Close to Home: Why Measure M banning GMOs is good for Sonoma County

Participants in the heated debate over genetically modified organisms, with credible scientists and health care practitioners on both sides, insist that either there is absolutely no problem or that there is reason for concern and not enough research to demonstrate safety.

But still a growing number of consumers reject GMOs. Why? Because parents don’t want to use their children in this vast science experiment. The fact remains that consumers want to know if GMOs are in their food.

The Non GMO Project, which runs an independent verification program, is the fastest growing consumer seal. It is now on 35,000-plus products.

Genetically engineered plants cross pollinate with like crops, including organic, resulting in GMO contamination. Contamination has affected corn, canola, beets, soybeans, grass and alfalfa. Studies have found grass contamination up to 11 miles from test sites and alfalfa contamination two miles from planted fields.

When contamination occurs, it results in severe economic losses to farmers. A U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service survey found that organic farms incurred about $6 million in losses from 2011-14 due to the presence of GMOs.

When GMO wheat was discovered in Oregon, Japan and South Korea temporarily suspended imports, and Monsanto ended up paying $2.4 million in compensation to wheat farmers for their losses.

When genetically engineered long grain rice contaminated crops in the East, the patent holder was forced to pay $750 million in a settlement to farmers and $137 million to the export company. Some estimates put total damages at $1.2 billion.

Contamination has occurred in 396 proven incidents.

Some farmers have lost the seed strains they have hybridized over decades because courts ruled that to continue growing their own seed, now contaminated, would result in patent law violations.

Money and patents drive the biotech industry into the rush to plant these crops before scientific studies confirm or negate their safety.

Sonoma County needs Measure M. We need to protect our markets. It’s as simple as that. What would contamination do to Sonoma County’s image as a high-quality agricultural producer? Eighty percent of Sonoma County’s dairies produce organic milk. That market is extremely sensitive to GMO/GE contamination.

Sonoma County agriculture and family farmers need the protection of Measure M. Our neighbors in Santa Cruz, Marin, Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties all have passed GMO ordinances. These counties have seen their farm economies blossom safely with the protections afforded by these measures. Implementation costs have been negligible.

Other reasons to support Measure M include:

Most genetically engineered crops are created by chemical companies to withstand herbicides. Why? So they can be sprayed with the same herbicides these companies sell - herbicides that end up in our food, water and air.

Thirty-five countries, including France and Italy, restrict GMO imports. Measure M protects Sonoma County’s world class agricultural reputation.

Vaccinations and medical treatment are permitted under Measure M.

The chemical companies bringing us GMO technology are huge corporations. They hire the best public relations firms to tell us we need their technology. Notice that they always talk about what this technology “could do someday.” However, looking at the record, they’ve mainly provided just two traits, both of which create more problems than they’ve fixed. The first is herbicide resistance, and the second is a pesticide producing plant. These traits continue to provide them billions of dollars yearly in patent license fees while contaminating our water and soils with the pesticides they also sell. Of course these businesses want to keep their lucrative markets, regardless of the consequences.

I hope you will join us, the Sierra Club, the Sonoma County Democratic Party, as well as hundreds of local farmers, business leaders and physicians in supporting this important measure.

Mark Squire is co-owner of Tara Firma Farm in Petaluma. Jana McClelland is with McClelland Dairy of Petaluma.