Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says

Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says

Posted: 07/10/2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/gmo-labels-congress_n_5576255.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000072

WASHINGTON -- It's pretty rare that members of Congress and all the witnesses they've called will declare out loud that Americans are just too ignorant to be given a piece of information, but that was a key conclusion of a session of the House Agriculture Committee this week.

The issue was genetically modified organisms, or GMOs as they're often known in the food industry. And members of the subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture, as well as their four experts, agreed that the genetic engineering of food crops has been a thorough success responsible for feeding the hungry, improving nutrition and reducing the use of pesticides.

People who oppose GMOs or want them labeled so that consumers can know what they're eating are alarmists who thrive on fear and ignorance, the panel agreed. Labeling GMO foods would only stoke those fears, and harm a beneficial thing, so it should not be allowed, the lawmakers and witnesses agreed.

"I really worry that labeling does more harm than good, that it leads too many people away from it and it diminishes the market for GMOs that are the solution to a lot of the problems we face," said David Just, a professor at Cornell University and co-director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs.

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) agreed with Just and asked him, "What is the biggest drawback? Is it the ignorance of what the product is, just from a lack of education?"

"It is ignorance of the product, and it's a general skepticism of anything they eat that is too processed or treated in some way that they don't quite understand," Just said.

"Even using long scientific-sounding words make it sound like it's been grown in a test tube, and people get scared of it," Just added.

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) agreed with another witness, Calestous Juma, an international development professor at Harvard's Kennedy School, that political leaders had been cowed by misinformed populaces into bending on GMOs, especially in the European Union, where Juma said hundreds of millions of euros have been spent on studies that have found GMOs safe.

"It's obvious that while the science in the EU in incontrovertible about the health and safety benefits of genetically modified hybrid crops, that because of politics, people are afraid to lead, and inform consumers," Schrader said.

Juma cited an extensive report by the European Commission. (There is at least one controversial group that disagrees with him.)

Certainly, there is misinformation about GMOs, as highlighted in a New York Times feature on a Hawaiian ban of most GMOs. But entirely missing from the hearing was any suggestion that there are real concerns about the impact of genetically engineered food, such as the growth of pesticide-resistant "super weeds," over-reliance on single-crop factory farming, decreased biodiversity, and a lack of a consistent approval process. (Read more pros and cons here.)

The issue may soon gain fresh relevance on Capitol Hill, where a measure backed by Reps. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) to stop states from requiring GMO labeling could get marked up as early as September. The bill also would allow genetically engineered food to be labeled "100 percent natural."

The idea of the bill brought Ben and Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield to Capitol Hill Thursday to push back, along with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who backs labeling.

Greenfield told HuffPost that labeling is a simple, inexpensive matter of letting people know what's in their food, and letting them decide what they want to support and eat.

"This idea that consumers will be scared away -- the label will be a very simple thing, a few words on a container saying something like 'may be produced with genetic engineering.' It's not scary," Greenfield said.

Watch the video above to see experts and members of Congress conclude Americans should be denied GMO labels because they are too ignorant, as well as Greenfield's reaction.

Obama signs 'Monsanto Protection Act' written by Monsanto-sponsored senator (Past Research)
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/07/obama-signs-monsanto-protection-act.html

Monsanto (Past Research)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/07/monsanto.html

Cornell University

Emmett J. Rice was an assistant professor at Cornell University, and his daughter is Susan E. Rice.

Note: Susan E. Rice is Emmett J. Rice’s daughter, the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Andrew H. Tisch is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a trustee at Cornell University.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a professor at Cornell University, and is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company (GMO Company).

Daniel R. Glickman was a senior adviser at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Valerie B. Jarrett is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Edward M. Liddy is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was the CFO for G.D. Searle & Co.

G.D. Searle & Co. was acquired by the Monsanto Company.

William D. Perez is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee at Cornell University.

John S. Dyson is a trustee emeritus at Cornell University, and a trustee at the Third Way.

Robert R. Dyson is a trustee emeritus at Cornell University, and a trustee at the Third Way.

William M. Daley is a trustee at the Third Way, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was the chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.

R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Sidley Austin LLP was the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company (GMO Company).

Michael R. Taylor was the VP for public policy at the Monsanto Company (GMO Company), and is the deputy commissioner for foods for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Mark B. McClellan was the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982

(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)

http://www.illuminati-news.com/110106a.htm

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Margaret A. Hamburg is the VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Donald Kennedy was the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Shirley M. Tilghman is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a trustee at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Cornell University was a funder for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Abdulaziz bin Abdullah is a trustee at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and his father is Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud.

Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud is Abdulaziz bin Abdullah’s father, the king of Saudi Arabia, and a benefactor for the Middle East Policy Council.

Chas. W. Freeman Jr. was the U.S. ambassador for Saudi Arabia, the president for the Middle East Policy Council, the National Intelligence Council chairman nominee for the Barack Obama administration, is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Andrew H. Tisch is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a trustee at Cornell University.

Susan E. Rice was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is Emmett J. Rice’s daughter, and the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration.

Emmett J. Rice is Susan E. Rice’s father, and was an assistant professor at Cornell University.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a professor at Cornell University, and is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Monsanto Company (GMO Company).

Daniel R. Glickman was a senior adviser at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.