President Barack Obama signed the law in 2016 and, coincidentally, it went partially into effect just one day after the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in China: January 1, 2020. Trade groups successfully lobbied Congress to replace any state by state labeling laws with a federal law-to avoid having to manufacture different packaging for every jurisdiction. Young replied, “I don’t normally like to label things but you’re so dangerous, and you’re dangerous to me personally and my family, and the rest of the planet.” Eventually the corn grew so angry it exploded in a shower of popcorn, which Young implored Colbert not to touch. The cringey bit concluded when a man dressed as a GMO corn cob appeared, asking Young, “I was born this way, why do you have to label me?”
But Young dismissed it out of hand, retorting: “That must be a Monsanto study that didn’t notice the terrible diseases and all of the things that are happening.” Then he pivoted to citing overzealous anti-GMO regulations in the EU as if it was scientific proof of anything. Most notably, and ridiculously, was an appearance on The Late Show with Steven Colbert.Ĭolbert asked Young about the scientific evidence showing GMOs were safe. He released a short anti-GMO documentary aptly named Seeding Fear. Young’s Monsanto album release and media tour doubled as activism-amplifying misinformation about GMOs to large mainstream audiences.
(Warren opposed an overly strict federal GMO labeling bill.) Ayyadurai has since pivoted to spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation-it was his tweet that started the #firefauci hashtag, when then-President Donald Trump retweeted it. Ayyadurai would in 2018 run as a Republican (and later, as an independent), against Elizabeth Warren for a Massachusetts U.S. Peter Shumlin, Young pledged $100,000 to the legal case defending the GMO labeling law.Īnother guest at the conference was Shiva Ayyadurai, a technologist who’d published dubious research showing GMOs were dangerous. At one pre-show press conference, accompanied by Vermont’s then-Democratic Gov. And Neil Young seized the moment, releasing The Monsanto Years and embarking on a tour of the same name. This framing was eagerly adopted by progressive politicians and amplified by the mainstream media.Īs the case garnered coverage, the anti-GMO crowd was re-energized once more. But with Big Business fighting the mandate, its repeal was easily framed by the anti-GMO movement as an affront to consumer safety and democracy. The new Vermont law threatened to be a pointless and impractical nightmare for food manufacturers, so trade groups sued the state. Vitamin A-enriched golden rice, for example, could have saved millions of lives and help prevent child blindness, were it not stymied by anti-GMO activists. In fact, not only were GMOs not a threat to human health, they’ve been a boon to it, much like the insulin that has kept Neil Young alive for most of his life. The anti-GMO movement-which rose to prominence in the mid 1990s and early 2000s-attained a key legislative win in 2014 when Vermont mandated GMO labeling of food.Īctivists insisted it was vital information for consumers to make informed choices, despite wide scientific agreement that they’re safe for consumption. Reactionary luddism-especially around biotechnology-was both politically correct and convenient for progressive celebrity activists. A collective amnesia has set in amongst progressives regarding the left’s past pandering to the anti-biotechnology movement.