Getting genetically engineered foods properly labeled is an uphill battle, and Big Food is spending huge sums to make sure that doesn’t happen. Here’s what you can do about it.
Three weeks ago we told you about how the parent companies of some organic food brands are very quietly donating large sums of money to fight Prop 37 (the California Right to Know Act, a.k.a. Label GMO). On the one hand, they want to be seen as supporting organic; on the other hand, they don’t want you to know what food is genetically modified. We also pointed out that some of the companies’ “natural” brands even contained genetically modified ingredients.
In addition to spending millions to stop GMO labeling in California, these companies are also supporting disinformation campaigns in which wild charges are made, such as the charge that labeling GMO will greatly increase food prices—it’s complete nonsense, as we reported last month.
With so much money available to the other side, and so much disinformation to rebut, the Label GMO initiative is truly a David-vs.-Goliath battle. But if we mobilize effectively, we can still win.
We launched our boycott together with other natural health groups. Almost at once, we found that it was causing confusion in California—the front lines of the Label GMO battle. We intended to boycott the organic brands of the Big Food companies fighting against us behind the scenes. But some people thought we were boycotting organic foods in general! Definitely not the case!
So this week we are redirecting the boycott. Now we are targeting the food companies that are directly fighting Prop 37 with their donations—in some cases, over a million dollars, in many cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Beware—it’s a looooong list, and could be much longer. That’s because each conglomerate may own dozens and dozens of different, well-known brands.
Here are the biggest financial backers of the front groups opposing Label GMO in California, so far as we can tell:
| Monsanto Company | $4,208,000.00 |
| E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. | $4,025,200.00 |
| PepsiCo, Inc. | $1,716,300.00 |
| BASF Plant Science | $1,642,300.00 |
| Bayer CropScience | $1,618,400.00 |
| Dow Agrosciences LLC | $1,184,800.00 |
| Nestle USA, Inc. | $1,169,400.00 |
| Coca-Cola North America | $1,164,400.00 |
| ConAgra Foods | $1,076,700.00 |
| Syngenta Corporation | $821,300.00 |
| Kellogg Company | $632,500.00 |
| General Mills, Inc. | $519,400.00 |
| Del Monte | $484,125 |
| General Mills | $388,798 |
| Bumble Bee Foods | $270,426 |
| Sara Lee | $246,766 |
| Campbell Soup | $179,545 |
| Dole | $125,681 |
| Ocean Spray | $60,546 |
| Land O’Lakes | $59,321 |
| Hero North America | $58,028 |
| Kraft Foods | $34,404 |
| Godiva | $30,666 |
| Smithfield | $14,286 |
| Reily Foods Co. | $13,214 |
| Heinz | $10,444 |
| Idahoan Foods | $7,181 |
| Mars | $5,773 |
| Bunge North America | $5,193 |
| Croplife | $5,000 |
| Abbott Nutrition | $3,918 |
We have set up a page on the ANH-USA website listing the various consumer brand names and products of the companies trying to prevent your right to know what’s in your food. We also include links to the company websites so you can see everything they produce—and learn what to avoid. When you see a name like ConAgra you may not realize that they make food to sell to consumers. Please use this link to find out who is who and help us send a powerful message.
Why is this GMO labeling fight so important? Once GMOs are labeled in California, it will bring a cascade effect in other states as well, since most national companies won’t create two labeling schemes, one for California and one for the rest of the country. Moreover, once products containing GMOs are labeled, people will stop buying them—and this economic pressure will be enough to force GMOs off the market.
That’s why all the companies that are actively working to fight the labeling of GMOs deserve a consumer boycott. They are trying to keep you and your family in the dark about what you are eating. They care nothing for your health, despite their propaganda to the contrary.
The only way they will listen is if it affects their bottom line. Hit them where it hurts—in the pocketbook. Refuse to buy their brands or products until they stop donating to the pro-GMO camp.
Please take action now!
