Rachel’s Friends Breast Cancer Coalition is
a grassroots Oregon organization (www.rachelsfriends.org)
concerned about environmental toxins causing breast and other cancers.
We believe in the precautionary principle, which asks whether potentially
risky behavior can be avoided. Our support for Ballot Measure 27
flows from our organizational purposes and philosophy.
Genetically engineered food is experimentation on
human beings and our environment. Its consequences aren’t
presently known, and may not be reversible if ultimately found harmful.
Because these risks are not necessary, they should be avoided.
To support this ballot measure, however, you only
need agree with Oregon’s long tradition of giving citizens
information so they can make informed private choices. Product labeling
will enable those who wish to purchase genetically engineered foods
to find these products and permit other to avoid them.
Choice is important for people who wish to avoid
certain foods for health reasons or religious or ethical principles.
If some tomatoes contain genetic material derived from flounders,
without labeling, people who don’t eat fish would have to
avoid all tomatoes. If Ballot Measure 27 passes, they would know
which tomatoes they could purchase safely.
Moreover, we don’t know the long-term effects,
for example, of genetically modifying a plant to increase its resistance
to a particular herbicide or to kill certain insects. Genetically
engineered plants and animals are living things that will reproduce,
crossbreed and potentially dominate or eliminate non-engineered
varieties. In the short term, we may receive greater yields, but
in the long term we may discover that this was a tragically wrong
choice which cannot be corrected.
The theory of a free market economy is that products
survive of fail based on consumer choice. Without labeling, consumers
are powerless to decide whether they want to accept or avoid the
risks inherent in genetically engineered food. Passage of Ballot
Measure 27 would restore that freedom of choice.
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