Don't need a weatherman....

[cyrano]

Can I just say that Mozilla completely rocks? Mark, you're so right, and I'm glad I finally got the energy to install it.

And in other news, Oregon voters may have the chance to decide whether they want to know if their food has been genetically altered.
Surprisingly, many corporations are quite opposed to this and claim that the costs would be prohibitive--businesses would collapse and food prices would skyrocket.
This labelling is already being done in Europe, but I'm not certain what effects it had there.

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

esmerel mentioned this to me this morning.

I wonder what 'genetically altered' means, exactly. Almost every food commercially available is genetically altered in some fashion.

If all this gets revealed and turns into a repeat of the Bovine Growth Serum hue and cry from the early 90's, I will be seriously disgusted at people.

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

In terms of arguments against GMO, I offer the following link which summarizes the argument pretty well.

http://www.netlink.de/gen/fagan.html

The current major point of contention, to me, seems to be that while it has not yet been proven whether or not genetically modified foods are harmful to humans and/or the environment, that people should be given the choice whether to eat GMO or not. Thus, the labelling. Being in the midwest, I hear a lot of the flack that Monsanto gets for its genetically modified soybeans and the fact that farmers fear that this drive away from GMO will cause soybean futures to drop. Well, at least the news has been talking that way for 3 years now and I've yet to see it seriously impact soybeans. For the most part, the people I see extremely concerned about GMO labelling are people who eat organic foods because GMO is not considered organic.

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

While I can't see a strong reason not to label things, if people care, I still haven't heard a coherent argument about why we _should_ care about genetic engineering.

It's not like this is going to create killer mutant vegetables. It's not even fundamentally different than all the centuries of genetic manipulation through conventional means - it's just faster.

A lot of the environmental movement stuff I agree with, but this is just lost on me.

[esmerel.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. Honestly, it's an advanced method of cross breeding, with better chances of success.

[tamago.livejournal.com]

Potentially I can see it being useful for people with allergies. For example, if you know you're allergic to, say, potatoes, and the green beans you're buying have potato genes in them and you have a reaction, it's kind of nice to be able to backtrack. I know I'm being overly simplistic, but it sounds plausible.

Besides, I'm one of those freaks who is curious and reads labels for entertainment value.

GMO labeling

[lurkingowl.livejournal.com]

My main concern with forced labeling is that it makes it easier for marketers to prey on people's ignorance over GMO foods.

[mallen.livejournal.com]

Re, mozilla: Smug.

Re labeling: Go back to Eugene and smoke some more dope, tree hugger.