Please Sign Petition to Obama: Veto the DARK Act

Our illustrious Congress has completely caved to the GMO lobby, passing an awful bill that would make GMO labeling non-mandatory, using smart phone apps, and not even applying to several GMO ingredients. It could not have been much worse for consumers wishing to know the origin of their foods’ ingredients. So here’s the big petition to urge President Obama to veto this bill (and fulfill his campaign promise of 8 years ago):

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/veto-dark-act-s764

You can buy organic, but many folks don’t have access to organic foods. Ditto for Farmer’s Markets. Let’s allow the ability to educate one’s self.

This Is the Eleventh Hour for GMO Labeling!

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You know it’s bad when . . . Dear Friends, You know things are bad when even the FDA, which so often fails the public when it comes to food safety, sides with consumers. Yesterday, the FDA pointed out what DARK Act opponents have been saying all along—the Roberts-Stabenow GMO “non-labeling” bill would exclude a host of products from ever having to be labeled, including some of the most common GMO ingredients, like soybean oil and GMO sugar beets. According to the FDA, the bill also sets a very high bar for even the bill’s “make believe” labels (QR codes and toll-free phone numbers), because it would apply only to those GMO crops “for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.” Yet the FDA’s critique has done nothing to slow down the anti-labeling train. And we have only a few days left to keep that train from taking us over the cliff. The U.S. Senate yesterday held a “test vote” on whether or not to push forward by limiting debate on the Stabenow-Roberts DARK Act. The motion passed—68-29. Our job is to work relentlessly over the next few days so that when the Senate holds an official vote early next week, this outrageous anti-consumer, pro-Monsanto bill fails. For good. Despite the lies, this bill gives Monsanto and Big Food everything they want—and gives consumers nothing. The Roberts-Stabenow DARK Act calls for a convoluted, costly, discriminatory scheme of barcodes and phone numbers—but no labels. This bill is not a mandatory labeling law—because there’s no enforcement mechanism, and no penalties or consequences of any kind for defying the “law.” This bill, as even the FDA confirmed yesterday, is so full of loopholes and exemptions that only the barest minimum of products would meet the standard. With your help, we are working 24/7 to prevent this attack on consumer rights, states’ rights and democracy from passing. Meanwhile, I urge you to call your Senators and remind them that even the FDA doesn’t believe this bill provides consumers with the right to know if their food is GMO. And finally, because our opposition is so well-funded and our work is not only urgent, but requires funding, I ask that you please help us raise another $30,000 by midnight tonight, in order to take advantage of a generous matching funds offer by our ally in this fight, Mercola.com. If you can pitch in, please click here for details on how to donate online, or by phone or mail. Thank you! In solidarity, Ronnie Cummins International Director P.S. We still need to raise about $30,000 to reach our goal by midnight, June 30. Win or lose the labeling battle, we have our work cut out for us if we want a regenerative, not degenerative food and farming system. Please know that every donation, no matter how small, will be matched by Mercola and will help build a better food movement. Donate online here.

Which Organic Companies Are Pro and Which Are Con…

Unveiled: GMO Labeling Opponents Come Out of the Shadows

October 22nd, 2013

Natural/Organic Brands No Longer Hiding Behind Lobbying Organization The Cornucopia Institute releases shopper’s guide: pro/con I-522 brands

Proposition I-522, a citizen’s initiative on the November 5 ballot in Washington state that would mandate clear labeling of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients on food packages, has become the most expensive initiative campaign in the state’s history.  The high-priced battleground is pitting consumer and farmer advocates against multi-billion-dollar agribusiness corporations.

A number of new opponents to the GMO food labeling proposal were recently revealed following the release of their names by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a national business lobbying organization.  The GMA had been, apparently in violation of state election law, hiding the identity of its donors who had provided more than $7.2 million to fight the consumer’s right to know what is in their food.  The disclosure came shortly after Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit demanding the GMA reveal the identity of its secret donors.

With the outing of the GMA’s donors, The Cornucopia Institute has released an updated infographic detailing the financial expenditures of corporate and organizational supporters and opponents of I-522.

(click on the poster image below to view a quick loading larger version, and then click on it again for an even larger version)

(or click here to view a printable hi-res version)

(click on the poster image above to view a quick loading larger version, and then click on it again for an even larger version)

Finally a Mainstream Group Supports Labeling GMO’s!

