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Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

September 30, 2013 by Jeff Weidauer — Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, Vestcom International, Inc.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has a new website called The Facts About GMOs. I’ve spent time reading through the various articles and op-eds about the benefits of GMOs, how they have helped in the fight against world hunger, and how they have been around for years.

This is all interesting information, and I recommend reading it if you’re interested or have a point of view on the topic. How many people know that a product labeled "100% Organic" can’t contain any GMOs? To be sure there is a compelling set of arguments here that lay out the benefits of GMOs.

But where the site goes off the tracks is in its backing of the manufacturers that don’t want to label their products that contain GMOs. Telling me that they’ve been around for 70 years and that they are safe isn’t compelling. The situation the manufacturers find themselves in is one that they have created by telling us all there is nothing to worry about.

Whatever your view of GMOs, the fact is it’s become an area of concern for a growing group of consumers, and by stonewalling on the labeling issue—not to mention actively supporting anti-labeling legislation—it only makes it appear there is something to hide. While I applaud the GMA for its attempt to educate us, the genie is out of the bottle regarding labeling; the industry can either start being proactive or continue to fight back as legislation passes and forces compliance.

Consumers tend to have a jaundiced view of manufacturers to begin with, thanks to a history of dubious health claims on packages and efforts to hide ingredients by using alternative and often confusing terms. This latest effort to curb the desire for labeling products just looks like another cover-up attempt at the expense of our health. It doesn’t matter if GMOs are OK to eat or not; the ongoing resistance to what is clearly a growing movement at the grassroots level is disingenuous at best, and will ultimately fail as a result of that very same resistance 

Manufacturers need to take heed. It’s not too late to stem the tide, but it will take some fast action to offer truthful labeling, more education and a willingness to have a dialogue with the people who buy their products. The alternative will be onerous labeling laws that create more problems, add costs and make no one happy.

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