Right now, please sign our warning message to the companies trying to stop you from knowing which products contain GMOs:
And also sign our letter of thanks to the companies that are supporting the initiative:
Use that money to feed and clothe the needy rather then harm mankind!
Coke has already been fined and supposedly changed the caramel color used (in CA only?) to one without a carcinogenic ingredient.
Apparently, none of these large producers can be trusted. My guess is the more they contribute, the more they have to hide!!
Wouldn’t it be easier for one group to do the work and tell us what we CAN buy? Or should we just go on a hunger strike? Of course I am being facetious, but, while I’d like to pitch in, the list above is unmanageably long.
EWG has an APP for your iphone that will help you avoid GMOs. If you don’t have an iphone it is on their website too as a PDF download so you can take a hard copy with you to the store.
The following should also be added to the above list.
KASHI> BARE NAKED> MORNING STAR> MUIR GLEN> CASCADIAN FARMS> LARABAR> HORIZON> SILK> WHITE WAVE> R.W.KNUDSEN> SANTA CRUZ ORGANICS> HONEST TEA> ODWALLA> BOCA BURGERS> BACK TO NATURE> REDENBACKERS> HUNTS ORGANIC> LIGHTLIFE> NAKED JUICE> TOSTITOS ORGANIC> ALEXIS FOODS> FRENCH MEADOW> IZZE JUICE> SIERRA MIST NATURAL.
I have always spent my dollars on organic and sustainable farmed products. I hope that Prop 37 passes and we will be on the road to eliminating GMOs from the planet, but if it doesn’t, then I hope a massive campaign will start to lable everything that is non-GMO and assume that if it is not labeled non-GMO that it does contain GMOs ! The recent exposures of brands formally considered health-food store brands that contain GMO’s have made me feel betrayed and now I am even more vigilant on what products I will bring home. Thanks for the work you are doing !
I am surprised that labeling of GMOs is such a hard decision. I am not asking that they be banned, just that people can make their own decisions about the food they purchase. Until there is factual non partisan studies that prove or disprove GMO safety, it is very little to ask to be allowed to make our own decisions about these non natural foods.
hey guys, whenever I try to sigh something your postal codes for canada dont match, you need to get the postal codes for canada.
scott
Hi Scott–Thank you for your comment! Unfortunately, if a letter is going to American government officials/entities, it cannot be signed by our international readers. The system we use does this to prevent spammers (although I know you are not spam!).
We’re sorry for this inconvenience, and hope that is does not prevent you from staying active and in touch!
Letters are great and all but there’s another strategy. Pinpoint the specific districts whose Representatives are being paid and organize people to write physical letters which include $10 or $20 donations to that Representative’s campaign. Repeat the same process with each State Senator as well. Include in these letters that these people have LIKED their Facebook page and tell them they’ll be organizing their Facebook friends FOR the candidate who speaks out against GMOs. That will ABSOLUTELY work.
Hello My Fellow Concerned Foodies,
I host an internet radio show on digital media and last week my guest, Lisa McTique, explained how social media channels can really help us as individuals to find our voice and take action. She also shared information about the importance of reading labels and understanding the coding on all labels of our produce. The tiny codes on those little labels actually provide critical information. Each number that starts the code will tell you “how” it is produced. Here is a quick guide:
A code that starts with the #4 = conventionally made (means the normal bad stuff..pesticides etc.)
A code that starts with the #9 = certified organic
A code that starts with the #8 = genetically modified (GMO)
Yes, we can sign your petition and we all should. However, reading labels BEFORE we buy produce is a way to protect ourselves immediately.
Holly Campbell
We all have a stake in knowing what we consume!
If the above message was shared on facebook, I couldn’t find it. I have noticed that those with the f share ^ symbol, as you have above, never post my share. Please help me know what I’m doing wrong or check it out yourself to make sure it is working. Thanks.
Hi Barbara-Thank you for your post! Make sure you’re logged into Facebook before you hit the “F Share” button above the comment box. You should be able to share then. Thanks!
