How Do Presidential Candidates Weigh in on the Issue of GMOs?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently reposted a tweet from a follower blaming his trailing numbers in a new Iowa poll on genetically modified corn that “creates issues in the brain.” The GMO issue looms large for the candidates currently in the running.
“@mygreenhippo #BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa. Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? #Trump #GOP“
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2015
Trump made his thoughts on GM foods clear with this tweet, but what do the other candidates think? Hillary Clinton is in favor of genetically modified foods, though Hilary recently spoke out about the biotech industry causing inflated drug prices. With obvious connections between Monsanto and Hillary Clinton, Clinton has been called a ‘shill’ for biotech.
“How is Hillary personally involved in supporting big agriculture? The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which gathers leaders to solve the world’s problems, promotes Monsanto, the maker of RoundUp® and RoundUp Ready® seeds. Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s Chairman and CEO spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in September, 2014. Ms.
Clinton’s top campaign advisor, Jerry Crawford, was a lobbyist for Monsanto for years and is now the political pro for her Super PAC, “Ready for Hillary.” Clinton spoke in favor of the government’s Feed the Future (FtF) program, a USAID funded, corporate-partnered program that brings RoundUp Ready® technology to the most vulnerable populations of the world. Monsanto and Dow Chemical support Hillary and Bill’s ‘Clinton Foundation’ with generous donations.”
Clinton has also been known to try to ‘pretty up’ public perception of GM foods, saying that the term ‘Frankenfood’ is a misnomer, and that they should be called drought-resistant crops, instead.
Furthermore, as Secretary of State Clinton, according to CNN, has supported the DARK Act or TPP 45 times, even though she has recently come out in opposition of it.
You can see the words come straight from Hillary’s mouth, here.
Then there’s Bernie Sanders who may be running against the grain on a lot of issues, including GMOs but there’s one issue on which Sanders sees eye-to-eye with Hillary Clinton, and Republican contenders: vaccinations. Erstwhile he comes down hard on the TPP, and says that Americans have a right to know what is in their food. Sanders has remarked:
“An overwhelming majority of Americans favor GMO labeling but virtually all of the major biotech and food corporations in the country oppose it . . .(Vermont’s labeling law is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2016.) The people of Vermont and the people of America have a right to know what’s in the food that they eat.”
Conversely, Jeb Bush has made it clear that he’s a huge fan of GMO’s. At a recent conference, Bush said he supported country-of-origin labeling for produce like the avocados and cilantro that go into his homemade guacamole, but said he said that he did not support the right to know if our food is genetically modified.
“I think that’s a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” Bush said, while calling GMOs one of the “greatest high technology innovative sectors of our economy.”
“We should not be trying to make it harder for that kind of innovation to exist, we should celebrate it…” he continued.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee also seems to play it safe politically by saying that science is consistently showing that GMOs are safe. He thinks that a “Country of Origin” label makes more sense than a GMO label.
While these aren’t all the 2016 presidential candidates, the front runners have definitely weighed in on the issue. Who do you trust to govern food safety in 2016? After Obama’s empty promise to label GMO foods, maybe the answer is none of them.
The better question would be, how well do the candidates understand the issue?
GMO labelling is not about science, it’s about personal beliefs and more generally how we want our agriculturally system to be organized.
Bull crap.
The only candidate I was looking for isn’t here. I will assume that Dr. Carson is anti GMOs but I would like facts.
I know this is a silly editorial comment, but in the world of educated consumers, and especially when you’re bucking the political tide and fighting big ag and big pharma, it’s a good idea to write with perfect grammar. “Erstwhile” is an adjective or, sometimes, an adverb, but not used without a subject: “the erstwhile candidate” or “erstwhile the candidate of record” …
Oops! You forgot Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party candidate
She is a physician, got into politics when she tried to point out to legislators how the environment was contributing to her patients’ illnesses – when they paid no attention, she decided it was necessary to “throw the bums out” – she is the best candidate out there …
You won’t see much, if any, of her on MSM – TPTB don’t want you to know about her …
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that I may trust. The other candidates are definitely NOT trustworthy and the Clintons have been in bed with Monsantan for decades, Hillary even being their lawyer – yes protecting Satan!
