>> mandatory labeling would help immensely when deciding what products to purchase
Eventually that may be possible. But I think that, at first, virtually all processed foods will have to say "containing ingredients from GE crops". I read somewhere that for Trader Joe's to sell non-GMO foods, they only have two choices, fully-fully-organic or imported from other countries.
I agree that labeling will motivate people to look for foods where even the sugar, corn syrup and lecithin come from from non-GE sugar beets, non-GE corn and non-GE soybeans, if they can find any.
It may stimulate some distributors to start up non-GE supply chains where they accept only the few remaining non-GE beets, corn and soybeans being grown. And then more of them may be grown.
As I've said, I'm not that worried about those products (but I understand that many other people whom I respect came to the opposite conclusion). But I wish the labeling rules would apply to things like whole ears of sweet corn! That's the point where I would kinda rather not eat the GMO plant itself, if the non-GMO crop is nearly the same price and doesn't have more nasty herbicides.
I can't justify that desire based on anything scientific. I guess just random un-trusting conservatism. Ten or twenty years after each crop was introduced, and there are many "real world" studies about humans eating lots, or none of each crop ... THEN I won't mind GE corn either.
