The GMO Debate: When Peer Pressure Is A Good Thing

Bravo, Connecticut!, the first state to pass a bill requiring food manufacturers to disclose the use of genetically modified ingredients.

But there's a catch.

That bill will only become an enforced law if at least four other states, and at least one of them bordering, agrees to do the same. Peer pressure at its finest! Unfortunately, my beloved New York fell victim to intense lobbying on Monday and unexpectedly went the way of California, who was unsuccessful in passing the bill a few months back.

But why the catch?

Because it would be an economically unwise move otherwise. While they want to do right by their residents, they also need to do right by their businesses. Among other consequences, smaller CT businesses could really suffer if CT were indeed the only state to require labeling - food manufacturers would be less including to play ball with them. But if they were one of at least a handful, the tables start to turn and it becomes increasingly economically unwise for the food manufacturers not to play ball.

Forgive the game analogy, but it seems silly enough to be a game, doesn't it? When you take a step back, it's almost unreal. The request isn't to end genetic modification (yet.) It's simply that its use is disclosed. The consumer then gets to make the decision if it's good, harmless or bad. Seems pretty logical to me. But politics have a way of trumping logic; this particular time (not the first or the last, unfortunately) it's our health that's in the middle.

Now of course, I get it. The worry is that by labeling, people will assume it's a warning: GMO's are bad. Maybe so. But tough luck. If GMO's really are harmless, take the money you're spending on lobbying government officials, and spend it on consumer education instead. To be honest, I'm neither convinced they are or they're not. That doesn't matter. What matters is my right to know if I'm eating them. I can then do my own research if I'm so inclined. Or not. The fact is there's a ton of food on the market with ingredient lists as long as the Nile chock full of stuff we can't pronounce and don't even try to. Most of it wouldn't be characterized as good. But for better or worse (depending on whose side you're on!) many choose to look the other way. Choose is the operative word.

So, Connecticut, be the little state that could! Bully away! Pressure your peers into doing right.