On Tuesday, June 11, 2013, Free Speech For People Co-Founder and President, Jeff Clements, provided testimony to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the Joint Committee on Public Health Public Hearing.

Here is a brief excerpt below:

“Chairman Sanchez, Chairman Keenan and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for holding this important public hearing concerning food safety, nutrition and labeling. On behalf of Free Speech For People, I submit this testimony concerning the labeling of foods containing genetic engineering (GE) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Free Speech For People joins the vast majority of Americans and almost every developed nation in the world in the view that all people have a right to know if their food contains GMOs. If food products sold in commerce contain GMOs, that fact should be disclosed to, rather than concealed from, people making food choices. While there are numerous issues and ample reason to require labeling of GMOs, this testimony contains two main points:

• The Constitution does not require that the American people be forced to consume genetically engineered food without their knowledge. Any decision by Massachusetts or other States to require GMO labeling is a policy decision, not a question of Constitutional rights of the corporations that create and market GMO food. Specifically, the values of First Amendment freedom of speech are furthered by disclosure rather than concealment, and GMO labeling laws are entirely consistent with the First Amendment.

• The Commonwealth has the power and responsibility to require GMO labeling, notwithstanding the failure of the federal Food & Drug Administration to do so. Interest of Free Speech For People Free Speech for People is a national, non-partisan campaign to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and to oppose the fabrication of corporate, rather than human, rights in our Constitution.”

You can download the full testimony here.