I Want the Right to Know and I Want You to Have it too

I am a mom. I have two spunky, creative, and energetic girls. I am tasked with making decisions with their best interest in mind until they reach an age they can begin to make their own decisions. Then my task moves to guiding them until they no longer need me to lead them on their path. Then I’ll get to walk side-by-side with them. I take this journey seriously. I take my tasks as a parent seriously.

Each day I make choices with them in the forefront of my mind. Timing nap time so school pick-up won’t interfere. Picking piano teachers, and mommy and me classes. Scheduling doctors visits and keeping their hair trimmed.

TV Time.

Meal planning.

Bedtimes.

Bath times.

Each little decision I make is all a small piece in the big picture. I make each choice with their needs – and futures – in mind. I am not a perfect mom. I could never claim to be one. Sometimes we eat frozen yogurt before dinner, or stay up way past bedtime. Every once in a while we watch way too may cartoon, but I try. Every day I try. Every. Single. Day. And I know you do too.

So many pieces fall into this effort, but specifically I’d like to take a moment and share my heart with you about a subject near and dear to me. Food. I love food. If you’ve hung out here at all you know that. I love cooking and eating. I love planning menus and feeding people. I work hard to make informed choices about the foods I feed my girls. I read labels scanning nutrition facts and ingredient lists. I try to educate myself and my family about good food choices.

This coming election day affords me – and all Coloradans- the opportunity to support our right to know important information about our food. Proposition 105 seeks to give Colorado families the right to know if genetically modified foods (GMOs) are in the foods they buy. After all, we have the right to know if there is High Fructose Corn Syrup, Trans Fat, or “Natural Flavors” in the foods we buy why should we not also have the right to know if GMO’s are in the foods we buy as well?

But why don’t you just buy organic if you want to avoid GMOs, Catherine?

I know I can buy all organic or Non-GMO Project verified foods. I also know that many of these foods can be more expensive than their non-organic counterparts. I try my hardest to buy organic when I can. I search out the Non-GMO Project label when I can as well. I can’t afford to only buy organic. I wish I could, but I can’t. We’ve slowly changed the way we eat in the years since Madeline was born. We’ve made a lot of steps toward consuming better foods. Early on though, we ate what we could afford and let me tell you it wasn’t organic. While I appreciate that there is organic and Non-GMO verified foods I also know that it cuts a huge portion of our state population out of the loop simply based on cost and access to these items. Shouldn’t we all have a right to know? Even those of us with less zeros in our bank accounts?

What about the things prop 105 doesn’t cover?

I’m more concerned with what prop 105 does cover. I understand that Colorado law doesn’t allow for more than one subject to be covered by one ballot initiative. Alcohol and restaurant foods are regulated under different statutes than most foods found in a grocery store. I get it. Instead of giving up and not doing anything at all Prop 105 is a first step – and a big one at that- in the process to label all GMO’s in Colorado. I’m happy that Prop 105 covers most raw, packaged, and processed foods regular shoppers – like me – find in grocery store. However, I am concerned about the major corporations that have been pouring huge amounts of money, bringing in paid lobbyists, and spreading falsehoods in television ads. If GMO’s are so good why are they fighting a simple label? Why fight against people’s right to know what they are feeding their family?

Like I said, I’m not perfect.

I’m just a mom trying to do the best she can for her children.

I just want the right to know what is in the food I feed my family. I want the right to know what I’m paying for. I want you to have those same rights too. I don’t write about politics. I don’t write about sex, religion, or personal finances. As far as I’m concerned Proposition 105 has nothing to do with any of those things. Prop 105 does not take political sides. This isn’t partisan, this is about a fundamental right of all Colorado families no matter party affiliations, geographic location, or socio-economic level. I’m simply doing my part to help this grassroots effort get the word out. The people of 64 countries around the world already have the right to know, and we should too.

As a mom, a wife, a daughter, and a native Coloradoan, I urge you to vote yes on Proposition 105. We have a right to know.

Resources if you would like more information about Proposition 105:

Colorado Right to Know
9 News Truth Test : Food Fight Over Prop 105
Denver Parent: Proposition 105 Requires GMO’s be Labeled 
Colorado State Right to Know Act (Full text of Proposition 105)