The case for mandatory GMO labeling – even if you believe in limited government and the fr

[Verrater]

No thanks. Food is expensive enough without the government mandating new labels which could persuade consumers away from purchasing gmo's. Which would cause a rise in prices as a result of companies having to put more capital into unmodified foods which are harder to grow and thus cost more. Disclosure is enough.

 

[thequietkid10]

Interesting topic, I don't have time to read the whole topic. But I can't see how you can reconcile a world view that is both libertarian and believes a successful company like Monsanto is evil. I have all night to think about it and you will have a better response tomorrow.

 

[liberdom]

Interesting topic, I don't have time to read the whole topic. But I can't see how you can reconcile a world view that is both libertarian and believes a successful company like Monsanto is evil. I have all night to think about it and you will have a better response tomorrow.

You can't, only liberals who hate capitalism or people who insist on organic hate Monsanto , there is nothing libertarian about hating a successful company.

 

[BenIsForRon]

there is nothing libertarian about hating a successful company.

Unless they trampled on the rights and dignity of others to become successful.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

Fuck Monsanto, fuck mandatory labeling by the government.

Fuck the FDA and USDA, which passes mandates and laws at the behest of Monsanto and other megacorps.

 

[donnay]

You can't, only liberals who hate capitalism or people who insist on organic hate Monsanto , there is nothing libertarian about hating a successful company.

Is there anything libertarian about companies deliberately profiting by genocide?

 

[row333au]

Keiser Report: Monsanto and the Seeds of Evil

regarding Monsanto 00:32 to 08:52

 

[liberdom]

Is there anything libertarian about companies deliberately profiting by genocide?

as far as I know, there's nothing libertarian about genocide, why do you ask?

 

[specsaregood]

You can't, only liberals who hate capitalism or people who insist on organic hate Monsanto , there is nothing libertarian about hating a successful company.

I'd suggest that people that support small farmers right to not be sued and lose their seed because some other farmers monsanto crop polluted their neighbors crop have a valid libertarian position for hating monsanto. I'd suggest that people that support farmers rights to not have monsanto private investigators trespass on their property have a valid libertarian position for hating monsanto.

 

[liberdom]

I'd suggest that people that support small farmers right to not be sued and lose their seed because some other farmers monsanto crop polluted their neighbors crop have a valid libertarian position for hating monsanto.

Right to sue works both ways. It's one of the special freedoms Americans enjoy.

I'd suggest that people that support farmers rights to not have monsanto private investigators trespass on their property have a valid libertarian position for hating monsanto.

fair enough.

 

[specsaregood]

Right to sue works both ways. It's one of the special freedoms Americans enjoy.

Its more about the right to not have your product stolen because somebody elses patented product polluted your own. And if you think that special freedom is equally protected you havent been paying attention. Fact is, average farmers does not have the resources to excercise their right against monsanto. Sure it may be "freedom" doesn't mean people have to like it, not even libertarians.

 

[row333au]

 

[thoughtomator]

Its more about the right to not have your product stolen because somebody elses patented product polluted your own. And if you think that special freedom is equally protected you havent been paying attention. Fact is, average farmers does not have the resources to excercise their right against monsanto. Sure it may be "freedom" doesn't mean people have to like it, not even libertarians.

There's no such thing as a right to exclusivity on an idea. That's a state-granted privilege that does not exist in Natural Law. Patents and other intellectual property protections are anti-free market and anti-liberty. If I come up with an idea I shouldn't be restricted from putting it to use because someone somewhere else also came up with that idea and was first to rush to the patent/copyright office. The fatal flaw in the idea of intellectual property is the false assumption that two or more people cannot come up with the same idea independently. Yet that is exactly what has happened over the history of scientific progress... as an example, take the development of Calculus by Liebnitz and Newton, respectively.

 

[liberdom]

There's no such thing as a right to exclusivity on an idea. That's a state-granted privilege that does not exist in Natural Law. Patents and other intellectual property protections are anti-free market and anti-liberty. If I come up with an idea I shouldn't be restricted from putting it to use because someone somewhere else also came up with that idea and was first to rush to the patent/copyright office. The fatal flaw in the idea of intellectual property is the false assumption that two or more people cannot come up with the same idea independently. Yet that is exactly what has happened over the history of scientific progress... as an example, take the development of Calculus by Liebnitz and Newton, respectively.

