand-full of non-GM foods. So, it looks like almost all
our foods will carry a GM label, or the food producer will resort to using
non-GM ingredients and then increase the price.
Finally, consumers will just get so used to
GM food that the label will no longer bother them. GM foods will be the
mainstream food. I just think this is inevitable. It is just a matter of time.
The anti-GM activists might have won the battle but they will eventually lose
the war.
By Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan
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