US rally to seek food labelling
October 17th, 2011 - 3:22 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Oct 17 (IANS) Hundreds of people from around the US rallied in front of the White House, urging the government to require compulsory labelling of food made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
“Most Americans agree they have a right to know what is in the food they put in their own and their children’s bodies, but current federal policy favours the pesticide industry and hides the facts,” said Katherine DiMatteo of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements.
“It’s time to reset US policy on GMOs,” added DiMatteo, who was a coordinator of the Sunday event.
GMOs have caused a lot of issues, but “the government is not doing everything that they should be doing to contain these issues,” Kim Mendoza, a demonstrator from Washington DC, told Xinhua.
The rally marked the end of a 16-day, 504-km march from the UN in New York City to the White House in Washington DC, which DiMatteo said was “an unprecedented effort to win genuine transparency on genetically engineered foods”.
The US is the world’s largest commercial grower of GMO crops, and more than 70 percent of its processed food contain genetically engineered or biotech ingredients.
Labeling of genetically modified food, whose safety remains controversial, is voluntary in the United States. In most cases, food producers use the labels to declare that the product is not genetically-modified.
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Tags: biotech ingredients, commercial grower, demonstrator, dimatteo, food labelling, food producers, genuine transparency, gmo crops, gmos, international federation, labels, mendoza, organic agricultural movements, organisms, pesticide industry, processed food, unprecedented effort, washington dc, white house, xinhua