You Have a Right to Know What You’re Eating

Our CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg teamed up with Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and co-producer of Food Inc., to write an op-ed about your right to know what’s in your food that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. It notes how 384,000 people have sent comments to the FDA in support of labeling genetically engineered ingredients. We hope you’ll join them if you haven’t already. Visit www.justlabelit.org to send in your comment and read the op-ed below. Every voice counts!

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

You have a right to know what you’re eating

By Gary Hirshberg and Eric Schlosser

An unprecedented agricultural experiment is being conducted at America’s dinner tables. While none of the processed food we ate 20 years ago contained genetically engineered ingredients, now 75 percent of it does – even though the long-term human health and environmental impacts are unknown.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require labeling of genetically engineered foods. But as the current drive to get labeling on the ballot in California confirms, consumers want to know whether our food contains these revolutionary new things.

In 1992, the FDA ruled that genetically engineered foods didn’t need independent safety tests or labeling requirements before being introduced. But one of its own scientists disagreed, warning there were “profound differences” with genetically engineered foods.

Genetically engineered seed manufacturers were allowed to sell their products without telling consumers. A 2006 survey found that 74 percent of Americans had no idea that genetically engineered foods were already being sold.

Read more here.