 

Dear friend, We have exciting news to share: Consumers Union, who publish Consumer Reports, has reviewed I-522. They determined I-522 is well written, gives shoppers clear, accurate information, and won’t raise the cost of groceries. This is a powerful counterpoint to the lies being spewed by our opponents and it’s critical that everyone see it – please share it on your Facebook page by clicking here. Washington is a vote-by-mail state, which means voters here don’t go to the polls. Over the weekend voters received their ballots in the mail and are voting right now on whether to pass GMO labeling or not. Please share this ad on your Facebook page to make sure all your friends in Washington see it. From our table to yours, Delana Jones Campaign Manager Yes on 522

Close to the Tipping Point on GMO Food

Story at-a-glance

• While California’s GMO-labeling campaign failed to pass by an incredibly narrow margin last November, Proposition 37 catalyzed an enormous amount of awareness across the US that is the beginning of the end of GMOs in the US
• More people are now aware of genetically engineered foods than we could have ever reached through educational efforts alone, investing the same amount of money that we invested in Prop. 37
• The tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically engineered foods in the US is almost here. Last year, the president of Whole Foods confessed that when a product becomes verified as Non-GMO or GMO-free, sales leap by 15-30 percent—a clear outgrowth of the Prop.37 campaign
• Target’s brand will be non-GMO in 2014. Ben & Jerry’s will be non-GMO by the end of this year, and while Chipotle’s restaurants are working toward a non-GMO menu, they voluntarily started labeling in the meantime

For those of us working in the trenches for the past several years regarding GMO food, we may be seeing the proverbial light at the end of a very long and difficult tunnel. Monsanto stock is not a good buy, and that is cause for rejoicing. To read the entire article excerpted above, please go HERE.

Meanwhile, I wrote a few weeks ago that I would share info on bokashi, a fermented compost. I just got some video and photos from last month’s experiment, and as soon as I find someone to help me edit the info I will put it on the blog.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

You Can Help Win GMO Labeling

ACTION ALERT

Calling All Volunteers . . . Let’s Win GMO Labeling in Washington!

One of the most critical food policy fights of our lifetimes will be decided in less than 10 weeks. I-522, the initiative to require mandatory labeling of GMOs in food products in Washington State, is our next best shot at forcing food manufacturers to label GMOs in all of their products in all 50 states.

All of us, no matter what our zipcode, will either win or lose on Nov. 5. That’s why we need everyone’s help to pass this initiative.

Do you have time to help persuade Washington State voters to cast their ballots on Nov. 5 in favor of I-522? One of the easiest, and most effective ways you can help is to become a phone banker. All you need is a phone and an internet connection. It won’t cost you a dime. We’ll supply training, scripts – everything you need. You can make the calls anytime that’s convenient for you, from your own home. The first training session is tonight at 7 p.m. PST. Can’t make it? No worries. Training sessions will happen every Thursday at 7 p.m. PST from now until voting day. There will also be two 4 p.m PST trainings, one on Sept. 5 and one on Sept. 19.

We lost in California last year by a razor-thin 1 percent. Your phone calls to Washington state voters could make all the difference this year.

Sign up to call Washington voters

Time To Help Pass GMO Labeling Laws

We have two choices.

We sometimes forget. Coca-Cola, General Mills, and a host of other food giants know how to make their products without using genetically engineered ingredients.
They do it all the time. For consumers in other countries.

It’s only here, in the U.S., where the food and biotech lobbyists have Congress in their back pockets, that more than 80 percent of processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients.

Those GMO ingredients are making Monsanto and Big Food rich. They’re making us sick. And the tons of herbicides and pesticides used to grow them are poisoning our soil and water.

Food manufacturers make GMO-free products for consumers in 64 other countries for one of two reasons: Either because consumers in those countries have demanded that GMOs be banned from their food supplies. Or because consumers have demanded GMO labeling laws.

In most cases, rather than label the GMOs in their products, food manufacturers have found alternative ingredients.

We can have GMO-free food, too. But only if we demand it.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the trade group representing Coca-Cola, Pepsi, ConAgra, Unilever, General Mills and hundreds of other food companies, recently circulated a letter claiming that consumers – that means you – have created an “unprecedented period of turmoil” for food companies. How? Simply by demanding that they label the genetically engineered ingredients in their products.

We have news for the GMA and all of its dues-paying members: The turmoil has just begun. We will not rest until GMOs are labeled.

The movement to label GMOs didn’t materialize overnight. It’s been in the works for many years. But thanks to the unprecedented outpouring of support last year for California’s Prop 37 to label GMOs, this movement – your movement – has finally gone mainstream.

