There was an interesting article on the front page of the New York Times today:
Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content
Whole Foods will require labeling of all GMO/GE foods sold in its stores by 2018.
This is consistent with the Slow Government way of thinking. Absent an overwhelming food safety issue, food labeling issues should be left to negotiations between buyers and sellers. Let the marketplace work. Keep the government out of it.
As an aside, here is an interesting observation about two hot-button issues: climate change and GMO/GE foods. Earlier I blogged about Mark Lynas. Mr. Lynas is a strong proponent of taking action to fight climate change. He is also a strong proponent of GMO/GE foods. “To vilify GMOs is to be as anti-science as climate-change deniers, he says.” (source) John Mackey is the co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods. “He is one of the most influential advocates in the movement for organic food.” (source) He is himself a vegan. Based on those facts and his company’s announcement yesterday about labeling GMO/GE foods, it would be hard to say that he is a proponent of GMO/GE foods. Yet on climate change he had this to say earlier this year: “I haven’t been outspoken about global warming… I guess my position on it is that I don’t think that’s that big a deal.” (source)
The usual position of the left is to believe that both climate change and GMO/GE foods present huge risks to society, while the usual position of the right is to question that belief on both issues. Mark Lynas and John Mackey do not fit the mold of either left or right, and furthermore, they hold opposite positions from each other. Is there no consistency in the world??
People are complicated. Just because you know someone’s position on one issue doesn’t mean that you can always predict their position on another issue. None of us are perfectly consistent. It may be that perfect consistency is neither possible nor desirable.
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