Fairbanks, AK - The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly will consider a resolution Thursday that calls for labeling of genetically modified and engineered foods at grocery stores within the Borough.
Resolution Sponsor John Davies is the first to admit that genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, don’t fall under the guise of typical Borough Assembly Business, but in this case, he says a conversation about the effects of GMOs is justified. “I mean generally, the purpose of the Borough is the health and welfare of the citizens of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and in my view this is a significant health issue,” he says.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, there is no evidence that GMOs pose serious health risks, but independent studies have shown otherwise. Davies decided to introduce his resolution after he took part in a “March against Monsanto” event in Fairbanks last month. “My wife and I have become more and more concerned about the content of our food," says Davies, "and we began to realize just how pervasive they are in the supermarket and how hard it is to figure out whether a piece of bread or soup or spaghetti or whatever it is you’re buying is modified or not.”
Monsanto is an agricultural biotechnology corporation known for producing genetically engineered seeds and the herbicide Roundup. The march against the corporation was held worldwide. According to the movement’s website, it drew over 2 million people in more than 50 countries. Davies says he expects opposition to his resolution from some of his fellow assembly members.“We’ll have a discussion here in the Fairbanks North Star Borough," he says. "If we pass this resolution, basically it will be an official statement from the Borough to the FDA and the state legislature saying ‘we respectfully ask you to take this on.’” As part of the Resolution, Davies is calling on the state legislature to enact requirements in Alaska to label foods that contain GMO’s. Davies also wants to see supermarket chains that do business in the Fairbanks North Star Borough to agree not to sell GMO’s by December 2013.