MOFGA’s Right to Know –
GMO Labeling Campaign
Join the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) and our coalition partners to help enact LD 718, "An Act to Protect Maine Food Consumers’ Right to Know about Genetically Engineered Food and Seed Stock." Foods made from GMOs (genetically modified organisms, also called genetically engineered crops) should be labeled so that consumers can make informed choices about what to buy and what to eat.
Public interest in GMO labeling dramatically increased as a result of a 2012 referendum on the issue in California.
MOFGA's Board of Directors designated GMO labeling a strategic priority for 2013. MOFGA has built a strategy with key Maine legislators to pass the nation's first comprehensive GMO labeling law.
Please help MOFGA pass this important legislation and honor the vision that Russell Libby had for a more local, more organic food system.
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Support the Effort to Label GMOs
with a Donation Today
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MOFGA is fully committed to this historic effort for Maine
to lead the nation by becoming the first state to pass a
comprehensive GMO labeling law. This is a costly
endeavor and your contributions will
help ensure our success. |
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| About the Act
Labels foods with GMOs at the point of sale, informing consumers and creating meaningful choice in the marketplace
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Labels genetically engineered seeds at the point of sale so that farmers and home gardeners can know what they are buying and growing
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Makes Maine a leader by creating a model labeling law and making it easier for other states to pass labeling laws
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Goes into effect when five other states, or any state, or states with a total population of 20 million people, enact labeling requirements for GM foods
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Exempts restaurants and alcoholic beverages from labeling requirements
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Does not include labeling of products from animals fed GM crops - for example, dairy products or meat
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Prevents foods containing GM ingredients from being labeled as "natural"
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Helps Maine's farmers by creating transparency in the marketplace and increased demand for Maine products
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- GMOs are crops that have been engineered, not simply bred, to contain DNA from entirely different organisms so that the crops then have traits that could not be gained through traditional plant breeding. For example, many crops have been engineered with special bacteria or viral DNA to make them herbicide resistant or lethal to insects. Already 62 countries around the world label foods that contain GM ingredients, including all of Europe, Russia, China, India and South Africa. These foods should be labeled in Maine too.
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- A recent poll conducted by MSNBC showed that 93% of consumers want to know if they were eating GM foods.
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- Five main GM commodity crops - corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets and canola - have byproducts, such as high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, vegetable oil and canola oil, in an estimated 75% of processed foods sold in grocery stores.
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- Commercial foods already are labeled extensively with nutritional information, country of origin and information about their production. It is time to add a label for GM contents.
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