When we made our documentary "Tapped" there were countless stories of people blindsided by the arrival of bottled water conglomorates coming into into their town and mining their water resources. Who approved these deals? Why wasn't the public allowed to weigh in on these decisions? I spoke with dozens of citizens who said given the opportunity to oppose the situation they would have fought tooth and nail to do so. Of course once a company obtains the permits to do something it's an even harder battle to get them out.
That's why the next couple of weeks are so important.
The Food and Drug Administration is just a pen stroke away from approving genetically engineered Salmon. Because the FDA doesn't require genetically modified food to be labeled as such, you may never know if that piece of Salmon your eating comes from the high seas or from a petri dish.
There is still a window of opportunity before our right to choose is taken away from us. The FDA will start holding public hearings next week. When the FDA reviews a product for approval all it does is review studies conducted by the company that stands to benefit from the approval. The FDA doesn't do any of its own testing. If that wasn't disturbing enough already -- because GE Salmon is being evaluated as an animal drug rather than a food product the review process doesn't focus on the health effects of those of us that have to actually eat the salmon.
This is the chance for the people to let their voices be heard and tell the President Obama and the FDA that we do not want to be human guinea pigs. We just learned the hard way -- through the largest egg recall in 20 years -- that the FDA doesn't have the proper resources to do its job. Let's not open the flood gates for genetically engineered animals to enter our food stream.
Please share this video with everyone you know. The scariest part about this video is that it's actually all true! There is still time for change - but our window of opportunity is closing.
Please join us in a national movement to take back our plates. It takes just minutes to let your voice be heard.