http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...g-m-o-foods-la
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FEBRUARY 15, 2011, 9:00 PM
Why Aren¹t G.M.O. Foods Labeled?
By MARK BITTMAN

If you want to avoid sugar, aspartame, trans-fats, MSG, or just about
anything else, you read the label. If you want to avoid G.M.O.¹s ‹
genetically modified organisms ‹ you¹re out of luck. They¹re not listed.
You could, until now, simply buy organic foods, which by law can¹t
contain more than 5 percent G.M.O.¹s. Now, however, even that may not
work.
In the last three weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved
three new kinds of genetically engineered (G.E.) foods: alfalfa (which
becomes hay), a type of corn grown to produce ethanol), and *sugar
beets. And the approval by the Food and Drug Administration of a
super-fast-growing salmon ‹ the first genetically modified animal to be
sold in the U.S., but probably not the last ‹ may not be far behind.

It¹s unlikely that these products¹ potential *benefits could possibly
outweigh their potential for harm. But even more unbelievable is that
the F.D.A.and the U.S.D.A. will not require any of these products, or
foods containing them, to be labeled as genetically engineered, because
they don¹t want to ³suggest or imply² that these foods are ³different.²
(Labels with half-truths about health benefits appear to be O.K., but
that¹s another story.)
They are arguably different, but more important, people are leery of
them. Nearly an entire continent ‹ it¹s called Europe ‹ is so wary that
G.E. crops are barely grown there and there are strict bans on imports
(that policy is in danger). Furthermore, most foods containing more than
0.9 percent G.M.O.¹s must be labeled.
(cont.)
--
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.* Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 16 April 1953
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZkDikRLQrw