http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3970/is_200004/ai_n8898627/?tag=content;col1

As far as just letting them put whatever they want on the label so long as it’s truthful, the FDA is pretty explicit about the fact that even technically honest labeling can be misleading. Imagine if an organic orange grower from Florida sold oranges that had a label that said: “Other orange growers cover their products with pesticides that contain cancer-causing chemicals. Florida’s Most Awesomest Oranges only uses 100% real Florida Oranges.” That could be totally true, but it’s misleading as hell. Similarly, let’s say the same orange grower had a (truthful) label that said “GE-Free!” Bet you dollars to donuts a large percentage of people (who have no idea what the label means) would pay a few extra cents to avoid the OTHER oranges that they just KNOW contain all that horrible GE. Voila, market imperfection. When thinking about what labels we would want to allow on foods, we need to remind ourselves of the general level of education, skepticism, and sophistication that the average consumer has.

A label that shows “SeedCo® SuperSoy®” or “OtherSeedCo® OrganoBananas®”, on the other hand, would at least tell me exactly what I’m getting and allow people who are willing to make the effort to actually pay attention to what they’re buying.

Of course, this would have to apply to ALL kinds of agricultural products to be really useful…

I always wonder about this labeling thing, how would they feel about mandatory labeling of (non-)Kosher/Halal foods? “Not a Jew/Muslim? Too bad, pay for it anyway.” Can you imagine how well that one would go over? Why should the anti-GMO crowd get special treatment when my Arabic professor, who is a Muslim, has to read through the list of ingredients on a package of gummy worms to check for gelatin? If he wants certified halal, he has to pay for it himself. He’s not out there trying to force everyone else to support his beliefs. I just don’t see how mandatory GMO labeling is any different (except that they admit religious reasons; I’ve never seen a Muslim or Jew claim that haraam or non-kosher foods have mystery toxins in them).

And as for those mystery toxins, if someone pointed out a specific harmful agent present in all GMO foods that is not present in their non-GMO counterparts, and advocated that foods with that in them be labeled, then heck yeah, I’d want foods with that chemical labeled (or preferably taken off the market). But that’s not what they want. What they really have is an issue with the production, not the product (exactly like how practicing Jews/Muslims have an issue with how meat animals are to be slaughtered), because for all the hot air I’ve never seen anyone able to give a chemical/biological reason reason why all GMOs are supposedly dangerous, which makes it a belief or aesthetic ideal at best, not scientific fact. And that’s not enough for their own and their own tailor made law. Their beliefs don’t deserve a free pass.

I mean, hey, whatever the free market will bear for non-fraudulent “Contains no GMO” labeled products, their right to create a demand for them them and my right to not buy them, but some people seem to think that everyone else should subsidize their fears. You want products that you know have no GMOs? Fine by me, you pay for it.

Anastasia: You’re right as well, although I would add, as you did in your “Labeling GMOs” article, that even truthful labels should not be confusing. The initialisms “GMO,” “GM,” and “GE” are little more than scare terms to the average person at this point; that tells me that we should presume labels using them are misleading, IMHO. Personally, I’d like to see the FDA finalize the draft guidance (the current version) and actually enforce it. At least then, some people might have a better inkling of what they’re deciding not to buy.

She was quite even-handed I thought, and talked about the many issues around labelling.

I’ve seen some of those petitions and “call your congresscritter” emails. Some of them are flat-out fradulent. I’ve tried to contact the senders (with facts and data) and of course I was totally dismissed. I’m shocked at how false some of them are. Unfortunately for activists movements, too–now I’m skeptical of any action item that comes along.