It was scary to read the list at first. Getting genetically engineered foods properly labeled is a well fought battle. Exposing the corporations oposing the Label GMO iniciative it’s powerful. It won’t be an uphill battle any longer. Just by opposing the label you know immediately these 30 companies sell poisoned products. We won’t touch their products full of msg and horrendous enhancers,etc. any longer. Now, please don’t make us wait to know the list of the parent companies of the organic food brands that are quietely donating to the enemy. Unbelievable such a betrayal! … Thank you for all your hard work.
I don’t understand the controversy in that some people will buy the cheap GMO ingrediented foods because they cannot afford organic or non-GMO food due to financial difficulties or no money for food to begin with. I agree that many people do not even know what GMO means, but I do not see the way they shop changing much. Take hot dogs, for instance. The only ones that don’t contain GMO corn syrup, preservatives, etc. are about $4.99 and up. A family with 4 children will buy the ones with corn syrup for $.99 even if they are labeled just to feed their families. How do I know this? Because I live in the poorest county in my state and the people here on food stamps buy the cheapest food, hence GMO laden. Even if the companies do not raise prices after the labeling law is passed, I believe most people will not change their buying habits. Just my two cents
I understand what you’re saying, however I fully support the proper labeling of products. I work in the natural health industry and I have seen firsthand the effects and devastation of improperly labeled products. I say you have the right to produce and purchase what food you wish to, but don’t accept lies and disguises. You have the right to know what you are consuming and being exposed to. I personally will not use GMO products even with the added expense of higher quality but you have the right to use whatever you want. Also, GMO is not all that these companies are hiding. We will see many lies come into focus as people take more initiative to build true knowledge and take responsibility for their own world.
Maybe so but those of us who want to know have the right to know and that is the point.
The problem is that a lot of people want, and attempt to buy, organic foods. Unknowingly, they buy the wrong foods, and thus unwillingly eat GMO foods. This is about helping make sure people know what they are buying by having their food labeled correctly, which will stop those who want to stop buying GMO laced foods truly possible. Unfortunately, like you pointed out, it is cheaper to buy GMO foods, and they probably will price accordingly so people who can’t afford it now won’t be able to then. While knocking GMO producers is not the practical solution (just the ideal), it will help send more money to those who are trying to do the right thing; it will also help people become more healthy, since they will know that the “natural” food they are buying is laced with GMOs and then stay away from it.
The poisons put in our foods are “contributions” by corporations who also poison our politics with the “good” profits. The big issue here is not corporate profits, nor free speech, but poison in our food!
Monsanto needs to be boycotted until they disappear. The more I hear and read about them, the more appalled I am at how blatantly evil they are.
The staggering amounts these corporations are pouring into this campaign points to the massive profits that are at stake in biotech engineering of our food supply and how threatened they are that the USA might have the same labeling of GMOs that most other developed nations have (along with universal single payer healthcare and lots of other such “socialistic” benefits). I have been working on this issue – getting mandatory labeling on GMOs – for over 15 years. Mothers for Natural Law submitted over a million signatures on petitions to Congress, the White House, the USDA, FDA, at a press conference in DC back then and they disappeared without any impact. These corporations are also pouring billions into congressional campaigns to defeat any such initiatives. This is a huge fight but our basic democracy is at stake – If you can’t control even knowing what’s in your food what rights do you really have at all?? We must continue to fight for this – If this can pass in CA we can make sure to pass it nationally. This is a crucial first step and we must do all we can to raise awareness and make people realize what is at stake!!
I invite everyone, those who know about gmos and those who don’t to visit:
http://www.goodnewpress.net (no s on new)
This free online 68 page magazine will share info about Monsanto the chemical company and GE/GMO/Bt etc. It is the first of a two part series.
http://www.facebook.com/GeneticRouletteMovie?ref=hl#
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monsanto-Tumbles-Down-magazine-journal/327822073930871