Last Tuesday, anti-GE (genetically engineered) forces in the county threw their hats in the air, shouted hallelujah, and did happy dances when the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BoS) passed a resolution supporting the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food by a 3-2 vote. Supervisors Anthony Farrington (District 4), Denise Rushing (District 3), and Jeff Smith (District 2) voted in favor; Supervisors Jim Comstock (District 1) and Rob Brown (District 5) dissented. That all our food is the result of genetic modification already or that gene-splicing is, strictly speaking, a more precise way of making our food supply better, does not enter the conversation. Though, when pressed the discussion simply devolves to the supposition that GE products are being developed by Monsanto, and that “Monsanto is evil.”
Now to be fair, the choice to believe ‘GMO/GEO food is harmful or suspect’ is anyone’s right. We are free to believe as we wish, be it 9-11 Truthers, Birthers, UFOers, ID creationists, contrailers, GMO/GEOphobes, (but I draw the line at homeopathy and anti-vaxers).
It is when believers wish to impose their beliefs on others that we need to draw the line.
Over at Skeptical Vegan, there is a truly interesting post linking GMO labeling of food to labeling science textbooks which contain the “theory” of evolution:
I have various problems with the idea both in theory and as it has been presented to the public but my primary objection is that passing such a law would be acquiescing to a scientifically unjustified demand by a political pressure group in addition to subverting the purpose and reasoning behind current food labeling law. It may also be a stepping stone to an outright ban, enough advocates have made their desires more than clear on the subject for it to be just a hidden possibility. For many activists it seems this is not an issue so much of giving consumers a choice but rather a way of forcing GMOs off the market. All this reminds me of another time a pseudoscientific pressure group pushed their own scientifically unjustified demand on the public in the form of an “innocuous” label.
The post’s author points to creationists in school boards (elected officials) imposing their beliefs by requiring the placement of “innocuous” labels in textbooks such as this one:
This text book contains material on evolution.
Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things.
This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.
The use of government’s monopolistic power to push a belief-system on everyone should give us all pause.
Nullius in Verba 