Should parents have the right to know what's in our kids' food? Absolutely, and California's Proposition 37 is a healthy start.
I wasn't always so food label conscious. When I met my husband six years ago he was a Farmer's Market aficionado while I avoided the organic cluster farm in favor of quiet trips to my local grocer and an occasional Big Mac. I told my foodie friends they could never make it unless they competed with my Big Macs on the 3 Cs - cost, convenience and comfort.
Well time went by, and they have. Now the food movement has expanded to offer competitive costs in fresh fruits and vegetables available in low-income communities, with tastier comfort food recipes. I embraced that change in food and improved my diet, but honestly didn't think much about the pharmacopeia of industrial food production until becoming pregnant with our daughter Isabella.
When pregnant, I gave up margaritas for the alcohol and tuna for the mercury - and started checking labels for organics, pesticides or allergens. Like most pregnant mothers, I looked much more carefully at what I was feeding myself because that was what I was feeding her.
Now that my daughter is three, I have to check every label. Her preschool is Jewish so her food must be kosher. There was a no-nonsense no nuts edict sent one summer day that immediately took all nut products off the table - literally. With no pork and no nuts allowed, I want to know if any GMO has introduced those into her food. No wonder I and many parents live for weekly Pizza Day when we can send kids off to eat a pre-approved kosher lunch.
And because every day isn't Pizza Day, millions of parents support our right to know what's in our kids' food. Are there nut or pork products? If so, for me that's a no-go. Are there pesticides used in genetically modified GMO foods that might cause her sickness or allergy? I want the right to know.
Proposition 37 gives me that right by requiring a simple label on genetically engineered foods to inform my choices. Foes claim prices may rise - but the only independent study on Prop 37 claims the opposite. http://bit.ly/Sv5vkS Foes claim that the law does not apply to meat - darn right, because we are not eating cloned cows or milk from cloned sheep; but if we were, they'd need labels too.
Tuesday's American Academy of Pediatrics study says there may be no increased nutritional value of organics over processed foods, but that checking for pesticide levels is a smart move for parents. Foes claim that Prop 37 is anti-GMO, but I'm still researching the evidence to see what GMOs do and do not do to affect my health. And I can't do that research without a label.
So whether you like GMOs or not, you can only know whether thery're in your food if the label tells you so.
Again, the more we know, the more we can make informed healthy choices for ourselves and our kids. For these reasons, I'm supporting Proposition 37, and encourage all Californians who want to know what's in your food to do the same.
Christine Pelosi is an attorney, author and Democratic activist based in San Francisco. Follow her on Twitter at @sfpelosi.com.
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