Watch: My Personal Account Of How Our Leaders In Washington Are Denying One Of Our Most Fundamental Rights:
As a delegate from North Carolina at the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC), I sought the truth about GMO-labeling from the leaders of our country and was completely appalled at what I discovered. As many people may know, our food is missing a very important label – one that President Obama, the FDA, and the USDA have made a concerted effort to deny us from having.
This label is for foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are in 90% of our processed food. GMOs are foods biologically manufactured in laboratories – injected with new DNA, viruses, herbicides, insecticides and/or other chemicals – to be resistant to synthetic chemicals and are completely different than hybridizing techniques allowed by nature. Furthermore, GMOs receive patents by the U.S. Patent Office because they have been deemed to be unique and different. Over 50 countries around the world require GMOs to be labeled or regulated.The U.S.A. does not.
President Obama promised to label genetically modified foods during his campaign in 2007 but once elected into office, he abandoned this stance. Why? Upsetting Big Ag and the chemical industry was not going to help him get re-elected in 2012. Protecting the rights of American consumers and keeping his campaign pledge were obviously of secondary importance.
Representing North Carolina at the DNC, I believed it was my obligation to hold the leaders I helped put in office accountable for their actions. Below are highlights from the GMO–labeling conversations I had with national democratic leaders, media and celebrities. I now know why a GMO-labeling law has never passed.
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chairwoman of the Democratic Party didn’t know enough about the issue to respond. She has had 7 breast cancer surgeries and didn’t have an opinion about this issue that is directly related to health.
- Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina said she does not support labeling and we needed to look at “the science” of the issue. I asked her – “What does science have to do with our fundamental human right to know what is in our food?”
- Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio began to answer my question saying states shouldn’t label GMOs independently of the federal government but stopped talking to me after I asked him if he was working on a federal labeling initiative.
- Edward Avalos, Under Secretary of Agriculture stated during a lunch meeting that GMO-labeling laws must be specific for him to support them due to added regulation and enforcement of labels. I was surprised that he thinks the additional regulation would be a burden to our food system, considering all the countries who currently label GMOs. If China can label GMOs for billions of people, why would it be more burdensome for the United States to do the same?
- General Wesley Clark, former Presidential candidate is completely against labeling because he is co-chairman of a lobby group for ethanol, which uses genetically-modified corn.
- Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles looked at me like a deer in headlights and wouldn’t comment on the issue.
- Jesse Jackson, former Presidential Candidate and Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and former Chief of Staff for President Obama, both said they didn’t know anything about the issue and had me repeat the question twice.
- President Bill Clinton deftly avoided answering the question and instead told me about being vegan. He said he’s mostly vegan, but he eats fish twice a month.
- Chris Matthews, talk show host on MSNBC, rolled his eyes at me and asked “When has that (GMO-labeling) ever been an issue brought up on one of my shows?”
- David Gregory, Donna Brazile, and Savannah Guthrie wouldn’t comment on the issue.
- Chuck Todd, NBC News White House Correspondent responded “Get people talking about GMOs and I will.”
- Celebrities Ashley Judd, James Taylor, Olivia Wilde, Kal Penn, and Jared Leto all agreed that Americans have the right to know what’s in their food and had a better grasp on the issue than all of the politicians I spoke to.
- Will.i.am gave me a “high five” and mouthed off to reporters asking him questions “Now that’s the type of question you guys need to be asking me!” and “that’s the best question ever.”
When Secretary of the USDA Tom Vilsack spoke at the convention, I protested and held up a sign saying “LABEL GMOs”. It was hard to listen to what he had to say because I was besieged by video cameras and photographers in the front row who tried to capture what I was doing. When I re-read Vilsack’s speech, I was reminded that he is bureaucrat, not a man willing to go against his financial ties to protect the rights and health of American citizens. (The Washington Times reported the news story here.)
Despite polls consistently showing that more than 90% of the population want GMOs to be labeled, our leaders in Washington refuse to acknowledge this truth and will not implement mandatory GMO-labeling at the federal level.
Lucky for us, we can take matters into our own hands and we don’t have to wait for Washington. Each individual state has the power to enact labeling on their own and if they do, it will have a ripple effect on the rest of the nation and encourage other states to do the same.
I am not sure how we can move this country “Forward,” as President Obama suggests, if our food policy and the resulting health of our nation continues to go backwards. Labeling GMOs will allow us all to finally understand what we are eating. As American citizens, it is our fundamental right to know what’s in our food.
Food Babe
You are awesome. Thank you for fighting for our rights and caring about your health and everyone else’s. It’s a crime and all about money, not our well being.
Keep calling them out!! Put the names of those who refuse to act on behalf of the voters out there for all to see!
I am a full time working mother. Our family home is GMO free, we support local farmers and purchase only a few organic processed food items. We have a beautiful 6 year old who has no problem turning away ‘treats’ offered to her saying ‘I only eat organic’. I drive my friends INSANE wtih all my facebook postings on GMO and the need for labeling. We have participated in a protest and just ordered our lawn signs Supporting Prop 37 in our State, CA. We donate to CA RIGHT TO KNOW and signed up as volunteers. The Food Babe right now is my hero, doing what so many of us wish we could. I still want to do more than I am, not sure how much I can do though. What is everyone else doing to Support GMO labeling? Ideas?
