You've probably never heard of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, but yesterday this oddly named organization agreed on new groundbreaking standards for the regulation of GM foods.
Although its name conjures images of a clandestine medieval cult straight out of a Dan Brown novel, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has the far more mundane distinction of being a committee for the world's food safety regulatory agencies. For the past two decades, the CAC has been struggling to reach a consensus concerning the regulation of foods containing genetically modified organisms. It has been unable to do so, in large part, because the United States' delegation has opposed the labeling of GM foods. On Tuesday, however, the US delegation reversed its position and allowed the proposed GM regulatory document to pass.
This document makes it legal for nations to label GM foods. Until the passage of this document, national governments which adopted GM food labeling could be accused by the World Trade Organization of creating a barrier to trade.
Does this mean that GM food on the shelves of American grocery stores will soon be labeled? Almost certainly not. The lobby of agribusiness and GM corporations such as Monsanto, Bayer, and Du Pont is even more influential at home than it is internationally. The numerous ties between Monsanto, for instance, and our government have ensured that GM foods remain unlabeled in the US.
To point out just one of these ties, consider that Michael Taylor, the current deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA, was an attorney for Monsanto and its former vice president for public policy (1). According to the FDA's website, Taylor's duties as deputy commissioner for foods include "plan[ing] for new food safety legislation," and "ensur[ing] that food labels contain clear and accurate information on nutrition" (2). What a joke!
Monsanto is rightly concerned that labeling GM foods would cause consumers to be skeptical of these products, the safety of which has not been proven through exhaustive independent research. Regardless of Monsanto's corporate interests, however, Americans have the right to know what their food consists of and where it comes from.
Although the new CAC agreement does not mandate the labeling of GM foods, it is still momentous and deserves to be celebrated. Hopefully, as more nations around the world adopt GM labeling, our government will no longer be able to deny the right to such simple, and yet vital, information to the American people.
__________
1) http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OC/OfficeofFoods/ucm196721.htm
2) Ibid.
No comments:
Post a Comment