This is one of the most important issues and NO American should vote for anyone in favour of GMO’s. GMO’S should not only be labelled They should be BANNED!
GMOs should be banned? All GMOs? I imagine diabetics and anyone who likes cheese will have a problem with that given GM microbes are involved in the production of both insulin and renant. Or do you mean only agricultural GM plants? If so, why the discrepancy?
Genetically manipulated foods may be one of the most
serious threats not only to our environment but to the health and
very survival of future generations. Typically, the blame for the
promulgation of genetic engineering of our food is placed on chemical
companies.
But there’s actually a hidden back story to how
genetically engineered foods were able to reach millions of dinner
tables.
Steven Druker, who you may not be aware of, is the
attorney who filed a lawsuit in the late ’90s challenging the most
important action the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
taken in this area: its presumption that genetically engineered (GE)
foods are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) and can enter the
market without a shred of safety testing.
However, the evidence clearly reveals that the FDA’s GRAS
presumption was fraudulent when first announced in 1992 and that it
remains fraudulent today. Nonetheless, it has played the central role
in allowing inadequately tested GE foods to permeate the American
market. There are many components to this story, and Steven is just
the man to set the story straight.
He’s written a landmark and historic book Altered
Genes, Twisted Truth, with the revealing subtitle: How
the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science,
Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public.
If you have even the remotest interest in this topic, I
would strongly encourage you to get a copy of this book. It is,
without a doubt, the best book on the topic and provides a treasure
trove of facts that will help you decimate anyone who believes that
GMOs are safe.
Steven was aware of this issue 10 years before I was, and
he’s really a pioneer and a champion in warning the public and
protecting us from the negligence and irresponsible action of the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Free People, My comment was meant as sarcastic humor and not meant to be taken literally except I have a feeling my comment is actually true. 🙂
Do you think Trump is realistic about his ability to find, round up, and deport millions of immigrants and pay for it?
Topic is GMOs and YES Trump is against GMOs too. Can he round up and deport millions of immigrants and ‘pay for it’? …I don’t know about having to PAY for it, but YES he will round ’em up and move ’em out! #1 Priority of his campaign. The amnesty crapola is OVER!
GO TRUMP 2016!
Chuckle. Topic is what various candidates think about GMOs. You also introduced the election per se, by touting Trump for 2016. So asking about his purported policies is fair game. Personally, I prefer someone with feasible plans, but suit yourself.
Fantastic idea! But……who’s gonna clean all the toilets, cut the grass, cook your food in restaurants, clean your hotel rooms, work the back breaking jobs in all of the farm fields across America?? You see a lot of white Americans lining up to take these jobs? ANY Americans? I think not. The huge Agri-business in this country would NEVER let Trump get away with this anyway – where and how are they going to replace ALL of that cheap farm labor? Hire white Americans to pick all those crops? At $8.00 an hour? Are you ready to pay $6 for your side of French fires????? $14 for a bottle of ketchup????
Try thinking things through once in a while.
You!… jk. There are many immigrants already in this country that are LEGAL and they have most of these jobs already. They are voting TRUMP because the ILLEGALS are taking their jobs! Trump has support from a wide variety of people who are SICK AND FED UP with what we have today. He’s a populist, nationalist and he is sacrificing his OWN money, businesses which evil protesters are shutting down on him, and his own LIFE to run for love of country. He’s not accepting a paycheck for being President either. He is CLEAR!
TRUMP 16! by a landslide.
If we stop paying the way of the able-minded and able-bodied citizens of this country you will see them take those jobs.
PS: Hope my time to respond isn’t too late. I’m a little slow sometimes.
I believe that politicians who support Monsanto and GMO do not do themselves what they say they do and support. It has been reported that one particular politician has thyroid issues and is taking Natural Desiccated Thyroid Supplements in favor of the Synthetic Pharmaceutical T4 only medications. I would imagine that GMO foods and chemicals would be avoided in their diets also. It is sad that they nonetheless push unsafe foods and medicines onto to the public claiming that it is safe. There has to be a leader (TRUMP) out there that is not afraid to challenge and shut down these companies whose only interest is in profit at the expense of humanities health and well being!
