The Ad Age headline and story is obviously a bit different than the one I would have written. I'm certainly not squaring off against Pepsi - I'm supporting human beings who have the right to know what they are eating.

I actually have a lot of empathy for these companies that find temselves on the wrong side of issues with more and more frequency. Thanks to E.J. Schultz the writer of this piece. It's a difficult issue to cover and I think he did a good job in at least bringing up Genetically Modified Ingredients and the work being done to label them. Ad Age only used bits of what I sent them so I thought I'd include the rest here. 

Hi Alex -- Sorry just saw this --went to my spam folder for some reason. Story is going up soon, and just wanted to give you a chance to make a quick comment on why you gave the donation. Obviously some big marketers such as Pepsi have donated million in opposition ... so just wanted to get your quick take.

E.J. Schultz

My response:

Ana and I believe that GMOs are one of the biggest health issues we face and the current system where they are not labeled goes against everything that consumers have fought for over the last half century. JFK created the Consumer Bill of Rights and that document created the foundation for the FDA. Their charge is to help consumers make informed decisions about the food they eat. There is no consumer benefit to GMOs so of course the industry fights the effort in California to label them. The industry also knows that in places where GMOs have been labeled, like most of Europe and Japan consumers have rejected them. In the US it's estimated that 70 percent of our food contains GMOs. We just began feeding them to the population without any long-term studies. We believe Prop37 is the biggest vote that will happen this year and it's a rare chance for consumers to take back a fundamental right to know what they are eating. 

You mention that big brands are fighting Prop37 and the right to know. It's ironic that these same companies are suggesting that consumers have a right to choose as they fight Bloomberg in NYC but then turn around and fund the effort to keep consumers in the dark on GMOs. I guess they only support your right to choose when they're certain that you'll make the choice that they want you to make. 

It seems each day you read about a big food company who is in some public battle. It's sad to see because in many ways we've inherited this food system that has been optimized to maximize profits and not health. I'm afraid that until we address these systemic issues we'll find big brands on the wrong side of a lot of these battles - secretly fighting with their customers with one hand as they work to sell them something with the other. 

Good luck with the story. I'm aware this is a hard story to even cover. We appreciate your work to tell it.