Campaign Platform

Place a moratorium on genetically engineered foods until independent safety testing has proven them safe for humans and the environment.

Require all foods which pass rigorous safety tests to be labeled, giving consumers a choice.

Hold the biotechnology corporations that manufacture genetically engineered seed responsible for any damage to human health or the environment.

Today at least 60% of processed foods in grocery stores contain genetically engineered ingredients, usually in the form of corn or soy derivatives. Around the world shoppers, farmers and governments have begun to reject genetically engineered food and seed. In Europe, genetically engineered ingredients have been virtually eliminated from the food supply due to consumer pressure, and those that remain must be labeled. The European Union has implemented an 18 month moratorium on the planting of new genetically engineered seed varieties.

In the U.S. public awareness is just beginning around this critical issue. Yet many are still unaware of the health and environmental risks associated with this new technology and the U.S. government’s failure to implement regulations regarding the release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment and public food supply.

In Massachusetts, our initial goal is to both educate the public and to initiate consumer action. The SAFE FOODS Campaign is calling on Shaw’s Supermarkets and Star Market to do the same for their U.S. customers as their parent company, JSainsbury, has done for British shoppers. In March of 1999, JSainsbury pledged to remove genetically engineered ingredients from all of their product lines. Shaw’s CEO Ross McLaren stated in a letter to the SAFE FOODS Campaign, that, "Our parent company’s removal of genetically engineered ingredients from the Sainsbury brand reflects a response to their consumers’ concerns. We have not experienced the same type of reaction to genetically engineered food in this country."

In an effort to demonstrate U.S. public concern, the SAFE FOODS Campaign is working with community groups to help pressure their local stores and educate their neighbors about genetically engineered food. We've collected over 6000 postcards urging both the CEO and local store managers to remove genetically engineered ingredients from their product lines.