Donald vs Bernie. They have a lot more in common when you compare their positions.
I seriously doubt Trump would do anything but promote GMOs! Hillary and Bush do not understand or rather choose to ignore the long term implications of playing with genes. It is a fact that eco friendly practices and organic farming are more productive and would eliminate a lot of the environmental pollution we are impacted by. Add to sustainable farming practices a change in the “american diet” via education and boom! You have reduced the astronomical US Health Care bill (3.8 Trillion according to serious analysis by Deloitte) drastically in a matter of decades.
Are you sure Trump would do anything against big business?? Please…
Which candidate running for either party do you know who is an EXPERT on Big Business? There’s only one and it’s Donald J. Trump.
I can tell you the health insurance companies who have generated billions with fraudulent o’bamanocare have insomnia right now. They are the first who will be OUT because the first thing the Donald is going to do is eliminate obamacare completely. It’s a hoax! He knows business and his IQ is156. He’s not a self made billionaire by ‘luck’. No other candidate compares to Trump and what he can do and WILL do.
Why do you think all the big guys are doing everything they can to take Trump out. They lose with Trump.
lame, he has not done that well in his branding real estate businesses, so why assume he and he alone can and will do this?
I do not mean to take sides… My wish is that Trump would honour what he said about stopping GMO foods. BTW, if you were to read something where someone claimed to say Obama has an IQ of 101, would you believe that?
Free People speak for Trump
You are free to do whatever you want I am free to be educated and think for myself.
Trump’s promise was empty…. His integrity is simply missing unless he gets applauded and fears the opposite. Only that means he has to suppress the media or take it down.
Remember, Monsanto and Dow are American corporations that expanded to other countries for profit. Would Trump stop money from being made for corporations?
I did not understand anything you said. To respond to you last sentence, the only one making sense, no he wouldn’t and he would ask for a cut. My point.
Labeling: Whether the food came from a plant labeled as a GMO or not, has NOTHING to do with what is in that food. Tomatoes are Tomatoes except for hybrid differences. Labeling as to whether or not a food has contents from a plant which is called a GMO is just a waste of time and effort.
I could write a book on the advantages with GMO’s bring to the table, but understanding what the process is to inserting one to at most four genes into the dna strand and the exacting process it is and the scrutiny the produce from those has undergone has to come first. And to that we will find it is NOT a Frankenstein event. In fact it is MUCH the opposite.
GMO’s are one of the many tools that are used for specific reasons. And it has proved it’s safety extremely well. I know the arguments will begin against what is the fact about GMO’s and human food consumption. There has not been one case of a reaction or adverse effect on human’s from consumption of produce from a GMO plant.. PERIOD. I don’t understand what is so hard to swallow about that. It is FACT.
Monsanto equals international terrorism!
This really is “Clockwork Orange” all over again: No laws to give taxpayers the right to know what they stuff their faces with? How many more studies do you need to realize that GMO is not good for anyone: soil, ground water, humans, animals, plants, and every ‘stakeholder’ will eventually suffer bio-chemically or financially as all the crap (round up = herbizides, pestizides, funghizides) being ultimately washed into the sea causing cancer, neurological damages, and endless more casualties. How about just seed and crop specialisation via natural selection (and re-invigorating rare and forgotten cultivars and hybrids) as farmers always used to have done in the past? Hillary has no f***ing clue what she is talking about! The EU has a very strict non GMO policy, something that will be very valuable in the very near future: mark my word!
I know Natural Society and Free People are speaking loud about rejecting GMO foods and that is why I come here. Monsanto’s way of farming and it’s history caught me in a way no other corporation did until reading their history and watching videos etc. I gave up all food GMO, whole and processed to support my position via pocketbook, realizing I was on the crest of the issue as organics were becoming stronger.
This is where I break wit Natural Society.
I read which politician voted for and against in every dark act found on the official govt website. The GOP were the drivers of the dark act plus giving Monsanto a free pass paying for cleaning up pcbs. These records are open to everyone voting. How on earth did the Bernie people get hoodwinked? Trump will follow GOP about GMOs being safe most likely although I hope I am wrong.