U.S. Agriculture Secretary Testifies in Favor of Including GMOs and Gene Edited Foods in Organic

Greg Ibach of the USDA, who recently made the comments. Photo via USDA

Despite the growing popularity of the organic movement in recent years (record sales were recorded in 2018), the genetically engineered food and pesticides industry has remained extremely busy behind the scenes.

Following Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto, the oft-voted “Most Evil Company in the World,” the organization immediately went to work, pumping an estimated $3 billion into its new GMO division in the United States.

And now, the biggest buzz-word is “CRISPR,” which denotes a whole new project of the former Monsanto, Bayer and the GMO industry which seeks to flood the market with GMO strawberries, mushrooms, potatoes, and other novel lab-created “foods” that haven’t been tested for long-term safety.

This new process allows virtually any scientist to “play God” by scrambling the genes of our food, and with no GMO labels necessary, most consumers won’t even know what they’re eating.

And now, a USDA agriculture secretary named Greg Ibach wants to completely change the rules by allowing these scientific experiments to be included in “organic” food sometime in the near future.

USDA Agriculture Secretary Testifies in Favor of GMOs, CRISPR in Organic

According to a news update from the USDA’s website, USDA Undersecretary of Agriculture Greg Ibach testified before the House Agricultural Subcommittee this month that plants grown with the aid of genetically modified organisms and gene editing could be allowed to be “certified organic” sometime in the future.

“I think there is the opportunity to open the discussion to consider whether it is appropriate for some of these new technologies that include gene-editing to be eligible to be used to enhance organic production and to have drought and disease-resistant varieties, as well as higher-yield varieties available,” he said, as noted in this blog post from the Organic Consumers Association.

Currently, the standards prevent the use of genetic engineering and GMOs in foods stamped with the organic label.

While it is not known how serious the proposal from Ibach actually is at this time, it goes without saying that the inclusion of GMOs in organic food would be an “Armageddon” of sorts for the industry, which prides itself on producing synthetic pesticide free, truly natural food that has been praised by environmental stewards for its support of biodiversity, human health, and even the best option for feeding the world according to a recent report from the United Nations.

If this proposal is ever allowed to come to fruition, it could open the flood gates for our food supply to become more genetically modified, and less natural, than ever before.

Already, the current presidential administration has greatly loosened the scientific and testing requirements for GMO plants and amimals, which were already lax to begin with according to experts within the industry.

“The allowance of any GE techniques under the organic label raises legitimate ‘slippery slope’ concerns,” Cornucopia’s Director of Domestic Policy Marie Burcham said in a statement.

“The USDA would be hard-pressed to find the resources to track allowed GE technologies and products in the organic sector, assuming they could summon the will.”

In response to the secretary’s declaration, the Cornucopia Institute has launched a petition. You can view it and sign by clicking the picture below; please share this with everyone you know who may be interested! You can also contact the USDA here.