Products containing genetically modified organisms. Monsanto, dow, pepsi, and coke are spending millions fighting the measure, which could impact labeling practices across the country. We will host a debate. Then, Michael Pollan, author of, the omnivores dilemma and in defense of food. Why the industry is so intent on not having this product labeled . They think people would not i entered the reason they would not buy it is it offers the consumer nothing. No benefit. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from Stanford University. At least four children have reportedly been killed in a u. S. Military attack in afghanistan. Afghan president karzai disclosed the attack on tuesday, saying the victims died after it ended caught in the middle of a firefight between u. S. Forces and taliban militants while tending to livestock in the eastern province. In syria, International MediatorLakhdar Brahimi is claiming the Syrian Government has agreed to a brief ceasefire during the muslim holiday. Brahimi also says the majority of rebel groups have also pledged to abide by the truce. The Syrian Government has yet to confirm whether it will take part, saying a final decision will come on thursday. Israel has launched air strikes in the gaza strip for the second consecutive day. A palestinian militant was killed today, one day after three palestinians died in another israeli attack. Palestinian fighters have launched rockets across the gaza border into israel, seriously wounding two immigrant farmworkers from thailand. The thousands of people surrounded the Spanish Parliament in madrid on tuesday in the latest round of protests against austerity cuts targeting public spending. Spanish labor unions are gearing up for a general strike against austerity measures set for november 14, the second general strike in spain this year. President obama and republican challenger mitt romney continue to flood a handful of battleground states with less than two weeks to go before the november 6 election. On tuesday, Obama Campaign in florida before moving on to ohio, where he said romney is unworthy of voters trust. Foreign policy from the 1980s, before the cold war was over. His social policy is from the 1960s. And his economic policies are for the 1920s. He knows he cannot sell that, even though those are his positions. He is doing everything he can to hide his true position and tell us what he thinks you want to hear, then spent most of the time telling you what he thinks is wrong with america. Joe biden just talked about that, talking about america. He is terrific at making presentations about stuff he thinks is wrong with america. But a sure cannot give you an answer about what will make it right. And that is not leadership you can trust. Met romney campaigned in nevada, telling supporters that obamas campaign is losing steam. Attacks on me are not an agenda. We have gone through four debates. Weve got to four debates with the vicepresident ial debate and my debates, and we have not heard an agenda from the president and that is why his campaign is taking on water and our campaign is full steam ahead. The four main Third Party Candidates gathered in chicago on tuesday for a debate moderated by talkshow host larry king. The debate followed democracy now s three previous expanding the debate specials, in which we featured thirdparty candidates responding to the obamaromney debates in real time. You can see them on democracynow. Org. The Republican Senate candidate in indiana has become the latest member of his party to draw criticism for comments about rape. Defended his opposition to abortion, even in the case of rape, at a recent debate, Richard Murdock said that conception by rape is something intended by god. I struggled with myself for a long time, but i came to realize life is a gift from god. I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it is something that god intended to happen. State senator murdoch is in a tight race with the democratic challenger congressmember joe donnelly. He has stood by his remarks, prompting criticism from republican nominee mitt romney. In other news from indiana, a federal Appeals Court has blocked a state effort to deny medicaid funds to the Reproductive ServicesGroup Planned parenthood. On tuesday, the 17th court of appeals said services cannot be cut because it just curve it also provides abortions. Critics said it would have left thousands of lowincome indian residents without medical services. A retired cia agent who publicly confirmed the torture of a cut operative abu zubaydah has pled guilty to leaking classified information. John kiriakou, who served from 1990 to 2004, is best known for a 2007 abc news conversations and how zubaydah was waterboarded and say custody. He has admitted to a single count of revealing the identity of a covert officer, which carries a potential sentence of up to 30 months. His conviction marks the latest milestone in the obama administrations crackdown on government whistleblowers. Police in louisiana are claiming an africanamerican woman badly injured in what she called a racially motivated attack inflicted her wounds herself. The 20yearold Sharmeka Moffitt reportedly told police she was wrote the initials kkk and a racial slur on her car. She suffered burns on more than half her body and is now hospitalized in critical condition. But police now say she staged the attack herself, and that her dna was found on the bottle of lighter fluid used to start the fire. A 19year old man of bangladeshi dissent in its he was used as an informant to spy on mosques and eight muslims into saying inflammatory things. Shamiur rahman says he spied on the Muslim Student association and the annual convention of the islamic circle of north america, and the Muslim American society. He became an informant after he was arrested multiple times for marijuana. During his time as an informant, he said he never witnessed any criminal activity or saw anybody do anything wrong. A federal Appeals Court has blocked the execution of a severely mentally ill man in florida. John ferguson was careful to die on tuesday night for a string of killings in the 1970s, but the 11th u. S. Circuit court of appeals granted a lastminute stay, accepting lawyers arguments he is to mentally ill to be put to death. Ferguson is a paranoid schizophrenic who claims he believes he is the prince of god. