Editor,

I have so many questions about the issue of genetically modified organisms: Why shouldn’t we have a right to know if GMOs are in the food we purchase and eat?

Why are some large chemical corporations spending more than $17.2 million to fight I-522? What is it they are hiding or concerned about us knowing? Do they care about our health or the health of their bottom line?

Why is it that the only testing that has been done on GMO safety was done by one of these companies and why did the FDA accept their results without question? Would you be surprised to know that the person in charge of food safety at the FDA is a former executive of one of these companies?

Isn’t this like the fox guarding the henhouse? Without independent testing how do we know if it is safe for us to eat foods containing GMOs? Why would labeling cost so much (as the opponents claim) when 64 other countries including China and Russia already require it and food companies in the USA already produce those labels for export?

And by the way, why do those 64 other countries require labeling of GMOs or prohibit them outright? Why do citizens of those countries have this right to know and we do not? Don’t you want answers to these questions? I know I do and I want to have the information that allows me to choose whether or not I eat foods containing GMOs.

Please vote YES on I-522.

Susan Schopf

Oak Harbor