And property of land is natural law? Says you?

 

[liberdom]

It's a bad thing that American companies have more freedom?

 

[GunnyFreedom]

The problem is that Monsanto is not the result of free markets, it is the result of fascism, or corporatism. Monsanto is the king of 'captured regulators,' and God forbid a company dare to label their product "GMO Free" or "rBGH Free" they get sued into oblivion with the advice and consent of Congress.

IF we had a free market, then GMO labeling would be a bad idea, just like any mandate, because consumers who wanted to avoid GMO foods could easily choose products that advertised themselves as GMO Free. However in today's world, based on Monsanto arguments, labeling your product "GMO Free" is considered an insult to GMO and an unfair market advantage, and any company that dares to do so is banished from the marketplace.

That is why I literally oppose all government mandates in a free market, but support GMO labeling in the current market. Until we can break the back of the fascistic corporatist stranglehold that companies like Monsanto (with the full cooperation and assistance of our government by the creation of artificial monopolies) consumers who choose to avoid GMO's ought to be free to do so, and in the current market they are not.

You may not consider GMO's to be poison, but a significant share of consumers do. If a megagiant corporation with enhanced monopoly power from the ownership of government regulation managed to put arsenic in 80% of the food supply and used their government-enhanced power to destroy any company that labeled their product "Arsenic Free," then I would support state level mandatory labeling for products containing arsenic too.

It's a stop-gap emergency measure to ensure that consumers have the freedom of choice that has been robbed from them by a fascist government.

If we actually had a free market, then I would oppose mandatory GMO labeling vehemently. In our current market, I actually introduced a bill to require GMO labeling in NC, because our government is fascist (corporatist), and companies are not free to label their products GMO Free without being forced out of business.

I would prefer to make a bill that creates immunity from predatory lawsuits for companies who choose to label their products "GMO Free" but in the 21st century such a law in one state only will effectively solve nothing.

Show me a free market and I will oppose mandatory GMO labeling with everything I've got. Until then, there are people out there who are desperately trying to avoid consuming what they believe is deadly poison and they cannot. Like it or not, those people have rights too.

 

[thoughtomator]

And property of land is natural law? Says you?

Says the fact that it is a physical object that can't be duplicated without doing harm to or taking possession of the original.

Patents and intellectual property are nothing more than state-granted monopolies. Your only "right" to an idea is the right to use it, with which it is wrong to let a patent interfere.

 

[row333au]

It's a bad thing that American companies have more freedom?

The restriction is at the urge of consumers and health organisations due to past results of GMO and what they are still suffering through. The government were only pressured to mandate protection rights by the population to do so, as its also called freedom.....

Is that short for liberty condom, as in stopping the seeding of liberty?

 

[Stallheim]

Outstanding analysis, Melissa.
+Rep

This is a nice idea in an ideal world. Unfortunately, it ignores the fact that we live in THIS world, where lobbies will react even before the bill can rack up a dozen co-sponsors.

While the label for GMO products is being considered, there will be intense lobbying to rename a certain kind of GMO as "selectively-bred enhanced produce," which will then not have to carry the label as it is not really GMO. It is "selectively-bred." The onus will be on small farmers to prove their produce is not GMO, which many will suddenly find is impossible due to years of cross-pollenation. Certain larger processed food companies will not have this issue as their produce is "selectively-bred," and they have decades of records demonstrating how their product is SBEP under the new guidelines. No label is required, but "SBEP" must appear on the ingredients list somewhere in teeny print, accompanying the item that the SBEP produce/grain was used in.

Get where this is going?

 

[Working Poor]

When did I say that we should dismiss threats? I am saying the Government is not the one to call for this one. Getting into the habit of "save me Government" when one's health is threatened is an oft-repeated first step down a very slippery slope.

I hope someone saves us from GMO foods I hope it is us.