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To be considered organic, among other things, products must be free of genetically engineered ingredients. After recognizing the threat this new technology posed to its industry, organic product manufacturers began to insinuate GMOs were somehow dangerous and demand labeling.
Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association, admitted that scaring consumers into buying organic food was a marketing ploy, saying the first step to growing organic market share is to change labeling laws.
Other leaders in the organic industry believe the same, and they put their money where their mouths are. GMO labeling organization, Just Label It, was initially funded by a “who’s who” of organic product companies. . .The head of the group is Gary Hirshberg, the chairman of Stonyfield Organic, who regularly implies that there is a link between GMOs and cancer or birth defects (there isn’t). . . .
There’s no scare tactic too dirty for the organic industry seeking new customers. The Organic Consumers Association recently claimed that it was pesticides, not the Zika virus, causing birth defects in South American children. (That’s false.) . . . .
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Besides the marketing, the organic industry has funded anti-GMO scientists who regularly perform poorly designed experiments that they claim “prove” GMOs are somehow problematic. . . .
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The congressional failure to pass the Roberts amendment (S.3450) providing federal guidance on GMOs shows these scare tactics have worked. The organic industry has taken a safe, effective technology and scared people into thinking it needs to be labeled. A better label for those worried about GMOs would be for organic packages, saying “I’m with stupid.”
Read full, original post: The organic industry’s GMO hoax
