From: bliebhardt@JOHNSTOWN.TEAGASC.IE
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 11:02:23 +0000
Subject: Food ad
To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu
Folks,
The Sunday Times in the UK had a full page ad that went as follows
in bold type.
NO GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD
WHERE YOU SEE THIS LABEL
SAINSBURY'S
SAINSBURY'S ARE THE FIRST MAJOR
SUPERMARKET TO START MAKING
ALL OWN-LABEL FOOD WITHOUT
GENETICALLY MODIFIED INGREDIENTS.
IT HASN'T BEEN EASY. BUT
BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU
IT'S IMPORTANT TO US.
SAINBURY'S
MAKING LIFE TASTE BETTER
That is the total ad. Last year at this time Monsanto ran six weeks
of ads selling GMO's to the public and one year later this is the
result. Sainbury's is a major UK supermarket. For those in the US I
think this would like Safeway, Kroger or A and P putting this add in
the NY Times.
The English Govt't has said that in the future all GMO trials will be
done with out letting the public know where they are being carried
out because many have been destroyed.
Last week the news from France said that the makers of French animal
feeds were caught putting sewage sludge in the animal feeds-a
practice that was supposed to have been abolished in 1991.
It seems to me that some of the future strength of organic
agriculture will depend on how conventional agricultrue continues to
play the game. If they continue to do stupid anti consummer things
as they have in the past few years they will continue to make the
case for organic very well. By anti cousummer things I am talking
about labeling, being honest with what is in the package, animal
welfare, environmental stewardship, and being honest about
GMO', use of sewage sludge, irriadiation, pesticides and
nutrient sources and some social issues. The US continuing efforts to
maket hormone fed beef in my opinion is another really smart effort.
How long will it take them to realize-people over here do not want
that stuff.
It would appear that the consummers in much of Europe have lost faith
in the regulatory structure because of BSE, Dioxan's in animals and a
host of other things.
So marketing something which has unknown risks and they are unknown
makes it a tough sell.
Bill Liebhardt
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