SALT LAKE CITY – A protest in Salt Lake City was one of at least 250 such demonstrations held Saturday against companies that sell genetically modified food.
The March against Monsanto was organized to call attention to Monsanto Company and other organizations that grow genetically modified plants from seeds engineered to resist insecticides and herbicides while adding nutritional benefits. Protesters said those processes could be harmful, and they said the public should be made aware of the situation.
The FDA does not require genetically modified organism food products to be labeled as such, and some critics believe that is unfair. The U.S. Senate rejected a bill this week that would have allowed states to require GMO food labeling.
Rich Galovan was one of the protesters at Saturday’s event, and he said food companies like Monsanto have too much power.
'We have a massive food distribution system that really is essentially just a well-oiled, powered machine run by a few, four or five, select food companies, and people don’t know what’s in their food, and food has changed more in the last 50 years than it has throughout the history of mankind,” he said.
Saturday’s protest began at the Utah State Capitol and made its way through downtown before ending at the hill once again.
Monsanto Company reportedly told the Associated Press Saturday that they respect people’s rights to express their opinion on the topic, but they maintains that their seeds improve agriculture by helping farmers produce more from their land while conserving water and energy resources.
