Center for Food Safety has called on the FDA to not let GMO foods carry the “natural” label. The Grocery Manufacturer’s Association has announced it would submit a petition to the government to define the term “natural” to include foods produced using genetic engineering. CFS is asking that the FDA exclude genetic engineering from any definition of “natural” and to not make any decisions without public input.
Colin O’Neil, director of government affairs to Center for Food Safety said in a statement, “there is nothing natural about genetic engineering, which is exactly why the Grocery Manufacturers Association wants FDA to create a special exemption for it. Natural is a great marketing tool and the industry doesn’t want to be restricted in using it.”
Genetic engineering is not a natural process, but an artificial one. Foreign genetic material is inserted into the DNA of a plant or animal. Many patents have been granted on this process, finding that they are “novel”, not naturally occurring. And FDA policy states that labels cannot be false or misleading.
There is no legal definition of the term “natural”, except for food color, synthetic substances, and flavors. FDA has not defined the term.
CFS wrote in its letter that “genetic engineering makes silent but fundamental changes to our food at the molecular and cellular level, the full human health and environmental consequences of which are still being discovered. These changes fundamentally affect consumers, food manufacturers, and the public at large. Because of this and the growing consumer concern over GE foods, FDA should refrain from defining “natural” in an ad hoc and haphazard manner without first providing to the public notice of the proposed rulemaking and an opportunity to comment on these important issues.”
Under the recently passed CT state law, any food label natural must not be GMO. A FDA rule would seek to override “states rights” in this matter. This law is in effect now and does not need to wait for other states to join.
In my opinion the FDA as run today has outlived its usefulness , years ago when companies had a conscience it was adequate. Today is a different arena , companies no longer have a conscience , only $ signs in their eyes at the expense of our health and the environment . I believe in this new era the FDA needs a complete overhaul starting with a staff of experts not from biotech companies and run like the UL listed products.(independent testing) the days we can depend on companies providing the testing for FDA approval of drugs ,gmo’s ,pesticides or anything else are long past.
Anyone running for re-election beware I will be a much better informed voter by following up on who votes for anything that harms small farmers , helps biotech companies promote their agenda ect. armed with that info I will influence everyone I can.
The ‘natural’ label has no meaning whatsoever, and is only used to fool people into thinking they are getting something that has no chemicals or toxins in it, as if it were ‘organic’. There should be no ‘natural’ label unless there is some difference between ‘natural’ and not natural, which there isn’t. Otherwise it is fraud, pure and simple, and our wise government agencies have allowed this to happen, showing complete disregard for their responsibility to make sure labels accurately represent what a product is, particularly when the label does not distinguish between gmos and no gmos. We need to inform these industry friendly agencies (the FDA and the USDA) that mollycoddle the food giants to the detriment of the public that we are the ones they work for, and we expect them to do their job.
All GE’d & GMO’d foods MUST be labled,then we can decide what to put into our bodies.
The FDA gives all indications that it is in the pocket of Big Pharma and Big businesses in general, like our so-called government ‘officials’.
We do not trust the fda anymore and most non-gmo food manufacturers should label their food products NON GMO from now on. Also we should actively protest against the planting of gmo on our lands otherwise it will continue to contaminate even the organic fields! What are we waiting for to get in the streets again and protest against this neglect and criminal act of poisoning our lands?
I do not trust the FDA any longer and have not since 1991 when President Bush created a position at the FDA for Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor. Taylor is now Obama’s Food Czar. who is making policy on what we eat and helping put organic farmers out of business with obsurd regulations and fabricated studies. The other part of the FDA is the biotechnology in pharmaceuticals, and the same corruption. To avoid GMO’s, I research everything prescribed or served and put myself in charge of my health.
The biotechnology industry speaks out of both sides of its mouth and with different messages to targeted persons. If they were trustworthy, only one message would be needed. Now the biotechnology industry and the FDA are the same.