Candidates should discuss GMO foods

Iowa needs a governor who can demonstrate proactive leadership in our changing economic environment. With proactive leadership Iowa will weather the storms that are coming our way.

I am thinking of the recent crisis that lead to the closure of an Iowa meat processing plant over the issue of a processed meat product (pink slime) that was being added to ground beef without any labeling for the customers.

The current governor criticized the folks who raised the issue, but that type of reactionary leadership did not help folks at the meat processing plant and it effectively denied the customers the right to know what was being added to their food that they were buying.

In the new economic environment customers in Iowa and around the world are demanding to know what is in their food.

In the case of genetically modified organism (GMO) foods, such as corn and soybeans, foreign countries are rejecting those foods. A Gazette article ('Cargill sues Syngenta over GMO rejection,” Sept. 13) reported that a loss of $2.9 billion had been incurred because foreign countries such as China, Russia and the European Countries rejected our GMO soybeans and corn.

I would like to know what policy our gubernatorial candidates propose to address this type of issue, because exporting corn and soybeans is critical for the economic health of the State of Iowa.

Jim Sliney

Robins