Colorado voters are faced with an important decision on the November 2014 ballot. As a former Colorado commissioner of agriculture, I strongly oppose Proposition 105 and hope you will join me in voting “no.”
Proposition 105 is a complex and poorly written food-labeling proposal that would give Colorado consumers inaccurate, unreliable and misleading information about foods we buy due to the arbitrary labeling requirements and multitude of exemptions written into the proposition. It would severely harm Colorado’s vital agricultural economy, put our state’s farmers and food producers at a competitive disadvantage in the national marketplace, and increase food costs for Colorado families.
Proposition 105 purports to inform consumers about which food products contain GMO ingredients and which do not — but it fails. Proposition 105’s labeling requirements are so unscientific, inaccurate and arbitrary that it would require thousands of food products to be labeled as “genetically engineered” even when they have no GMO content. Conversely, thousands of other foods would be arbitrarily exempted from the measure’s labeling requirements even when they do contain, or are made with, genetically engineered ingredients.
Related on the SLP
Consumers already have reliable options to choose foods made without GE ingredients. They can select from thousands of foods labeled “organic” or “non-GMO” under existing federal labeling standards. Any manufacturer can label products as GMO-free if they meet these national guidelines. Proposition 105’s requirements conflict with these existing nationwide standards which already provide consumers a more reliable way to know which foods are made without GE ingredients.
Read full, original article: Should Colorado voters approve Proposition 105 (GMO food labeling measure)? No
