An initiative put forth to the Legislature in Olympia, Wash. today called I-522 could be a game changer for food and especially organic food. This initiative sponsored by Chris McManus, “would require most raw agricultural commodities, processed foods, and seeds and seed stocks, if produced using genetic engineering as defined, to be labeled as genetically engineered when offered for retail sale,” says David Ammons on his Washington Secretary of State Blog designed to connect the government to the people.
At least 241,153 valid signatures have to be submitted, and by 1p.m. McManus is set to submit 340,000 signatures. It's recommended that there be 25% extra signatures to cover any that are invalid.
If this goes through, GMO companies would be forced to be upfront when their “GMO” is included in a product. This is very important to organic food enthusiasts who understand that “we are what we eat”, and quite frankly, eating any unnatural “organisms” whether genetically modified or other is not acceptable. Just give us the birds and the bees and leave our food the way God made it to be.
Since the measure is an initiative to the legislature they have three options if the measure qualifies. Lawmakers can “1) adopt the initiative as proposed, resulting in it becoming law without a vote of the people; 2) reject or refuse to act on it, thus placing the initiative on the General Election ballot next November; or 3) approve an alternative to the initiative, with both the original and the alternate measures being placed on the General Election ballot.” says Ammons.
All of this will take time. It can take all of this month just to verify all of the signatures, and then they have to decide what they want to do about the initiative. Another initiative supposed to be submitted this week also is I-517, which calls for protections for those signing petitions. No more bullying by politicians or companies would be allowed for anyone having signed a petition.
Both of these initiatives have the potential to greatly help “real people” who just want “real food” to eat that they can buy in the supermarket. Why does a person have to take up farming just to have the good things in life? This is the 21-st century, and the food available should not be just for those who aren't concerned about what they put into their bodies.
What does the government have to gain for helping people have access to “real food”? Well, it would most certainly lower health care costs. If the government deems it their job to be big brother over everyone's health, then there is a big responsibility to actually contribute to good health that goes with that.
Spending money seems to be the call of the day with lawmakers in Washington. This initiative is a call for those in charge to wake up to what is real and at least pretend to care for a change. What will they all do when their tax payers are all dead from man-made food? Oh, well, future generations can worry about that.
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