Shareholders of food company behemoth General Mills soundly rejected a move to eliminate genetically engineered (GMO) ingredients from the company s product line. Earlier this year the company announced it was removing all GMO ingredients from its iconic Cheerios cereal, but didn t announce any plans to duplicate that move with its other foods. Then, at an annual shareholders meeting, a proposal was raised to remove GMO ingredients from all of General Mills products supposedly because they weren t safe.
However, an astounding 98 percent of those voting disapproved that proposal, thus adhering to the science behind genetic engineering rather than following the lead of anti-scientific, anti-GMO activists.
Although the company already must produce GMO-free foods in some countries to comply with their misguided laws, when CEO Ken Powell was asked why not also produce them here he responded: We've studied all the research that's been done around the world, we are very aware of the numerous regulators globally who have studied GMOs and who have said they are safe. And of course we know and believe GMOs are very safe."
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava commented It s heartening to see that such a great majority of voting shareholders took a rational, pro-science approach to this question. According to news accounts, she continued, Cheerios sales have not increased since the brand was changed to a non- GMO variety. To me, this indicates that the hype about GMOs being in some way unsafe is perhaps not inspiring fear among many, if not most, consumers.
The truth about genetic engineering and food safety can be found here.
