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Last November, a slim majority of Washington voters were persuaded that they did not need to know about the GMO ingredients in their food.

How could an issue with a 66 percent approval rating last summer lose 51-49 by election day? Four reasons: wrong year, outside money, lapdog press, lukewarm message.

Wrong year: Statewide, only 46 percent of voters took time to mail their ballot. In this off-off year election with the lowest turnout in a decade, younger voters, traditionally more open to change, essentially skipped the election.

I-522 won among women 51 to 49 percent but lost among men 54 to 46.

Actually, every age group except seniors favored labeling. But seniors were the ones who turned out, and they determined the fate of I-522, which lost by a margin of 38,046 votes. Had only 19,024 people voted yes instead of no, I-522 would have passed.

And had campaign instigators waited another year for Congressional elections as major donor David Bronner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps suggested in preliminary meetings, the outcome likely would have been different.  

Outside Money: Four out-of-state Big Chemical corporations and the Food Manufacturers Association donated a whopping $22 million, half of it illegal, to sway voters with a barrage of negative advertising.  

Day after day, up to four times an hour, voters heard seemingly trustworthy, reliable speakers-farmers (including an organic farmer), a dietitian, an obstetrician, a former attorney general-claim the “poorly written” initiative was bad for farmers, would raise food costs, had too many exemptions. Most importantly, they said GM food is no different from ordinary food, so why bother labeling it?

Well-crafted, polished, convincing advertising, except none of it was true.