READING IS THAT FRUITFUL MIRACLE
OF COMMUNICATION
IN THE MIDST OF SOLITUDE.

MARCEL PROUST

Photography by Denise Blasor

THE PRICE OF SILENCE 
 

   Genetically engineered foods include corn, tomatoes, squash,
 golden rice, soybeans, oils, potatoes and sugar beets. Many
 processed foods are made using GMO oils, corn syrup, refined

  sugar and cottonseed oils

HOW MUCH are companies willing to spend to keep consumers
in the dark about their products?

A lot. 

Opponents of ballot measures to label foods containing genetically
 modified ingredients in Colorado and Oregon spent a whopping

 $37 million to persuade voters in those states to vote against the
proposals.

The investment  paid off;  the measures were rejected at the ballot
box, which not only says something about the power of money
and advertising but also about the willingness of consumers to
remain ignorant about the products they consume.

If one adds up what was spent to fight similar measures in
California and Washington state, "GMO labeling opponents
 have spent more than $100 million in those four contests,"
 according to the Wall Street Journal.

Colorado's Proposition 105 would have required labels on

packaged foods to include the text "produced with genetic 

engineering." Under Measure 92 in Oregon, food labels would
have had to include the words "genetically engineered."  

Opponents attacked the labeling requirement as too cumbersome;

they argued it would lead to higher food costs, hurt farmers and
spread misinformation.  

How adding some text on a label could possibly be curbensome
 and result in higher food costs sounds like a stretch of the
 imagination.  Less of a stretch: the reason why big corporations
 reject labeling efforts  is plain, unadulterated fear that the GMO
 acronym will turn consumers away from their products.

Which is totally foolish.

The very fact that most voters nixed the measures would seem

 to suggest that full disclosure on food labels is not a priority

 Sure, some consumers might be turned off by GMO products
 but the vast majority won't even pay attention because of
 any number of reasons. Any concern by food companies
 that the labeling of GMO products will lead to a massive
 downturn in sales is unjustified.

If consumers really cared about what they put inside their

bodies they would not tolerate the current state of affairs in
which companies deny the public the right to know basic
 information about the food products they sell.

It is interesting that companies are fighting to the death --
 metaphorically speaking -- to keep those three little words,
GMO, off packaging and cans. God forbid that people should
 know what those products contain: why it would be the end
of food producers!

If consumers really cared about what they consume, they would
go out of their way to stop buying the products of companies
opposed to GMO labeling like Pepsico, Coca Cola, Monsanto,
Kraft Foods, and General Mills.

If I don't have the right to know, then Mr. Big Company keep
your products, thank you very much.

It's as simple as that. But it won't happen.

  

  

I can be perfectly happy
 by 
myself.
With freedom, flowers, books 
and the moon,
who could not be
 perfectly happy?

Oscar Wilde

 ☛  A SIMPLE TIP

 The following tip may sound like a formula your great great great

grandmother would have whipped out to keep Dracula off your

neck but given its good results it's worth passing along to the

 rest of the world. So here it is: to keep mosquitoes at bay,

 cut up a lime or lemon and stick in whole cloves. Place around

the house…. a good conversation starter, by the way.

"Feel Free" written on a wall in Old San Juan

There is no reality without struggle,
no future without battles.

"The Man from Beijing"

Henning Mankell

 DEAL OF THE WEEK $$ $

  SAN JUAN -- The
 holiday season is
nearly upon us and
with it the urge to party
 and entertain. So if
 you  are in need of
new wine glasses,
 head over to
Supermax  De Diego
which brought
 in a shipment of nice
looking, everyday wine
glasses. At $1.29 a
piece, plus tax, the
glasses are a very
 good buy. Available
 in long- stemmed and
short-stemmed styles.
 

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