Go Ahead, Label Me

Labels. We use them every day. For a million different things.

My cellphone tells me not to drive and text at the same time. 

My McDonald's coffee cup plainly states "Caution: Contents are extremely HOT." No shit. 

My mattress tells me, not only the contents of the mattress itself, but the cover, as well. It also tells me that I am going to a federal prison if I remove that tag. 

What about gamers? Yes. Nerds. My son is a huge gamer. He is also a huge nerd. I digress. He reads the labels on video games to see if it is a first person shooter or an RPG. My younger son reads the labels to see if the game is backwards compatible.

The signs on I-94 tell us to "Drive now. Catch Pokemon later."

Labels on CDs tell parents what music is safe for their kids to listen to. 

The label on the bouncy seat I bought for my baby tells me that I shouldn't let the baby use the seat near stairs. 

The label on the knife block I got for Christmas tells me not to jam the knife into an electrical socket. Not sure why.

The label on my beer tells me not to drink it if I am pregnant. It also tells me not to operate a motor vehicle or machinery if I drink said beer. 

The label on my washer tells me not to put my kid in the washer during the spin cycle. Go figure. 

The label on my blowdryer tells me not to use it in the bathtub. 

The label on my blender tells me not to stick my hand in it while it is running. 

The label on my box fan tells me not to put my fingers through the slats while the fan is running.

The label on my fuel tank tells me "DIESEL ONLY".

The tag on my American Apparel shirt tells me that it was not made by a seven year old in a sweatshop. 

When I was a kid, we were vegan. No meat. No milk. No cheese. So I learned that I had to KNOW what was in my food if I was eating somewhere other than home. Some things are obvious; you can't have a burger, a hot dog, or a cheese pizza. Other things, not so much. Did you know that strict vegans don't eat cane sugar because it is run through animal bones to make it whiter? I knew that. Did you know that lotions and creams frequently contain animal ingredients like lanolin? I knew that. Did you know that often times, red food coloring is derived from cockroaches? I knew that. I wish I didn't know that. But I do. How did I know what I could eat and what I couldn't? By reading a label. 

Let's talk about people with food allergies. Labeling is extremely important for these people. One peanut, one shrimp, one egg, could send them into anaphylactic shock, which could kill them. Celiac Disease is on the rise. Some people have a mild reaction to gluten, and some have a severe reaction that can leave them writhing in pain from a drop of gravy thickened with flour or an egg fried on the same skillet as wheat french toast. 

There are people who don't like the taste of a certain ingredient. They check labels to see if this salsa contains onions or this pizza is topped with mushrooms. 

Diabetics need to limit their sugar intake. They read labels to make sure they aren't taking in too much. 

And then there are contentious objectors. People who don't want to eat things food made by this manufacturer or that manufacturer because of their employment policies or their stance on gay marriage. How do you know who makes something? You guessed it. It is on the label.

Everything is labeled. Well, almost everything. 

Let's have a little chat about Genetically Modified Organisms. GMOs. 

What is the big deal with labeling GMOs? If they are so great, why not be proud? If they are completely safe, why not prove it by putting it on the label? Some of the big biotech companies out there say that people are too stupid to understand GMOs. They say that labeling GMOs is akin to putting a skull and crossbones on the label. Well, then, maybe your marketing strategy sucks. 

Here are the basic, super simple facts about GMOs. Biotech engineers take a plant, corn, for example. Corn is spliced with another organism, sometimes a toxin or DNA of some sort, creating an organism that would not occur in nature. (Important! This is different than hybridization, which involves mixing two things, like a plum and an apricot to create a pluot.) What does this accomplish? One example is it makes the seeds "Roundup Ready", which, simply put, allows for massive amounts of pesticide to be applied to the crop, without killing the corn. This does not only affect the corn. It affects the other crops around it. Ultimately affecting the environment. I do realize that there are other implied benefits of genetic modification, like making crops more resistant to drought or preventing an apple from turning brown after it is cut (I say just eat the damn apple right away and it won't turn brown). Right now, I am trying to keep it simple; just a basic overview. Overall, genetic modification is much more complex.

I am not saying GMOs are bad. Conversely, I am not saying they are good, either. What I am saying is, "Shouldn't we have the right to KNOW what we are eating?" This isn't a judgement on the biotech industry. This isn't pretentious. This isn't elitist. It isn't hippy garbage and it isn't crunchy granola bullshit. It is truth. If I don't want to eat yellow bell peppers, I should be able to read a label and avoid them. If I don't want to eat sugar, I should be able to read a label and avoid it. If I don't want to eat factory farmed meat, I should be able to read a label and avoid it. Are you picking up what I am laying down? Are you eating what I am feeding you?

It isn't only about the safety of the consumption GMO foods. GMO foods have a much broader reach than your stomach. Is the biotech industry responsible for enormous bee die offs? Why is it that GMOs are not feeding the world as they were supposed to? Why are other industrialized nations rejecting GMO foods? How does the large amount of pesticides used on GMO crops affect the environment? We don't know. All of this is still up for debate. And that is fine. But you should have a choice. 

Fifty years ago, doctors were telling their pregnant patients it was safe to smoke cigarettes to help relieve stress. Fifty years ago, numerous articles were published by medical journals stating unequivocally that there was no link between smoking and lung cancer. Fifty years ago, crop dusters dropped DDT on crowds at baseball games. 

Today we are told by the manufacturers and patent holders of these GMO seeds that they are completely safe. There is no evidence whatsoever that they have ill effects on health, other crops or the environment. This very well may be true, but what will we know fifty years from now?

I did not choose to enroll all of our products in the Non-GMO Project because I am snooty, or because I think I am better than you, or because I am trying to benefit financially off of the unfounded fears of dumb, uneducated consumers (yes, someone accused me of that). I enrolled them because my family has CHOSEN to eat GMO-free and organic as much as we can. We have done so for more than 15 years. What kind of hypocrite would I be, if I were to make food to sell to the public, that I, myself would not eat? I would feel like a fraud. And that is not okay with me. 

Bottom line. Whether or not you want to eat GMOs is up to you. But if they aren't labeled, how can you make that decision? 

I am not a scientist. 

I am a human being. A wife. A mother. A friend. A daughter. A food manufacturer. An eater. 

And I want to know what I am eating.