This past week at the local supermarket I noticed a new designation on a food package. It had a round green seal with a drawing of the sun shining down on cropland. On the green circle the words read “bioengineerd.” Why is it there and what does it mean?
On January 1 of this year the US Department of Agriculture issued a requirement that we know our food has been genetically modified in some way. Over 90% of our corn, sugar beets, and soybeans are genetically modified. Food manufacturers opposed the labelling because they fear the word “bioengineered” will keep people from purchasing their product.
Advocates for labeling say there are too many loopholes in the regulation. There are many excluded items, such as meat, poultry, and eggs, not to mention food served in restaurants, cafeterias, and food trucks. That’s a lot of food. Don’t you want to know how your food is produced? I do.
Prayer for the Day
We call on you, O God, to be with us as your people,
Let us be as branches of your vine rooted in the soil o compassion;
We pray for faith, O God, so that we do not let your vision go,
May we be us as mustard seeds in the earth growing into plants of hope.
Grant that we grow, O Lord, to be your nurturing presence
Turning a world of despair into your realm of hope.
In the name of the One who is your hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
- Maya Angelou, poet (1928-2014)
Pour yourself like a fountain. Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.
- Rainier Maria Rilke, poet, from Sonnets to Orpheus (1875-1926)
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; God’s greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
Psalm 145: 1-4