Today a very high percentage of livestock feed and processed food for human consumption is produced from transgenic modified seed. Laws are being passed on a state by state basis requiring food made from these transgenic modifications to be labeled as containing GMO products. The seed industry and many food-based industries believe that labeling of any kind should be uniform nationally. Thus, we support legislation, now before Congress, mandating uniform, voluntary food labeling thereby giving consumers a choice when buying food.
As a veteran seedsman, I suggest we take a close look at the terminology being used in the media and public discourse concerning the “genetics” of the seed we plant and the subsequent products made from that seed and its progeny (which could be more seed, feed, food or fiber). Seedsmen, food growers and processors as well as consumers should educate ourselves as to what various terms mean (or don’t mean) because regardless of the outcome of food labeling laws, there will continue to be levels of misunderstanding, confusion, and possibly misleading advertising in the seed and food sectors.
Read the full, original article: A choice of words: GMO, non-GMO, conventional, organic
