GM labeling activists are not waiting for government-mandated labeling. Vigilantes are going through the aisles of supermarkets and applying their own warning labels, examples of which may be found at www.labelityourself.org. And following the high-profile, public rejection of California’s Proposition 37,activists’ are threatening to increase their “guerilla-labeling” efforts.
The New York Times’ reportage seemed to view this vigilantism as ranking somewhere between a sophomoric prank and a harmless exercise in civil disobedience, although placing your own “warning” label on a food product for sale constitutes several serious crimes. Federal law prohibits “[t]he alteration, mutilation, destruction, obliteration, or removal of the whole or any part of the labeling of, or the doing of any other act with respect to, a food, drug, device, or cosmetic, if such act is done while such article is held for sale (whether or not the first sale) after shipment in interstate commerce and results in such article being adulterated or misbranded” [Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, sec. 301(k); 21 United States Code 331(k)].
Federal and state law enforcement authorities should vigorously prosecute the vigilantes. The government’s failure to do so undermines the provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act; allows activists’ illegal activities to misinform consumers; makes safe and wholesome foods unsellable; and sends the message that if you cannot persuade policymakers through the democratic process, the government will look the other way as you commit crimes to achieve your political agenda.
View the original article here: Front Page Felonies: A Pass from Police Agencies Rewards Vigilantism, Victimizes Society
