Initiative 522 would require labeling of foods that are genetically engineered. I believe that all citizens deserve the right to know where their food comes from and how it was produced. Over a dozen other states are currently considering labeling requirements.

For more than 10 years, Americans have unknowingly been kept in the dark that they were already eating genetically modified foods in processed foods like cereals, snacks and salad dressings (New York Times, Jan. 31).

More than 62 nations – including the European Union member states Japan, Brazil, Russia and China — already require labeling of genetically modified foods. But here in the “land of the free,” we don’t have the right to know and to choose whether we are being treated as human guinea pigs in the very risky process of tampering with the DNA of real foods.

I urge everyone who eats to support I-522 and help our state become the first in the nation to protect our right to choose what we eat.

Suzanne Grogan, Kirkland