The fourth year of keeping school lunches GMO-free, there is always light

What began as a civic initiative from a single Facebook fan page has now reached exactly 1460 days. Those who took part back then probably never imagined that such an action would continue to this day, and as things stand now, it looks set to keep moving forward.

From 166 local public office election candidates signing on in support, 19 county and city heads making public commitments, and the Legislative Yuan amending the School Health Act to explicitly prohibit the use of genetically modified ingredients in school lunches, to the full implementation of the GMO food labeling system, over these four years the changes in Taiwan's GMO food policy brought about by consumer action have repeatedly drawn special attention from official agencies and civil society groups in neighboring Japan and South Korea.

Of course, the criticism has never stopped. Irrational, unscientific, peddling fear, shilling for specific industries, just trying to stir up headlines through elections, and that big hat labeled a technical barrier to trade pinned on us by the United States.

Is that really the case? More and more evidence shows that the GMO issue involves not only risks to human health, but also pesticide abuse, genetic contamination, corporate monopoly, food sovereignty, and deeper dimensions of fairness and justice such as biopiracy and environmental ethics.

Each of these profoundly affects our daily lives.

This March, we traveled to Nagoya to attend the 13th GMO FREE ZONE conference, and afterward shared Taiwan's current GMO food situation with activists from across Japan.

In April, we self-funded the translation and publication of the Chinese handbook "Genetically Engineered Food," Taiwan's first publication aimed at consumers that explains gene-editing technology and its risks.

In May, we invited GMO-free advocacy groups from Japan and South Korea to Taiwan, where together we signed the 2018 Taiwan-Japan-Korea Anti-GMO Movement Solidarity Declaration, hoping to maintain close cooperation through international alliance and jointly build a rural-urban symbiotic society where everyone can eat safe food.

In June, we accompanied Japanese researchers in investigating volunteer GM soybeans and corn in Tainan and Kaohsiung, and hosted a public lecture inviting them to share the story of a citizen science investigation that has continued in Japan for more than ten years.

In October, we will for the first time have the opportunity to begin preliminary exchanges with partners in China.

Looking back on the road we have traveled, sometimes a sense of bewilderment comes over us. How did we make those decisions back then? How on earth did we make it this far?

In the next four years, what kind of scenery will we see? I am quite looking forward to it.

GMO-free school lunches

September 30, 2018