Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
Vermont’s new GMO labeling regulations
Vermont has issued GMO labeling rules. They seem straightforward. Here are the ones that I think matter:
1. Unpackaged GMO foods must post labels
- Raw: “produced with genetic engineering.”
- Processed: “produced with genetic engineering,” or “may be produced with genetic engineering.”
2. Packaged GMO foods must be labeled by the manufacturer
- Raw: “produced with genetic engineering”
- Processed: “produced with genetic engineering,” or “partially produced with genetic engineering” (<75% GMO) or “may be produced with genetic engineering (if they aren’t sure).”
3. If the food is GMO, it cannot be labeled “natural”
4. The font can’t be any smaller that of Serving Size in the Nutrition Facts label
It’s hard for me to imagine why the biotechnology industry, Grocery Manufacturers Association, and so many food companies think that saying “may be produced with genetic engineering” means the end of civilization as we know it, so much so that they pour millions of dollars into fighting it.
Now they are taking Vermont to court to try to block implementation of these rules.
Otherwise, the rules go into effect July 1, 2016.
That will be fun to see!
