According to an article at Nation of Change, in three months, Californians will vote on Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, and the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association is teaming up with Monsanto (in my opinion, the most evil company on earth) to block its passage. Now, I’m not one for hyper-regulation and nanny-state laws, but this is one I can get behind. One of my Facebook friends pointed me to justlabelit.org, and there I expressed my support for a GMO-food labeling effort. Here’s what I wrote to the FDA:

“Dear Commissioner Hamburg,

Europe has long been ahead of us in labeling, and rejecting, genetically modified foods. I’m personally not sure whether I trust GMO’s or not – the bottom line is that they haven’t been around long enough, and sufficient research on long-term effects of human and animal consumption of GMO’s has not been done. That said, I want a choice. I want to know if the food I am eating has been genetically tweaked, or if animal products were raised with GMO feeds. Please require foods to be so labelled. Yes, it’s a complex issue. Yes, it will cause administrative headaches, and probably result in increased prices in some areas. To me, it would be worth it for the opportunity to protect my health. Thank you.”

Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t a knee-jerk, technology-is-bad, save-Mother-Gaia response. I love science, it amazes me and blinds me on a regular basis. Scientists worldwide are examining the issues of using genetic manipulation to increase food yields, and asking all the right questions about long-term effects. In my case, it’s just a gut-level sense of hesitation about injecting GMO’s into the food supply before all the data are in. The human genome is just so mind-blowingly complex, and for all the amazing progress that’s been made in the area of genetic manipulation, we’ve barely scratched the surface. At this point it seems the pinnacle of incautiousness to be injecting unknown factors into the human system, where one wrong change could possibly cause an unforeseen cascade reaction thousands of times more complex than an elaborate domino fall.

So yeah – let’s keep doing the science. Let’s see what we can do to feed the world and raise the human condition. But in the meantime, let’s also have the courtesy to let consumers know what they’re eating, so that they have a choice. The fact that food producers and distributors are putting their economic interests before the health of those who consume their products is mightily disturbing, and I join my voice with those who oppose their callous greed.

The Old Wolf has spoken.