Donning signs with anti-Monsanto messages or speaking out against genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, activists cheered as protest organizer Rachael Hilliker spoke out against what many critics consider shoddy research on engineered foods and the company’s excessive political influence.

Some protesters in Lansing were enraged after the U.S. Senate decided on Thursday to delete a provision from the farm bill that would have left it a state’s right to label GE goods.

“If GMO foods are so safe, as they claim they are, what’s the harm in labeling?” Hilliker said. “It’s frustrating to me. I’m a mom. I try to eat healthy. I give my kid healthy food.”

Hilliker said she worries about the long-term health effects of engineered foods. Sixty-one countries,
including European Union members, Russia, Japan, China and Australia require GE food
labeling, according to the Center for Food Safety, which advocates such mandates.

Critics argue that a host of ailments can come from GE foods, including increased instances of cancer, birth defects and allergies, though these accusations aren’t supported by the FDA or the American Medical Association.

A 2012 report from the association said that while a “small potential” for “adverse events” exists, in more than 20 years of consumption, “no overt consequences on human health have been reported.”

But recent graduate Jasmine Kumar, who studied geographic information science, said she doesn’t buy it, stating that such evidence is the result of successful lobbying. She said she worries about her child’s safety.

Duncan Tarr, an English and music sophomore at the protest, had a more philosophical fear.

“It’s scary that they have all this control,” Tarr said.

“They get to decide what truth is.”