To answer Vanisher's question, I checked out the following link, http://www.sustainabletable.org/2009/06/genetic-engineering/, which seems to suggest that, yes, the "organic" label excludes genetically engineered ("GE") ingredients. But for our purposes here, we don't necessarily need to refer to the USDA's "organic". There are other labels that describe how food is grown. Localharvest.org (a great site for finding locally grown food by zipcode) has a few brief descriptions of labels other than certified organic.
There's a lot wrong with the "organic" label. Just check out the highlights of a recent NY Post article as blogged at http://blogs.eugeneweekly.com/node/1167 . So perhaps "organic" cuts out some things we like and includes some things we don't like. The government had to compromise on what "organic" would mean. Nobody says that we as consumers, advocates, or activists need to compromise.
That being said, though I personally am not particularly anxious about the health and safety of GE foods themselves, I think that the industrial application of GE has some detrimental effects. (The sustainabletable.org link has some examples, as does Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma.)
I imagine grocery stores can track what is organic, but can they track what is "local"?
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You posted on how to get local products in retail. The answer is traceability and transparency coupled with consumer demand. I would not know where to begin the discussion on what we are doing so I will just direct you to our website (which also has our twitter page link) and ask you to read what is posted there. That should answer your question about what we can do. Whether anyone will actually do anything is a different story however...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughts. Unfortunately, we don't have any info here on who the anonymous commentor is, nor where to find the website. Care to comment again?
ReplyDeletewhat about the question of buying local "non organic" vs "organic" that must be transported(say California to Connecticut for example)? there is something to be said about the health benefits of "organic" produce, i.e. having higher vitamin content, but won't the "organics" loose some of those health benefits from transportation and refrigeration? and what about the gas for the trucks to transport? isnt that against what we stand for as an "organic/local" customer?
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