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3-Food: Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association bannedGE food

-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Markets ban genetically altered food
SOURCE: Santa Barbara News-Press, USA, by Frank Nelson
        http://www.newspress.com/
DATE:   Nov 20, 2003

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Markets ban genetically altered food

The Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association has voted
unanimously to ban the sale of genetically modified organisms from its
seven area markets.

"Farmers market shoppers come looking for fresh, healthy local food,"
said the association's executive director, Laurence Hauben. "GMOs don't
fit in that picture."

The new policy will cover the markets in Santa Barbara on Saturdays and
Tuesdays; at La Cumbre Plaza and in Solvang on Wednesdays; in Carpinteria
and Goleta on Thursdays; and in Montecito on Fridays.

Ms. Hauben said though no association members are believed to use
genetically altered crops or animals, biotechnology research is being
"pushed" in a number of California's top export crops such as
strawberries, lettuce, grapes and walnuts.

Reversing the trend towards more and more GMO in the food supply may be
an uphill battle, said Ms. Hauben, but shoppers at farmers markets can
take heart from this decision.

GMO toxicity to humans has not been proved, but Ms. Hauben said the
majority of customers prefer to buy GMO-free items. That can be
difficult, she added, because the United States does not require foods
containing GMOs to be labeled.

Gail Zannon, the association's past president, says she fully supports
any boycott of GMO products.

She is wary about the role being played by multi-national corporations
and seed companies and concerned about the potential long term effects of
GMO which, she says, needs to be proved safe over generations.




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