Organic Consumers Association

On Wednesday last week (February 25, 2015), the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, once again floated the idea of consumers using barcodes to identify foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as an alternative to requiring food manufacturers to put a label on products that contain GMOs.

Referring to the ongoing debate over GMO labeling laws, Vilsack (according to the Associated Press) told the House during a hearing on agriculture spending: “We could solve that issue in a heartbeat.”

Solve the issue for whom? Tot-Toting Moms with busy schedules who would need to take the added step of scanning every item in the grocery store, instead of just glancing at the label? Older people who struggle as it is to keep up with rapidly evolving technologies? Or how about for those people who can’t afford—or don’t want to own—expensive smartphones? 

Consumers want the mandatory labeling of GMOs—not barcodes.

The company (Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc.) that makes the apple wants you to believe that consumer demand was behind the invention.

But the real target customers for GMO apples are fast-food restaurants and food service businesses—companies that want mothers of young children to think they’re selling healthy fresh fruit, even if that fruit is a genetically engineered apple that has undergone no meaningful safety testing for human consumption.

It’s up to consumers to make sure the main customers for Okanagan’s frankenapple—fast-food restaurants who want to serve the apple in kids’ meals and salad bars—know that consumers don’t want ‘em, and won’t buy ‘em.

TAKE ACTION: Tell McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts and Subway to Publicly Commit to not Sell GMO Apples

There’s ample science—including a new study by Center for Food Safety—linking Monsanto’s Roundup to the collapse of the world’s monarch butterfly population. Why? Because Roundup kills the milkweed plant, which is essential to the monarch’s survival.
 
In order to protect the monarch’s habitat, and save the monarch, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering a petition, submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety, seeking protection for the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act the Monarch on the Endangered Species List.
 
Until we successfully ban Roundup for good, placing the Monarch on the Endangered Species List is our best hope for saving America’s favorite butterfly from extinction.
 
DEADLINE MARCH 2: TAKE ACTION: Ask the Fish & Wildlife Service to Put the Monarch Butterfly on the Endangered Species List. Save the Monarch from Monsanto!