Heated Debate Continues Over California’s Prop 37
As the voting date for California’s Prop 37 draws near, debates are getting fired up at to whether or not this proposal would be in the best interest of California residents. Recently, advocated on both sides have taken to the press, stating why they should or shouldn’t pass this Prop 37. Politicians and even government officials have jumped into the fight, trying to rest their case before the November 6th voting deadline is here. Even if you aren’t a California resident, it’s still important to familiarize yourself with Prop 37, as other states may follow in their footsteps.
What Is Prop 37?
If you keep up with news in the food processing and manufacturing industry, you’ve probably heard of California’s Prop 37 before. A couple months ago, this proposal was introduced in to make food labeling more transparent for consumers to understand. Prop 37, also known as “California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act,” would require food manufactures to label all their products “GMO” if it contained any genetically modified ingredients such as pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc. On the surface, Prop 37 doesn’t seem all that bad, but the fact is that most scientists and health officials agree that consuming genetically modified food poses no health risk to the consumer. In fact, it’s believed that 90% of the food we eat is genetically modified in one way or another.
Those against Prop 37 claim that passing this bill will only increase the profits of money-hungry lawyers by allowing them to sue food manufacturers for mislabeling products. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-likely scenario, as manufacturers will be exposed to lawsuits and legal actions in the event they mislabel a product.
High-Dollar Battle
You might be surprised to hear that campaigning for Prop 37 has already racked up a sizable bill of $37 million. So, just what is this money being spent on? If you live in California, you’ve probably seen TV commercials, newspaper advertisements, radio advertisements and billboards lining the highways in objection to Prop 37. While there are some advertisements that are for Prop 37, most seem to be against it.
We won’t know until November 6th whether or not Prop 37 passes, but it could effectively change the face of food manufacturing in the state of California. If it does in fact, pass, companies will be forced to spend millions of extra dollars each year on re-labeling their products just so they don’t open themselves up to a lawsuit.