Monday, 06 May 2024

Baumann: Vote yes on Proposition 37

Like many Californians, I have received multiple big glossy color pamphlets in the mail, paid for by the over-$40 million No on Prop 37 campaign.

Corporate biotech is relentless in its campaign to stop consumers from knowing what is in our food. Most of that $40 million-plus has been spent on television ads, a veritable blitzkrieg of misinformation.

I have closely followed both the science and the politics of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) since 2009. In the expensive pamphlets I received last week, I recognized lies that Corporate Food and the biotech industry have been telling for years. The level of deceit in these mailers is shameless.

For instance, one mailer presents two columns representing food groups, as a way of presenting inconsistencies in the Proposition 37 language. In the “Would be Labeled” column is listed “Dogfood made with beef.” In the “Exempt” column immediately opposite the dogfood entry is listed “Beef.”

Sounds crazy, right? Why should “Dogfood made with beef” be labeled, but not beef itself ...?

Well, it’s really quite simple. Big Food is, once again, lying to you.

In this case, a subtle lie is created by juxtaposing words in a manner to create a false impression.

The reason that dogfood would be labeled as containing GMOs is because most dogfoods contain corn, soy or canola oil made from genetically engineered crops (80 percent of all GMO crops go straight to animal food industries).

It does not matter whether or not the dogfood contains beef, because beef is not the ingredient that triggers labeling.

And yet, through clever and deceptive advertising, Corporate Food creates doubt in your mind about the validity of Proposition 37’s language, by inserting the words “made with beef” after the word dogfood.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t allow corporate ag and the giant food manufacturers to dissuade you from voting for Proposition 37. We have a right to know what is in the food we buy.

And no, it will not raise food prices. That is another lie. Sixty one countries around the world have mandatory GMO labeling. The citizens of those countries are not paying higher food prices because of it. The citizens of those countries are not “confused” by labeling, and Americans won’t be, either.

Vote yes on Proposition 37. Stand up for democracy. Don’t let big corporations continue to steal our voice.

Deb Baumann lives in Upper Lake, Calif.

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