A Letter from Our Co-Founders
Nature’s Path Pledges $500,000 Towards Your Right to Know Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth is…to Protect What You Put in Yours.
From our humble beginnings many decades ago, Nature’s Path was, and is totally committed to organics and working in harmony with nature. In 1990, when I first learned about the environmentally toxic and health risks of a new, but unnatural gene-splicing technology then termed as Genetically Modified Organisms, I decided to take a firm and adamant stand against the use of GMOs in all of our products, and made bold statements on our packaging about it. Today, we have laws against the use of genetically engineered (GE) foods in ALL organically certified products. But, we had to fight for it. It’s not enough however. GE ingredients are now in about 85% of every food in your local grocery store, but it’s not labeled.
We firmly believe that you have a Citizen’s right to know what’s in your food and that genetically engineered foods should be clearly labeled so we can all make an informed choice. Isn’t this our democratic right? Currently, not. Let’s change that!
In what we believe is an exciting pivotal game-changer for ALL North Americans, Californians are gathering signatures right now to get an initiative on the 2012 ballot that would require manufacturers to label GE ingredients for sale in the state. If this passes, it will be a huge step towards the transparency people deserve. If Californians get Mandatory GE labeling, the rest of the country, and Canada will ultimately follow. Once people KNOW what is in their food, they can then make the informed choice to avoid the health and environmental risk of GMOs.
And the beauty of this is, it’s not going to cost the consumer more money, as it only involves a simple label declaration…but the implications are far reaching. In an large advance poll, 75%+ of Californians said they would vote for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods!
And so, we are putting our money where our mouth is and are pledging $500,000 to support the campaign to make this ballot initiative and Mandatory GE labeling a reality. It is something we feel passionately about, but we are also doing it on behalf of you – the families and farmers that eat our food and rely on our business. We are urging all stakeholders in the organic community to step up to the plate and make a difference with their time, money and resources, for a big win over the giant biotech industry.
Arran & Ratana Stephens,
Co-Founders and the ever-growing Nature’s Path Family