Wow, though the politicians’ responses are not really surprising, they are still disheartening and maddening. How I wish I lived in CA right now in order to vote for Prop 37, but rest assured I’ll be on the front lines when the issue gets to PA! Right now I’m voting with my food dollars…Thank you so much, Food Babe, for your courage and advocacy!
I applaud that my daughter has the courage to stand for what she believes in!
We have the right to know what goes in our food!!
Continue with your journey one step at a time.
Best wishes for your quest in reaching your goals to make this world better for my grand children.
Love
Mom
i applaud your daughter for what she does…she is a wonderful voice for all of us that truly care about our future.
awww! yay, mom!
Thanks for raising your daughter with true family values!
You are both awesome!
Way to go! We should have the right to know what we are eating. It is sad/disgrace that our government puts big business and $$$ before the health of the American people.
Awesome work! If so many of the other leading countries on our planet can do this and find it their responsibility to do this for their citizens – why not the U.S.?
Way to go Vani! Thank you for being a voice at the convention and reminding/educating key influencers of the importance of this issue. It is the courage and persistence, that you have demonstrated, that will fuel the change that is so necessary for our health. Thank you!
-Marissa of Hip & Healthy Kids (www.hipandhealthykids.com)
Great work! Politicians, no matter what party, are in it for their own purposes. We are simply voters, not people.
Great job. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for informing us more by your articles!! After Obama wins this next election and has nothing to lose after, he needs to require GMO labeling like he said in 07! I have shared your articles with others who had no idea what GMO is and you articles have a way of explaining very well to those of us who know and to those who don’t. Thanks again for spreading the word. YOU ROCK!!
Thank you for fighting this fight! I hope California gets it right this November.
You are awesome!!! Great job and it is so nice to know there are some people like you out there who are actually fighting for the important issues such as food. I admire you and I 100% support you!
Thank you! You are truly an inspiration to me to stand up for something I believe in. I am planning on standing up in front of my college classes closer to voting day, to tell people the importance of labeling gmos and to vote yes on prop 37. I would have never considered doing this before reading your blog and reading how much of an impact a single person can have.
Great Job! I will forward this to all my friends and relatives. Thank you!
Great story and yet extremely disappointing on the political level. I can’t believe they’re either completely oblivious to the topic or against it. I sure hope something great happens in CA! How do we get started petitioning our individual states to get this on our ballots? I will do anything I can to help the cause!
Nice job! Way to go Food Babe!!
Thank you Food Babe! Keep the fight going!
Good job, Food Babe! I’m in CA. What can I do to help besides voting, voting with my food dollars, & telling my friends to vote “yes” too?! Could there be a fund raiser out here like the one in NY?
Go, Vani! This is great and I’m so excited to see you take a strong stand for this issue and call out our leaders. Very exciting stuff!!
Thank you Pamm! It feels good to have your support. The fundraiser last night was KILLER. The energy was insane and we raised a lot of money for you guys! Keep up the stamina – Nov. 6th is almost here.
thank you, thank you for going, for perservering. you are a brave little thing 🙂 I bet you were super frustrated though huh? Well hopefully CA will pass prop 37, helping you feel like someone “gets it”.
Thank you so much for crusading for this! It must have felt like beating your head against a brick wall trying to talk to those politicians. On this issue, you’re definitely one of my heroes – keeping fighting the good fight!
You’re my hero… Be well always.
Thank you for your amazing efforts to help in getting GMOs labeled. I agree with Natalie – keep posting politicians names and their responses for all to see. Go, Food Babe, go!!
Vani – Thank you for your perseverance to ensure the safety of our food supply. I appreciate your efforts to demand federal regulations in labeling GMO foods. Perhaps we could reach out to Senator Kyrilos (NJ) running for US Congress. Look forward to future discussions, and I support this health initiative 100%. We have a right to know – Knowledge is Power! Hope
Thanks for spreading the news and really doing your homework. The average American does not understand that GMO’s are killing us and causing havoc on our environment and the agricultural world!
You GO girl!!!! Admire you and stand with you!
Christine
Thank you for your efforts! Great job putting the politicians’, etc. responses out for all to see!
Girl U Better Go!!! So proud of you Food Babe and I am proud to be a reader of your blog.
In their face! Your interview on News Talk Florida brought tears to my eyes! I’m so impressed, so proud, and so grateful for your tenacity and passion about labeling gmo products!!! I am also thrilled to hear about the press you are getting!!! Rock On with your Bad Self Sister! <3 http://facebook.com/T2EBB
Foodbabe: GOOD FOR YOU. As a radical Republican I fully support GMO labeling.
i appreciate everything u guys are doing i wanna help and im sure alot of people do but this system is deisigned 4 struggle and lots of will power it can only b done 1 person at a time we want organic 24 hr rest. instead of mkds we deserve da option
Thanks for your enthusiasm. Our health goes first. Gracias mil por su entusiasmo relacionado con la salud. Nosotros somos lo que comemos. Organic Foods are the best. We are so proud of you. Thanks.
