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Too costly? Really!? Consumers Union Study GMO FOOD LABELING? RIGHT-TO-KNOW COST IS  $2.43  PER  PERSON A YEAR Devon G. Peña | Seattle, WA | October 4, 2014 According to a new analysis commissioned by Consumers Union (CU) the median cost to consumers of state laws requiring labeling of genetically engineered food is $2.30 per person annually. The report is available online now here .  The CU study – which includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography of studies on the economics of labeling – presents a major scientific rebuke to claims being made by the biotechnology industry. The corporate opponents of GMO labeling, including major chain grocers, have repeatedly misled the public by claiming labeling requirements will significantly increase consumer costs by hundreds and perhaps even thousands of dollars a year.   There is no reliable study proving these claims and the research most often cited by the promoters of GMO foods is produced by the agro-biotech an...

Elias Schewel/Flickr Whose science?  AGROECOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY in THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE Devon G. Peña | Seattle, WA | November 5, 2013 A lot of naïve science has been involved in pushing this technology. David Williams, cellular biologist, UCLA Quoted in Scientific American  September 2013, p. 80   Food is the cover story of the September 2013 issue of Scientific American . The issue features a fascinating “Truth About GMOs” brief that mostly reads like an apologia to Monsanto et al. (pp. 80-85), perhaps for the proliferation of problems both scientific and political economic. The briefing uses a sardonic and hyperbolic title, “Biotechnology: Are engineered foods evil?” This obviously derisive reference targets the anti-GMO m ovement’s tendency to use cutesy semiotic code words like “Frankenfood” and “Frankenfish”. More than anything this illustrates the danger of using humor while engaged in the act of conveying scientific evidence on the environmental and...