{"id":19358,"date":"2013-12-02T15:17:12","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/?p=313813"},"modified":"2013-12-02T15:17:12","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:17:12","slug":"will-colorado-be-next-to-vote-on-labeling-gmo-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/will-colorado-be-next-to-vote-on-labeling-gmo-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Colorado Be Next to Vote on Labeling GMO Foods?"},"content":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gomapple-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Photo courtesy of Shutterstock\"><\/p>\n<p>The state of Colorado may be the next to decide on mandatory labeling for foods that contain <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/category\/news\/agriculture-news\/food-agriculture\/gmo-genetically-modified-organism\/\" target=\"_blank\">genetically modified organism<\/a>s (GMOs).<\/p>\n<p>Larry Cooper, co-chairman of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.righttoknowcolorado.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Right To Know Colorado<\/a>, said&nbsp;the group submitted a ballot initiative to the state, the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/11\/27\/colorado-voters-may-be-ne_n_4346194.html\" target=\"_blank\">Huffington Post reported<\/a>. If the measure goes forward, Cooper and other supporters of food labeling will start collecting the 85,000 signatures needed to get the measure on the November 2014 ballot.<\/p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_313830\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"500\"]<a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gomapple.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Photo courtesy of Shutterstock\" src=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gomapple.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\"><\/a> Photo credit:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/pic-161885108\/stock-photo-natural-organic-green-apple-without-gmo.html?src=IET_EjxuJO7Z66LEHAMPcw-1-78\">Shutterstock<\/a>[\/caption]\n<p>If that happens, Colorado will be the third state to attempt a GMO food labeling initiative. Last month, Washington state voters <a href=\"http:\/\/vote.wa.gov\/results\/current\/State-Measures-Initiative-to-the-Legislature-522-Concerns-labeling-of-genetically-engineered-foods.htmlhttp:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/06\/washington-votes-down-initiative-522-label-gmo-foods\/\" target=\"_parent\">narrowly rejected<\/a> a similar measure, 51 percent to 49 percent. The measure failed by 38,046 votes, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/vote.wa.gov\/results\/current\/State-Measures-Initiative-to-the-Legislature-522-Concerns-labeling-of-genetically-engineered-foods.html\" target=\"_blank\">final results<\/a>. Those results are expected to be finalized by the Washington secretary of state this week, a spokesman told <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">EcoWatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A similar measure was <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2012\/11\/07\/monsanto-throws-gmo-party\/\" target=\"_blank\">voted down<\/a> in California in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>GMOs are plants and animals that have had their genetic code altered. The technology often is used in plants, like <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/18\/monsantos-gmo-sweet-corn-flop\/\" target=\"_blank\">corn<\/a> and soybeans, to make them more drought-tolerant, resistant to herbicides or produce proteins that are toxic to insects, among other traits.<\/p>\n<p>The Grocery Manufacturers Association has said that&nbsp;75 percent to 80 percent of conventional processed foods&nbsp;in the U.S. contain genetically engineered ingredients.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2012\/11\/14\/usda-allows-ge-foods\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thirteen new GMO crops <\/a>are awaiting approval at the U.S. Department of Agriculture,<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>including Dow Chemical&rsquo;s <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2012\/04\/10\/usda-to-decide-imminently-on-agent-orange-corn\/\" target=\"_blank\">2,4-D Agent Orange corn<\/a> and the so-called botox <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/21\/100000-americans-tell-mcdonalds-to-pass-on-biotech-fries\/\" target=\"_blank\">GMO apple<\/a>, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/action.fooddemocracynow.org\/sign\/support_gmo_labeling_in_colorado\/\" target=\"_blank\">Food Democracy Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the FDA is getting ready to approve <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/2013\/11\/21\/gmo-fish-puts-wild-salmon-environment-at-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\">genetically engineered salmon<\/a>.&nbsp;If approved, Aquabounty&rsquo;s GMO salmon would be the first genetically engineered animal allowed on the market.<\/p>\n<p>Right To Know Colorado&nbsp;describes its mission&nbsp;as &#8220;built on the foundation that we have the basic right to know what is in our food and what we are feeding our families.&nbsp;Other supporters, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/justlabelit.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Just Label It<\/a>,&nbsp;say more than 90 percent of consumers want labeling on GMO foods.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents have argued that labeling could raise food prices, but organizations such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.consumerreports.org\/cro\/2013\/10\/labeling-genetically-engineered-food-washington-initiative-522\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Consumer Reports<\/a> dispute that claim saying it is based on faulty logic.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a video by <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/author\/dsuzuki\/\" target=\"_blank\">geneticist David Suzuki<\/a>, who says GMOs are making humans part of a massive genetic experiment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Visit EcoWatch&rsquo;s <a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.org\/p\/food\/gmo-genetically-modified-organism\/\" target=\"_blank\">GMO<\/a>&nbsp;page for more related news on this topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/newsletter-signup\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" src=\"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/topnewsbanner13.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"120\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,57],"tags":[12201,1791,10215,12202],"class_list":["post-19358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colorado-leed-projects","category-green-building-posts","category-leed-news","tag-featured-living","tag-food","tag-genetically-engineered-foods","tag-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}