In 2007 then candidate Obama said that if elected one of the 1st things he’d do as president would label GMOs….Not only has he forsaken his promise, he’s seemingly ushered the fox into the henhouse by appointing Monsanto shill Michael R. Taylor as food safety czar of the FDA along with scores of other biotech hacks and sycophants.
When it comes to doing the right thing, the president and Congress have failed miserably.
You should go on Real Time With Bill Maher and spread the word, at least the Democrats will hear the word and hopefully it will spread.
I have been harping on issues like this for forty years. You are a source of renewed inspiration for a tired old man. thank you.
Thank you for all you do and and how you stood-up to to Goliath at the DC Convention!!
I voted for Barak Obama in 2008 because of his promise to label GMO’s…
I did not realize that he would then get convenient ‘memory-loss syndrome” and just forget
his promise to us. And not only that…But to turn around and appoint some one from…
Monsanto to be incharge of our food..Is the biggest betrayal yet!!!
Way to go! I Gus’s this is just one more example of too much money in politics. It isn’t “we the people” anymore.
Keep up the good work and thanks for speaking up!
Thank you so much for fighting the good fight!!!!!!
Vilsack makes me so mad. As my governor, he signed a law that made it illegal for any county or town to ban the planting of GMO crops.
Yes – it’s dreadful.
Thank you for being so brave. Keep up the good work!
This is great. I stumbled upon your site via Facebook. I have been struggling with this election at hand, thinking that I cannot vote for Obama since he appointed a Monsanto CEO to one of his administrations. But I cannot vote for Romney either, based on many things… what’s an independent voter to do???? My family’s nutrition and that I am in charge of feeding them nourishing foods (and not poisoning myself or them) is of utmost importance…
With Romney – we would have ZERO hope, seriously – Only 1 Republican in the Senate voted for the recent amendment in the Farm Bill to allow states to label GMOs. 1! It ultimately didn’t pass… but at least there were 22 other Democrats on the right side of the issue.
Who was that Republican? Could it have been Scott Brown from MA?
He is one of my senators and claims to be independent.
Absolutely LOVE this! Love your fight, love your drive! We are all in this together.
Clinton is vegan and eats fish 2ce a month. So he’s a pesco-vegan? Or most likely a pesco-lacto-vegan otherwise known as an omnivore.
Yep! You got that right. Just quoting what he said 🙂
Thank you!!!’ Please be my new BFF!!! You rock food babe!
I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset with our government. I appreciate you for what you are doing. Thank you for being such a loud voice for this serious, overlooked issue. I can only hope that our country wakes up soon. Do right by us, California!!! Thank you, Vani. You are an inspiration to me. And I’m not a Democrat! ; )
I commend you for your efforts. I would vote to have the labeling put into action immediately. However, like the one politician said, if america isn’t yelling for it, that topic would not be on their agenda. Sadly, I would bet 85 to 90 percent of americans don’t even have a clue what GMO foods are. I think we need to make them more aware. Keep up all your hard work!!!
I have to say – as much as I know and understand your concerns – as a biotechnitian I have to strongly disagree…
GMO’s are not aimed to resist synthetic chemicals…they are produced to resist pests without the need to use pesticides which cause more damage to humans than GMO’s do…
GMO technology cannot be overlooked – it is the simple minded person that denies modern technology…
YES – not all GMO foods are viable as has been proven – if you are unsure of the difference then please research GMO’s and their different strains used in different foods…for example the Bt Corn has saved many crops and provided more food for the Philippines by resisting specific pests that lay their eggs inside the corn cobs…
On the other hand – as a recently published study by a French Biotech team shows that a specific strain used in roughly 40% of South African maize may lead to long term damage…
http://www.acbio.org.za/index.php/media/64-media-releases/401
So before you go out and start assuming ALL GMO’s are negative…remember it is GMO’s that define our modern medications…GMO’s that save crops and lives…GMO’s that bring the future of genetic science to reality…finding cures for cancers and so forth…
Ignorant and blind people shun GMO technology…
Keep eating your gmo’s. If they aren’t so bad then why don’t you want them labeled? Now that is ignorant.give me a break.
You’re an idiot J. Esposito – nowhere did I say I didn’t want them unlabelled – and according to law they have to all be labelled…please – stop being so stupid and ignorant – no breaks for you – go do your research and try gain some scientific knowledge…moron…
You really truly are an inspiration! I have known of GMO’s for awhile, but had no idea how widespread they were in our everyday food until the last few weeks, and it has been such a frightening discovery. Thank you for being such a warrior and a voice for something that truly affects everyone, whether they know it or not! I also love your big smile in these pictures with some people who I am sure you feel like wringing their necks!
Thank you thank you thank you! I’m so apprecitive of you and your determination to get this topic out there! I’m in full support of this but never know what little old me can do about it!