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SWY » Topics » STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL REGARDING LABELING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

This excerpt taken from the SWY DEF 14A filed Apr 12, 2006.

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL REGARDING LABELING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

 

The Company has been notified by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Sienna Heights Drive, Adrian Michigan, which owns 150 shares of Common Stock, that they intend to present, jointly with the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, and Bon Secours Health Systems, Inc., the following proposal for consideration at the Annual Meeting:

 

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors adopt a policy to identify and label all food products manufactured or sold by the company under the company’s brand names or private labels that may contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients.

 

Supporting Statement

 

  •   The right to know is a fundamental principle of democratic societies and market economics.
  •   Segregation and identity preservation of GE-ingredients/crops is already needed to trade in many international markets.
  •   The European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia have passed regulations that require labeling of GE foods.
  •   As of May 19, 2005, Alaska law requires that genetically engineered salmon be labeled as such.
  •   Millions suffer from mild to fatal food allergies. Without labeling, consumers have no way of protecting themselves from hidden allergies.
  •   The National Academy of Sciences report, Genetically Modified Pest-Protected Plants (4/2000) recommended development of improved methods for identifying potential allergens in genetically engineered pest-protected plants.
  •   The report Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects (National Academy of Sciences]7/2004) states: . . . “there remain sizable gaps in our ability to identify compositional changes that result from genetic modification of organisms intended for food…(p. 15) Post-marketing surveillance has not been used to evaluate any of the GE crops currently on the market. (p.153)
  •   Between 2001 – 2004, approximately 15,000 hectares (150 square kilometers) in four US states were planted with unapproved Bt10 corn. (New Scientist 3/23/2005) At least nine cargo shipments to Japan have contained the illegal variety. (Reuters 8/23/2/005)
  •   The FDA determined (2/2003) that 386 pigs involved in bioengineering studies were possibly not properly disposed of, and may have entered the food supply.
  •   StarLink corn, not approved for human consumption, has been detected in US food aid shipments (12/2004) as well as in a U.S. corn shipment to Japan (12/2002). StarLink’s first contamination of U.S. corn (8/2000) triggered a recall of 300 products.

 

Indicators that genetically engineered organisms MAY be harmful to humans, animals, or the environment include:

 

  •   Five major US agricultural weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate, the herbicide used with genetically engineered Roundup Resistant crops. Addressing this problem includes use of additional herbicides.

 

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  •   Research (Environmental Health Perspectives 6/2005) has shown that Roundup, increasingly needed on Roundup Ready crops, is toxic to human placental cells at concentrations lower than agricultural use.
  •   Producers of salmon genetically engineered to speed the fish’s growth to maturity expect their federal application to sell the fish in the United States to be decided within a year, renewing concern among commercial fishermen about the consequences of genetically modified fish escaping and mingling with wild salmon. (AP 3/9/2005)
  •   Crops engineered to produce pharmaceuticals/industrial chemicals could pollute the food system. The National Food Processors Association stated (11/2002): “There is an unacceptable risk to the food supply associated with the use of food and fee crops as ‘factories’ for the production of pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals without mandatory regulations and necessary verification in place.”

 

Board Recommendation

 

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