Three Cheers for the Home Team (Better Luck Next Time)!

By:  Lee Ann Rush

I live on Long Island.  Many people who aren’t familiar with this part of the country think that Long Island (no, we don’t pronounce it “Lawn Guyland” where I come from!) is nothing more than a paved-over extension of New York City, with traffic-jammed highways, too many shopping malls, and an uber-wealthy enclave of movie stars and Wall Street tycoons in the area everyone knows as The Hamptons.  In actuality, Long Island was, until several decades ago, primarily farmland, and Suffolk County (the eastern and larger of the two non-NYC counties that comprise Long Island – Nassau is the other) leads the entire state of New York in terms of the total value of its agricultural products.  Suffolk is one of the state’s top agricultural counties -- and its major producer of flowers, pumpkins and sod -- and has also become a major player in the wine industry, boasting 76 of New York’s 374 wineries, most of which are located on the East End’s scenic North Fork.

Given the importance of local agriculture to the Long Island way of life, I was thrilled to learn that New York might actually become the first state in the country to require labeling of genetically modified foods.  After many years of debate regarding the safety of GMOs, several states, including California, Connecticut and Maine,  have introduced bills mandating such labeling, but none have passed thus far.  Last month, New York State Senator Kenneth LaValle, whose district is located in Suffolk County, and his State Assembly counterpart Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan, sponsored legislation that would require all GMOs to be labeled.  According to Senator LaValle, “Consumers have a right to know what’s in their food.  Essentially, if a foodstuff is produced using genetic engineering, this must be indicated on its label.”  Interestingly, the New York State Farm Bureau opposes LaValle’s measure, arguing that it isn’t necessary:  “Policies should be based on sound science, and the science so far is that GMO foods are safe. Labeling would imply that (they) are not,” countered Steve Ammerman of the Farm Bureau.

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Well, there’s semi-good news and bad news.  The good news is that Connecticut has just become the first state to pass a bill requiring the labeling of GMOs. However, the Connecticut law contains a “compromise” requirement that four other states, at least one of which borders Connecticut, must pass similar legislation, and that hasn’t happened.  Sadly, the “bad guys” have won again in New York, where last-minute lobbying by representatives of Monsanto and DuPont contributed to the demise of its GMO labeling bill.  I once again think of Pete Seeger and the plaintive refrain from his song Where Have All the Flowers Gone:  “Oh, when will they ever learn?  When will they ever learn?”