Activists in Connecticut and Maine recently pushed through GMO labeling laws, though neither law can take effect until four or five other New England states pass similar laws requiring mandatory labeling of GMOs.

We’re gaining traction. But we need to win Washington State.

Half of the $46 million raised last year to defeat Prop 37 came from pesticide makers like Monsanto. The other half came from junk food giants like Pepsi and General Mills. The GMA alone raised $2 million to defeat Prop 37.  So far, the GMA is the largest donor to the campaign that aims to defeat I-522, the citizen’s initiative to label GMOs in Washington State.

We have two choices. Sit back and do nothing while the pesticide and junk food makers raise millions to defeat another big GMO labeling campaign. Or pull together to run a winning campaign in Washington State, and keep the GMO labeling movement strong until our demands are met.

We need to raise just a little more than $52,500 in order to reach our goal of $150,000 for GMO labeling by July 27, and earn a matching grant for OCA from natural health leader Mercola.com.

Will you help sustain the fight for GMO labeling by making a donation today? You can make a secure online donation, with a credit card or using paypal. Or you can phone or mail in your contribution. Click here for details. Thank you.

In solidarity,
                                                              Ronnie Cummins National Director, Organic Consumers Association and Organic Consumers Fund

P.S. – Donations to the Organic Consumers Fund, the 501(c) 4 allied lobbying and legislative action arm of the OCA, are not tax deductible. If you need your donation to be tax-deductible, please donate here  to the OCA to help continue our critical GMO public education campaign

Please Help GMO Labeling Campaign In Washington State NOW, TODAY

DEADLINE TONIGHT: Who will protect us from Monsanto?

Over the protests of hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens, Congress cut a backroom deal with Monsanto last week that allows the biotech giant to plant genetically engineered crops and seeds, no matter how harmful they may be to our health and environment. Not even a federal court will be able to stop them.

The “Farmer Assurance Program” is hidden in the HR 933 Continuing Resolution, a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running through the end of September. But this sneaky provision, written by Monsanto itself, is better known as the “Monsanto Protection Act.” Because it does just that.

With Congress and the FDA protecting Monsanto, who will protect us?

We will. And one way we’ll do it is by passing statewide citizens’ initiatives to require mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

We need your help today. In November, voters in Washington State will decide on I-522, a citizens’ ballot initiative to label GMOs. Because this initiative is so critical to all of us, the OCA has pledged $500,000 to the campaign. A generous donor has offered $250,000 to help us get there, but only if we raise the first $250,000 by April 1.

Thanks to the amazing response so far from thousands of individuals, as of this morning, we have raised almost $231,000. That means we need to raise $19,000 more by midnight tonight. Can you help? You can donate online with a credit card or Paypal. Or you can mail a check. Or phone in your donation. (Mail-In donations postmarked by midnight April 1 will count toward the matching gift.)

This latest free pass for Monsanto is a slap in the face to consumers who have fought for the past 20 years for more, not less, testing and transparency around GMOs. From the moment Monsanto convinced the FDA that there was “no substantial difference” between genetically engineered crops and their non-GE counterparts, we all have been unwitting lab rats in one big biotech experiment. The FDA does not test GMOs for health and safety. Instead, it relies on the biotech industry’s word that GMOs pose no health threats. Even though scientists warn that this is not true.

The assault on our health, on our right to know, will not end until we pass GMO labeling laws with real teeth, not a watered-down, loophole-riddled federal law that, like the Monsanto Protection Act, would no doubt be written by the biotech industry.

In just this past year, thanks to all of you, we have made much progress in the battle for labeling. But we’re missing one critical victory, a victory Monsanto is desperate to deprive us of: the first statewide GMO labeling law.

Matching gifts of $250,000 don’t come along every day. This is a brilliant opportunity to double every donation, no matter how large or small, toward a victory in Washington State. The campaign is young. If we can fund it now, we’ll be able to reach more voters with the truth, before our opponents permanently sway them with their lies and misinformation.

Please help us raise $19,000 by midnight. Every dollar you contribute will go directly to support the I-522 campaign.

Thank you for being a part of this revolutionary food movement. You make it all worthwhile!

In solidarity,
                                                              Ronnie Cummins National Director, Organic Consumers Association and Organic Consumers Fund

P.S. Just $19,000 more by midnight, and we’ll receive a $250,000 matching gift toward the I-522 GMO labeling initiative. Please donate today. (Mail-In donations postmarked by midnight April 1 will count toward the matching gift.)

Paid for by the Organic Consumers Fund Committee to