This November, California voters will be given the opportunity to require food manufacturers to disclose whether their food contains genetically modified ingredients.  If proposition 37 is approved, it will:

• Require food manufacturers to label raw or processed foods that contains any genetically modified ingredients.
• Prohibit any food manufacturer who uses genetically modified ingredients from using the word “natural”.
• Exempt foods that have earned their “certified organic” label, alcoholic beverages, restaurant foods, and those foods unintentionally produced with genetically engineered ingredients.

James Wheaton, who filed the ballot language for the initiative, refers to it as “The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.”

The United States is significantly lagging behind other countries on this issue. In fact, there are already 50 other countries that require labeling of genetically modified food.  Why are we denied the right to know what’s in our food? In large part, corporate opponents of Prop 37 have the financial muscle and the political connections to keep this information under wraps.

The campaign for Prop 37 has raised around $4 million and has generated a lot of grassroots support and enthusiasm. This is great, but it is significantly less than the corporate money being spent to oppose the measure. The top financial backers of the “Vote No on Prop 37” campaign, and how much they have donated against our right to know, are:

• Monsanto: $7.1 million
• El Dupont De Nemours & Co: donated $4.9 million
• Dow Agrisciences: $2 million donated
• Bayer Cropscience $2 million
• BASF Plant Science $2 million
• Pepsico, Inc. $1.7 million
• Nestle USA $1.17 million
• Coca-Cola North America $1.64 million
• Conagra Foods $1.08 million

Don’t be fooled – many companies that promote their “natural and organic” ingredients are actually controlled by larger corporations that are fighting Prop 37. These brands include: Naked, Horizon, Larabar, Odwalla, Kashi, and Morning Star Farms.

Companies such as Amy’s, Nature’s Path, and Nutiva, however, support the Yes on Prop 37 effort.

Genetically modified foods are relatively new and started to appear in our grocery stores back in the 1990s. Since then, a number of studies have shown that genetically modified foods have a deleterious affect on rats. But, more importantly, it is our right, as consumers, to know what is in our food. We have an obligation to ourselves, our families, and our communities to be informed, knowledgeable consumers. It is not up to the corporations that produce our food, who are motivated by profit and not the health of our children, to decide what we should and should not know about the ingredients in the food we eat.

If Vote Yes on Prop 37 resonates with you, please spread the word. Share this blog, write about it in your social media and, most importantly, if you live in California, vote yes on Prop 37 in the November elections.  If California passes Prop 37, more states are sure to follow and the United States will join the rest of the world in honoring consumers’ rights to know exactly what is in their food.