By Vandana Shiva

Proposition 37 is a ballot measure that will be voted on in November and will help consumers of California make informed choices about the food they eat. Written with broad input from food groups, industry, science, legal and health experts Prop. 37 (The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act) requires clear labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically modified.

Prop 37on labeling of GM foods provides an opportunity  for the US to catch up with the rest of the world on a vital aspect of Food Democracy –the Right to know what you are eating.

Democracy rests on the Right to Choose. The Right to Know is the basis of the Right to Choose. Sincewe are what we eat, the Right to Know what we are eating is the very life blood ofdemocracy.

Labelling of processed food  is part of the normal functioning of everyday life In a normally functioning democracy.Processed food is labeled in terms of its ingredients. GM technology adds new ingredients to food at the genetic level . GM labeling is thus just an extension of food labeling.

Across the world labeling of GM food has already been introduced. We filed a case in the Indian Suprme Court in 2006 to demand labeling of GMO foods. GM labeling has now been introduced by the Consumer Affairs Ministry, and labeling has been made mandatory. Regulation 1830/2003 of the European Union covers all products which consist of GMOs or which contain them

All the products covered by this Regulation are subject to compulsory labelling, which shall enable consumers to be better informed and will offer them the freedom to choose to buy products consisting of, containing or made from GMOs.

It is time for the US to catch up with other parts of the world in taking these vital steps toward food democracy and introduce laws to protect the citizen’s Right to Know. And the citizens of California have taken the initiative through Prop 37.

The attempt by the food and biotechnology industry to block the citizens Right to Knowthrough spending $41 million , and creating the “No to Prop 37” front ,shows that the Food industry wants a food dictatorship, not a food democracy.

And they are making all kinds of false arguments to persuade people to vote “NO”.

The first is the cost of food will go up. As the website of “No to Prop 37 “sates ‘Prop 37 would increase grocery bills for families by $400 per year and increase taxpayer costs by millions.’GMO labeling has not increased costs of food anywhere in the world.If it has not happened any elsewhere, why should it happen in California.?When food businesses were required to put the amount of transfat, sugar and salt on food labels, it did not increase costs of food. Since GMO labeling is an extension of food labeling, its cost implications should be assessed by experience, not judged on the basis of fear mongering by the industry.In any case, segregation and labeling is a requirement in most parts of the world, and California businesses have to ensure this for exports.

Costs of agricultural production do not go up because of labeling , but because of high cost inputs.GMOs go hand in hand with seed patents and seed monopolies. This increases the costs of seed. In India, the introduction of GMO Bt cotton seed increased costs by 8000%, locked farmers in debt ,and pushed them to suicide. More than 270000 Indian farmers have committed suicide due to debt created by high cost seeds and chemicals. And most suicides are concentrated in the cotton belt.

A second argument of industry is that GMO labeling is inconsistent with science.As the website of “NO to Prop 37” sates ‘American Medical Association, National Academy of Sciences, FDA, and more than 400 scientific studies agree these foods are safe.’

This claim is misleading on two counts. Firstly, the fact that there are issues of Biosafety related to GMOs is recognized at the highest international level through the United Nations Cartagena Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity.On July 2011, Codex Alimentarius, the international food safety body, recognized the Right of countries to label GMO foods.

A parliamentary committee on Agriculture in India, after 2 years of field investigations and calling witnesses from all walks of life ,has called for a stop to all field trials of GMOs and a ban on genetically engineered food crops. A Technical expert committee of the Supreme Court of India has recommended that there must be a moratorium on all GMO trials till stronger Biosafety regulation is in place.

Industry has always argued that a GMO label indicates that GMO food is unsafe.While scientific issues related to Biosafety are many, Prop 37  does not rest on science ,scientific evidence or scientific debate. It rests directly on citizens democratic freedoms - the right to know, the right to choose.

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The reason industry is worried about labeling is that the spread of GMOs rests on the suppression of citizen’s democratic rights and independent science. It has done its best to suppress studies that have indicated health hazards of GMOs. The latest is the attack on Prof Seralini of France whose 2 year study shows serious health impacts.

The industry has its “hitmen” to stifle independent science and food democracy. One of them is Dr Miller. An ad put up my “No to Prop 37” had to be pulled down because it stated .”Dr. Henry I. Miller M.D.,Stanford University, founding dir. FDA Office of Technology.”Miller is not on the faculty of Stanford but a research fellow at the right wing Hoover Institute located on the Stanford campus.A few months ago  the industry used Miller to put out a fraudulent studyattacking organic food,again pretending the study was from the University of Stanford. This too was aimed at misleading and confusing the public.

Dishonesty is the hallmark of corporate lobbyists parading as scientists.  And as the Navdanya report, “The GMO Emperor has No Clothes” shows, all claims of the industry about GMOs-increased yields, lower use of chemicals-are false. The attempt to undermine Prop 37 is characteristic of the Biotechnogy and pesticide industry.

Yet how long will suppression of scientific evidence and citizen’sdemocratic rights work?

In India we say “SatyamevJayate”-Truth will win.