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were at Stanford University in palo alto, california, on the road in our 100city tour. Here in the golden state, a food fight has broken out that is, a fight over a Ballot Initiative that would require the labeling of genetically engineered food. On election day, californians will vote on proposition 37, which would require food made from genetically altered plant or animal material to be labeled by the summer of 2014. The department of Public Health would be responsible for labeling everything from baby formula and instant coffee to granola, canned soups, and soy milk. Each item would be stamped with words such as genetically engineered, or partially produced with genetic engineering, or may be partial produce which amendewith genetic engineering. If californians vote yes on proposition 37, the state will become the first in the country to require such a labeling system, possibly affecting industry labeling practices across the nation. Numerous items are already sold in Grocery Stores containing genetically modified corn and soy, but companies are not required to inform consumers. Advocates of prop 37 say consumers have a right to know what theyre putting into their bodies. We all have the right to know what is in our food. That is why so many consumers say yes to proposition 37. It gives us the right to know if there are genetically engineered ingredients in our food, with clear information on package labels. That is the very same rights consumers in nearly 50 other countries already enjoy. Yes on 37. We have the right to know what is in our favor. That that was free was released by yes on 37 california right to know campaign. Upon it say it is overly cumbersome and say it will lead to higher grocery bills. This ad was released by the no on 37 campaign. Under prop 37 complex badly written label regulations, some foods would need special levels to be sold in california while others would get special exemptions. This is a logical proposition makes no sense and it would increase costs for california farmers and Food Companies by over a billion dollars per year. Increased grocery bills for a typical family by 400 per year. No wonder nearly every major newspaper in the state kyrgyz no on 37. Leading corporations opposing the labeling measure include monsanto, dupont, dow, agrosciences, bayer, pepsi, coca cola, nestle, and conagra. By some accounts, opponents of labeling are spending an estimated 1 million a day to quash the measure. For more we go to berkeley, california, to the university of california berkeley, where were joined for debate on prop 37. Stacy malkan is a longtime advocate for Environmental Health and spokesperson for the yes oyes on 37 california right to know Campaign Code campaign. She is author of not just a pretty face the ugly side of the beauty industry. And David Zilberman, co director of the center for Sustainable Resource Development. His professor of agriculture and resource economics at the university of california, berkeley. Stacy malkan, why do support prop 37 . Can you explain to us how it ended up on the ballot . Proposition 37 is very simple. It is about our right to know what is in the food rereading and feeding our families. It is about our right to decide if we want to eat food that has been fundamentally altered at the genetic level by Companies Like monsanto, to contain bacteria, viruses, our foreign genes that have never been in the food system before. Genetic engineering has been hidden from American Consumers for 20 years. 61 other countries require labeling laws, but we have not been able to get labeling year because of the enormous influence of monsanto and the chemical companies. What is happening in california is a Grassroots Movement has risen up to demand labeling. Proposition 37 was put on the ballot by a million moms, dads, and consumers in california who want to know what is in our food. It is backed by all the states leading health, labor, environmental, a consumer groups. And on the other side, the Worlds Largest pesticide and junk Food Companies, who are spending 40 million carpet bombing california with a campaign of deception and trickery. With lie after lie in the ads that are going unchallenged in the media. Proposition 37 will not raise costs or increase bureaucracy. Part of the Ground Troops of course are the special interests like professors such as David Zilberman who work at universities who are being flooded with money from the biotech to fund the Research Agenda to prop up their vision of a food system that is chemically dependent, genetically engineered, and owned by the corporations. Professor David Zilberman, why are you opposed to this Ballot Initiative . Why are you opposed to requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods . I oppose to this ballot for several reasons. Of course i am for