GMO free belongs here

Sonoma County’s food consumers, farmers, families and all registered voters are being asked to vote on Nov. 8 on whether they want to ban genetically engineered organisms from local farming operations and the open environment.
Measure M is officially called the Sonoma County Transgenic Contamination Prevention Ordinance and reads like an advanced scientific white paper. But the real choice for voters is less a scientific one and more about marketing, farming philosophies and community values.
The proposed county ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is on the ballot because a coalition of Citizens for Healthy Farms and Families gathered enough signatures to force the county’s Board of Supervisors to place Measure M on the ballot, after they declined to adopt the ordinance themselves.
A very similar non-GMO measure failed to pass in 2005. If passed this time, Measure M will prohibit the propagation of genetically engineered organisms in the county. It will not prohibit the sale or use of genetically engineered foods for humans or animals and will not ban any laboratory-based GMO research or medical applications.
Declaring Sonoma County to be “GMO free” is viewed as very important to local organic food producers and would support the region’s appeal as a source for natural, high-quality and sustainably-produced fruits, vegetables, cheese and dairy products, chemical free poultry and livestock and biodynamic vineyard production.
The science about GMOs is still being tested. Studies supported by major agriculture corporations and some government entities have found genetically altered food to be safe for human consumption. Other studies disagree. President Obama recently signed a new law requiring all food labels to contain GMO information so consumers can choose to buy or not buy GMO foods.
Just like some families prefer organic vegetables, milk and grains, many also want the choice to keep their diets GMO free. In farming, if a neighbor grows GMO crops, the pollen or seeds can contaminate nearby organic or non-engineered plants.
Marin, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties already have passed similar GMO bans. Opponents of Sonoma County’s Measure M, including the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, warn that a new law could limit vineyard owners’ and other farmers’ access to tools and methods to fight pests and diseases.
What Measure M and its limited definitions of gene-splicing, exemptions and enforcements ignore are the much bigger questions about the future of farming, food nutrition and the economic and environmental values of sustainability.
Genetic engineering is not the grafting, crossbreeding and seed germ eugenics practiced here by plant wizard Luther Burbank 100 years ago. Gene-splicing includes altering organisms with snippets of DNA from viruses, bacteria and microbes.
The dependence on GMO crops means increased dependence on petroleum-based farming with insecticides, pesticides, artificial fertilizers and increased mechanization. Such practices already have led to adaptive traits in superweeds and ecosystem imbalances.
This sounds like the opposite of what Sonoma County’s farmers and winegrowers want to be known for. Just like the organic label, a Sonoma County GMO free stamp would likely boost local growers’ prices and prestige.
Past generations of farmers have now found that earlier scientific promises of bug-free, no-till, drought-resistant or disease-proof advances all came with their own problems.
Lately, more and more local farmers have resorted to older lessons. These include that the most nutritious foods, healthiest plants and animals and best-tasting yields come from better soil management, support for biodiversity and non-chemical farming.
Measure M seems a good addition to Sonoma County’s avowed goal to becoming the nation’s first 100 percent sustainable wine and food region before the end of this decade.
We say vote yes for Sonoma County’s Measure M.
— Rollie Atkinson