There is a war of words starting as Washington state becomes the next state to tackle the labeling controversy.

The battleground has moved from California where, even though they were outspent 10 to 1, the grassroots advocates for food safety almost succeeded. Now all eyes are on Washington. Can we be the first to challenge the food giants?

The stakes are high for Monsanto. If they lose here, they will lose everywhere. What you’re going to hear is a lot of talk about how much more it will cost you but that’s not the real issue. The real issue is should you know what’s in your food? You have to ask yourself, what’s the harm? Why can’t we know?

Here’s the puzzle. Why do we have such high health-care costs and why is our health as a nation graded so low compared to other countries? If you can answer that question, you may be able to figure out why companies like Monsanto do not want you to know what is actually in your food. It turns out countries that don’t allow genetically modified foods are rated as the healthiest countries in the world. In the United States, profit is made when we are sick. In countries with single-payer healthcare, the incentive is to keep people healthy.

Bottom line, we spend more for healthcare yet lead the world in heart disease, cancer and diabetes. We have an infant death mortality rate higher than Costa Rica. We subsidize cheap artificial foods and we are very, very sick. Profit seems to be the only thing we value.

The only way we can turn this around is to educate ourselves and the first thing we need to know is what is in our food. Is it real? Has it been around since mankind or is it some kind of artificial conglomeration that would never happen in nature? How do our bodies react to it? It seems these days everyone is glucose and lactose intolerant. Is this just a coincidence?

Still not sure how to vote? Just follow the money and then take a guess as to who has your best interests in mind.

Hallette Salazar
Kingston