Monsanto's Patchwork Plan to Deny Consumer Choice

Monsanto's Patchwork Plan to Deny Consumer Choice

* By Ken Roseboro, ed.
The Organic and Non-GMO Report, April 2008
Straight to the Source

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Three years ago, I lobbied at the Iowa legislature against a bill that would pre-empt local control over genetically modified seed. Such "seed preemption" bills were passed in 15 states, including Iowa.

Biotech supporters said the state bills were necessary to avoid a "patchwork" of local city and county seed laws.

But what was bad back then to biotech supporters is good today.

Today, Monsanto Company and its supporters want to create a patchwork of state laws-to pre-empt dairy manufacturers from labeling their products as free of Monsanto's genetically modified bovine growth hormone, rBGH.

Monsanto is relentless. Seeing major dairy processors, supermarket chains, and food manufacturers nationwide dumping rBGH, the biotech giant sent letters to the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission last year asking them to crack down on rBGH-free labels. Monsanto argues that such labels mislead consumers about the safety of milk from rBGH-injected cows. The agencies refused to act. So Monsanto went to work on state legislatures. Their front group, American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, introduced bills in state legislatures to ban rBGH-free labels.

To date, the bills have received little support. Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary passed a law banning the labels then backed off after massive opposition. Another bill in Indiana died. Other bills have been proposed in Kansas, Utah, Missouri (Monsanto's home state), and Vermont.

The only bill that went anywhere was in Ohio, which restricts manufacturers to using a statement that says the milk does not come from cows "supplemented" (i.e. injected) with rBGH.

There is a method to Monsanto's madness. A patchwork of state labeling laws will discourage dairy manufacturers from using rBGH-free labels because they will have to comply with different laws in different states. No labels, no consumer choice.

But to Monsanto, it means no misled consumers. It's another example of the twisted logic used by biotech proponents to foist their products on unwilling and unwitting American consumers. A patchwork of local seed laws is bad, but a patchwork of state laws banning rBGH-free labels is good. GM seed is unique and patentable, while GM food is substantially equivalent to normal food.

At a time when more and more people want to know where their food comes from and how it is produced, Monsanto wants to deny that right. Hopefully, states won't let them.