Vote “no” on Initiative 522. That is what I learned when I read a 30-page report by the Washington Academy of Sciences. Passage of this burdensome bill could drive up food prices about $400 per family. State taxes could go up to fund a new enforcement organization.
Corn and soybeans are in a majority of food produced in the U.S. Most of these major crops are already genetically engineered. Farmers like the added yield. As yield goes up, the consumer price goes down. Therefore consumers are benefiting from this genetic advancement. In a Wall Street Journal article on the irrational fear of GMO food, it stated that billions of people have eaten genetically engineered food over the past two decades. Why run up the cost of food we are currently eating?
If there is a market for the few foods that are not genetically engineered, let them be voluntarily labeled. Then only those who want labels will pay the bill for labeling.
Robert J. Buker
Hazel Dell