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Thursday 14 February 2013

Codex Alimentarius and GM food guidelines

S.O.T.T: Over the last two years, I have written extensively about the Codex Alimentarius guidelines and how they relate specifically to vitamin and mineral supplements, food irradiation, and the use of Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). I have also detailed the history and workings of the international organization as well as many of the current day to day manifestations of Codex guidelines as they appear in domestic policy. However, there is yet another area in which Codex guidelines will play a major role in the development of food policy - namely, the proliferation of Genetically Modified Food. The Codex committee that serves as the main battleground for the consideration of GM food is the Codex Committee on Food Labeling. This committee is extremely relevant due to the fact that it can effectively reduce the power of the consumer to virtually nothing if it decides not to force companies or countries to label their GM food, thus removing the ability of the consumer to boycott and/or avoid those products. While it is well-known that public sentiment is unimportant to those at the top, governments and corporations tend to pay more attention when votes and sales reflect that sentiment. However, if Codex continues on its' way to allowing unlabelled GM food onto the international market, the repercussions of consumer reaction will be entirely neutralized...read more>>>...