U.S. GMO food labeling drive has biotech industry biting back - New efforts to force labeling of foods made with genetically modified crops, including a bill introduced by U.S. lawmakers Wednesday, have struck a nerve with biotech crop developers who say they are rushing to roll out a broad strategy to combat consumer concerns about their products.
A recent report published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice claimed to do a systematic review of all adverse event reports (AERs) in connection with homeopathy from 1978 to 2010. On the one hand, the report concluded that homeopathy is ineffective because it has no active ingredients, that it is nothing more than a placebo because it has been diluted so much that “the likelihood of a single molecule approaches zero.” On the other hand, the report also concluded that homeopathic preparations caused many dangerous allergic reactions.
Maine’s food sovereignty movement took a hit when a state judge ruled earlier this week that farmer Dan Brown must have a license to sell raw milk, despite his town’s ordinance exempting local farmers from state food regulations. The State of Maine has spent considerable time prosecuting a farmer with only 2 cows for over 2 years for selling raw milk without a license, even though nobody ever complained or suffered from his milk. This ruling puts Farmer Dan out of business.
There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations. Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators. There have been a number of studies showing that the chemicals, made by Bayer and Syngenta, do have negative impacts on bees.
Now that a Wisconsin judge has rejected raw milk farmer Vernon Hershberger's religious freedom arguments to justify having a witness testify on his behalf, his trial looks likely to go forward as scheduled beginning May 20. The reason the case is so important politically is that it isn’t just about whether Hershberger has the right to distribute food privately, it is about whether all of us have this right on either end of the equation--to distribute food privately or to contract with producers to obtain food privately.
The bill has some teeth. The question is whether it has legs. The Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act was introduced last Wednesday in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