the peoples right to know, but in the same way you can label genetically modified food, you can also labeled non genetically modified food. You can buy organic and [indiscernible] i think generally in every food system you have some element of mainstay foods. Things that are not being labeled. We do not label most of the pesticides. We do not label a lot of other materials in the foods. To some extent, we have a system that provides testing of what we eat. [indiscernible] the system is far from perfect, but generally, people do not have information about everything it is only calories and other nutrients. More importantly, besides the proposition being costly and not written right, almost all the foods we eat is genetically modified. If we live was of labeled the pesticides, genetically modified there was a study by the National Research council that found genetically modified foods on average is less risky, or at least as risky, as conventional food and organic food. If it would be up to me, i would probably take the more risky and dollars think it would be more risky for a gimmick and modified. I personally got the maximum money from Environmental Group and the 3,000 ipad to give a lecture for monsanto. For me to think about a world with the genetically modified food is basically thinking about killing people and poisoning the environment. I think the proposition is aimed to stopped genetically modified food, because a lot of people about whatally aware of tha it means. Most of the people really do not care. If they do care, they can [indiscernible] to avoid it. What you mean there are voluntary measures to avoid it . If people care and want to find out whether their food is genetically modified . Ok, you can buy organic. If the proposition does not pass, these labels will continue. But let me put your arguments to stacy malkan. What about these points, most people do not care . Well, people do care, and that is what was to the Grassroots Movement in california and won nearly a Million People signed petitions to get this on the ballot. There are huge question marks over the safety of genetically modified foods. Theres a record 60 testing in the u. S. , almost no longterm Health Studies have been published there is almost no required testing in the u. S. , almost no longterm Health Studies have been published. It needs to be studied with longterm independent, rigorous research. In fact, monsanto and the patent holders get to control the research. That is one problem. There are Health Questions and huge environmental problems associated with these foods. A massive increase in Pesticide Use. There is a study that came out that showed most of the engineered crops are being engineered to withstand pesticides like the roundup ready crops. Now these weed killer chemicals will kill everything green, but the plants other engineered to survive them. Farmers are using more and more of the weed killer chemicals and now the weeds are, as was predicted, becoming resistant. Needing to use more chemicals in the weeds becoming more resistant. Lets put that point to dr. David zilberman. You said, David Zilberman, that more people should be concerned about pesticides in their foods and gmo foods. What about adding pesticides to the labeling . What about stacy malkans point, that genetically modified foods require more pesticides . At it ine look bad i context. Using roundup, obviously, it is a chemical, is not problematic from any perspective. It has been used in homes by many consumers. But at the same time roundup is a monsanto pesticide. Yes. At the same time roundup eliminates weeds, the ability to use roundup allows us to use [indiscernible] one of the most important in the last 25 years. It allows us to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. In my study, [indiscernible] reduces the yield about 25 to 30 . To some extent, this world where many people are dying of starvation with the food price inflation, and gmo is really what kept from going much higher. How would this law impact that . Lets a genetically modified food youre saying is good for people. This just says that the consumer should know what they are eating. As i said before, the main thing is a consumer wants to know the food will generate more resistance [indiscernible] with only in the beginning this type of technology. Improve the productivity of other fruits. Again, how would labeling prevent any of that is genetically modified food is good for the plant, as you argue, so be it. This just as you know what you are eating. People did not usually want to go to the internet or try to figure out what it is they are eating. If it is right on the label, it just makes it much easier. If most people are so concerned about genetically modified food, ok, they can vote for it. No problem. What i want to tell them is, number one, you really have to recognize there are more things in genetically modified food. Separately, genetically modified food is the most important thing in the last 20 or 30 years for it our this is our future if we want to protect the environment and do of Greenhouse Gases, want to reduce greenhouse emissions, want to stop we have to increase the productivity of the food system. Stacy malkan, lets get your response to that. If genetically engineered foods ashley and consumer benefits, i think we would already see labels. But they do not. It is a pesticide scheme. That is how the crops are being grown right now. He mentioned roundup has been a benign tool. Now it is no longer working and theyre going to even more toxic pesticides. It is not increasing yield or feeding the hungry, but increasing