I wanted to add my support of I-522. There are so many arguments thrown around, such as the cost of labeling, which just isn’t true. GMOs (genetically modified organisms) already have to be labeled for 64 countries! I have friends who have manufacturing businesses and they change their labels all the time. It isn’t a huge cost as it is being touted.

Besides, we should know whether or not we are eating a tomato that has a salmon gene injected into it to prevent it from freezing. People should be aware that this is what a GMO is — genetically altered food that is not found in nature. You will never find a salmon mating with a tomato. My father used to splice various types of apple trees together so we would have three or four different apples on the same tree. That is NOT the definition of genetic modification!

And the amount of toxic pesticides being used on the GMO plants is alarming. There are so many potential problems to our health as a result. Here is one from an article on Mercola.com: “One of the potential reasons for the skyrocketing increase in Alzheimer’s may be related to rising glyphosate residues in our food supply. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, used in ever-increasing amounts on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Glyphosate is a potent mineral chelator, binding up minerals like zinc and manganese from being used by the plant, or anyone who eats the plant since it is impossible to wash off glyphosate as it becomes integrated into all the plant cells. Zinc deficiency in turn, is thought to contribute to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.”

Tampering with nature with GMO seeds has been shown to have longer term affects than nuclear waste.  Sign up to watch the GMO Mini Summit featuring Jeffrey Smith and John Robbins to learn everything you wanted to know about what a GMO is (all in one place) and the dangers of them — gmosummit.org/summit welcome.

To say GMO produce can be controlled is ludicrous. In fact, I would imagine that a corporation would not want it to be controlled. They would like to have their seeds sprouting up everywhere so they can OWN them through royalties. Monsanto has sued small farmers who, through no fault of their own, ended up with GMO produce on their land.  Because, guess what?, seeds are spread by wind, birds, animals, etc. The seeds from one tree can produce an entire forest. Just one of Monsanto’s seeds grown into a plant can produce thousands of seeds that produce plants that produce seeds. Do you get the picture?  Do you understand the gravity of the situation?

A corporation’s only duty is to please their shareholders via more and more profits. And what better way to make a profit than to control all of our food supply and who cares the cost to our ecosystem?  So to say they “care” would be a stretch. To say Monsanto, Bayer and all of those companies have your best interest in mind is a stretch. They only have their shareholders interest in mind. Educate yourselves about the structure of corporations and the duty of the corporate officers.

One of Monsanto’s claims is that they want to help with world hunger. I have never heard of a company concerned about world hunger, telling farmers they cannot reuse their seeds unless they pay a royalty to Monsanto. These are poor farmers all over the world who have always, since we began farming thousands of years ago, used the seeds from their plants.  I have never heard of a company saying, “Gee, we can control world hunger by taking away your basic rights that you have always had as farmers and charging you a lot of money for seeds every year.”

Now, Monsanto can’t even be sued for any of their egregious behavior because Congress extended a law that they (Monsanto, et al) are exempt from being sued for any and all harm they have caused farmers, the environment, your health, etc. That is the power of money.  That is the power of a large corporation with a highly paid team of corporate attorneys.  That is the power all of their money wields in politics.

For them to complain about labeling costs, about the fact that GMO stamped on the front of the package, etc , will scare people, is smoke and mirrors. We are not children. We are educated and informed adults who deserve to know what we are eating. By the way, Monsanto was invited to a meeting to decide where the label should be put and they did not show up.  So now they complain?

This is our chance to step up and create some positive change.  This is a democracy after all.  We need and deserve labeling so we know what we are eating, what we are doing to ourselves, small farmers and our ecosystem!

A good first step to controlling this is to say yes to I-522!

Cheryl May, Redmond