Why 2012 was the Best Year Yet for the Non-GMO Movement

Here are many rea­sons why:

• More than 6 mil­lion peo­ple voted for Prop 37. Though out­spent more than five to one, the Yes on 37 cam­paign won 48.5% of the vote and raised aware­ness of the GMO issue among mil­lions of peo­ple nationwide
• Prop 37 spawned new coali­tions such as GMO-Free USA, GMO Inside, and the Coalition of States for Mandatory GMO Labeling that will con­tinue to raise aware­ness of GMOs and fight for manda­tory labeling
• Just Label It gen­er­ated 1.2 mil­lion com­ments to the US Food and Drug Administration sup­port­ing a peti­tion to require GM food label­ing nation­wide. More than 600 orga­ni­za­tions sup­port this petition
• Organizers in Washington state launched an ini­tia­tive, I-522, to pass a GM food label­ing law and gath­ered enough sig­na­tures to put it on the bal­lot in 2013
• Legislation to label GM foods was intro­duced in about 20 US states. Bills in Vermont and Connecticut were passed by committees
• City coun­cils in Cincinnati, Ohio and Honolulu, Hawaii passed res­o­lu­tions call­ing for manda­tory GM food labeling
• Food & Water Watch launched a “Let Me Decide” cam­paign to label GM foods in US states
• Surveys by IBOPE Zogby International and the Mellman Group found over­whelm­ing sup­port for GM food label­ing in the US
• There are now about 100 GMO-free and “Millions Against Monsanto” groups in the US
• Sales of Non-GMO Project ver­i­fied prod­ucts reached $2.4 bil­lion from October 2011 to October 2012, a 66% increase over the pre­vi­ous year
• More than 1500 retail­ers par­tic­i­pated in the third annual Non-GMO month, the high­est num­ber to date
• Kaiser Permanente, the largest man­aged health­care provider in the US, warned about the risks of GMOs and gave tips on avoid­ing them in its newsletter
• Several films and books about the dan­gers of GMOs were released in 2012. Films include Bitter Seeds, Genetic Roulette, Seeds of Death, and Seeds of Freedom. Books include Label It Now and Altered Genes, Twisted Truth
• San Juan County in Washington state passed a law ban­ning pro­duc­tion of GM crops and joined Mendocino, Marin, and Trinity in California as the first GMO-free coun­ties in the US
• Organizers in Jackson County, Oregon have gath­ered enough sig­na­tures to put a GMO-free ordi­nance on the bal­lot for the next election
• GMO-free ordi­nances were passed in sev­eral cities in British Columbia includ­ing Richmond, Saanich, and Metchosin
• Beekeepers in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula suc­ceeded in stop­ping plant­i­ngs of GM soy in eight Mexican states

• Several nations, includ­ing France, Switzerland, Peru, and Kenya have either banned pro­duc­tion or imports of GMOs. Russia banned imports of a GM corn after a pub­lished study found that it caused can­cer in rats
• The European Network of GMO-Free Regions grew to 57 mem­bers with the addi­tion of the German states of Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland, and Baden-Württemberg (European regions are the equiv­a­lent of US states)
• Hungary joined with Croatia to cre­ate the Alps-Adriatic GMO-Free Region
• The Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, declared itself a GMO-free zone
• An Indian par­lia­men­tary com­mit­tee and tech­ni­cal com­mit­tee of India’s Supreme Court have rec­om­mended a ban on GM crops in the country
• 61 nations now enforce con­sumer “right to know” laws for GM foods. India and South Africa were the most recent coun­tries to pass laws requir­ing GM food labeling

Non-GMO Heroes

Congratulations to the fol­low­ing orga­ni­za­tions that fought for the right to know, edu­cated Americans about GMO risks, took action to stop the pro­lif­er­a­tion of GMOs, and sup­ported the growth of the Non-GMO move­ment in 2012: Non-GMO Project, Center for Food Safety, Organic Consumers Association, Institute for Responsible Technology, Food Democracy Now, Just Label It, California Right to Know, Food & Water Watch, GMO Inside, GM Watch, Cornucopia Institute, and Organic & Non-GMO Report. Organic and nat­ural food com­pa­nies lead­ing the way included Nature’s Path Organic, Lundberg Family Farms, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Amy’s, Nutiva, Dr. Mercola, Seed Savers Exchange, Organic Valley, Frontier Natural Products Co-op, and others.

The New Year promises to be an even bet­ter with greater progress and increased con­sumer aware­ness, as we work toward the inevitable tip­ping point for con­sumers’ right to know and meet the grow­ing demand for safe, healthy, and sus­tain­able non-GMO foods.

Ken Roseboro

Ken is edi­tor of The Organic & Non-GMO Report. He can be reached at ken@non-gmoreport.com.