Why California Will Rescue Us All From GMOs

California Is Our Ticket Out of The GMO Mess

The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act needs 830,ooo signatures of registered voters by April 22nd to get on their the ballot in November. If they can pass this it will get rid of GMOs for all of us. California's economy is huge. (The 8th largest in the world.) If food companies have to change their labeling to include data that the packages they are selling contains GMOs it will end their ability to sell those brands in California. They know Californians will no longer buy them. This is why theses companies fight these bills and initiatives so hard.  It will be the beginning of the end of GMOs in the United States.

The Federal Government Can Not Be Depended On

 California is our best hope. The federal government has been bought and sold to Monsanto, Dow and the other big Ag companies.

Last week the USDA announced plans to speed up the approval process for more genetically modified crops - cutting in half the time it will take for Monsanto, Dow, and others to get their genetically modified crops to market. -This was despite the growing public outcry against GMOs -

Last year the public sent more than 250,000 comments asking the government to stop the commercialization of genetically modified alfalfa. The agency approved it anyway.

More recently, 850,000 US citizens had written to the FDA demanding the right to know if GMOs are in their food. Don't hold your breath for the FDA to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who want to know whether the food they are eating contains GMOs. They receive too much money from the big Ag companies to listen to us.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, in 2010 alone, Monsanto spent $8 million lobbying and more than $400,000 in political contributions. It also spent $120 million in advertising in the mass media, including National Public Radio, to convince consumers that GMO-tainted foods are safe – despite the overwhelming scientific evidence otherwise.

Now Monsanto and Big Food Inc. are cranking up their PR campaign again in California. Same old arguments, same old lies – this time, backed by even bigger bank accounts.

We will never be able to outspend monopolistic corporations with billions in profits at stake. (However, we can out-educate them. Send this blog post to everyone you know. Tell them to send it to everyone they know also.  Let's get this going viral!  I have attached additional GMO educational blog data below for them to learn more.)

The Good News

The good news is that we have Organic Consumers Association on our side. We will be able to raise enough money to collect 830,000 signatures, to get this Initiative on the ballot, and to run a strong counter-campaign. They (we) can win in California. Here's why OCA says they can get this passed.

● This time, we have far more scientific information and greater public awareness on our side. GE (genetically engineered) contamination is now a mainstream media issue. Monsanto has become the most hated corporation in the world.

● This time, we have overwhelming public support. Polls show that more than 8 out of 10 voters in California want mandatory GMO labeling.

● This time, we have built the strongest coalition of alternative food and health consumers in history, for the exclusive purpose of passing this law.

OCA has been campaigning on this issue for years. They are closer than ever to a win. But OCA needs all the help they can get to pull this off for all of us.  OCA needs to raise $150,000 more, as soon as possible. This money will be used to pay the signature gatherers, media consultants, attorneys and others whose expertise is necessary in order to win. 

Please go to this LINK to help win the fight against GMOs by making any size donation you can! 

Get your friends and family in California to help with the petition.

Educational Data on GMOs - Please take a look at the educational material below and make sure all your friends, family, co-workers, etc see these. Send these to everyone on your email list. Genetically engineered food is one of the most pressing problems of our generation.

• Why GMOs are a problem

• Great video by Jeffrey Smith available here on GMOs

• Websites to Get the Latest GMO Info

• GMOs, RoundUp and the creation of a new pathogen

• A fantastic video interview by Dr. Mercol of Dr. Huber discussing GMO's and RoundUp

• Monsanto Being Sued By Organic Farmers

• 19 Studies Link GMOs to Organ disruption

• A Fun GMO Rap Song

• Why GMO Alfalfa is a problem

2,4-D Resistant GMO Corn

Since  Glyphosate (Round Up) is no longer working so well as a weed killer, Dow decided to add a more aggressive, more  toxic chemical to the food chain and to our environment.  That chemical is 2,4-D.  2,4-d is a constituent of "Agent Orange" owned by Dow Chemicals.  Agent Orange (half 2,4-D by composition) was extensively used in Vietnam by the military to destroy forests and crops. Dow has come up with the frightening idea to make a gentically modified version of corn that is resistant to their 2,4-D.  (They want to rake in the bucks like Monsanto has been doing.) Dow is seeking USDA approval for genetically engineered corn that will withstand 2,4-D.

Glyphosate (Round Up) has been used in the same way on genetically modified food for almost 15 years now. Creating crops that could withstand heavy use of Glyphosate, led to so much use of the chemical on  farm lands that glyphosate resistant weeds have adapted to it and are now super weeds that are not effected by the chemical any more. Glyphosate has been used so much that samples of ground water, river water, rain and air in the areas that heavily use this chemical were found to contain glyphosate in them all. Now Dow wants to add 2,4-D to the water, soil and air also.

The public has 30 more days to comment on Dow’s petition for USDA approval, and can do so online at:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2010-0103-0001

For past posts on GMO's check these links out:

 Recent Update on What is Happening With GMO's
http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2012/01/gmo-update-for-11912.html

Washington State Bill to Label GM Food

Washington State Senator Maralyn Chase has sponsored a new bill that would require both raw GMOs and processed foods containing GMOs to be properly labeled beginning July 2014. Any food product containing GMOs will have to bear a list outlining which ingredients are natural and which ingredients are GMO. Learn more:  

http://www.naturalnews.com/034670_GMO_labeling_Washington_State_food.html#ixzz1jkUj98vt

California using Initiative Process to pass GM labeling Law

California is poised to be the first state with mandatory GMO labeling laws through the 2012 California Ballot Initiative process. Learn more:  http://organicconsumersfund.org/label/

14 states introduced GMO bills in 2011. Learn more here:   

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/14-states-have-gmo-label-bills-call-your-state-reps/

New GM Alfalfa Lawsuit Filed against FDA

The following is taken from a press release put out by the Center For Food Safety. You can see the full press release at:

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/2011/03/18/farmers-and-consumer-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-genetically-engineered-alfalfa-approval/

March 18th, 2011, attorneys for the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Earth Justice filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), arguing that the agency’s recent unrestricted approval of genetically engineered (GE), “Roundup Ready” Alfalfa was unlawful.  The GE crop is engineered to be immune to the herbicide glyphosate, which Monsanto markets as Roundup.  USDA data show that 93% of all the alfalfa planted by farmers in the U.S. is grown without the use of any herbicides.  With the full deregulation of GE alfalfa, USDA estimates that up to 23 million more pounds of toxic herbicides will be released into the environment each year. GE alfalfa threatens the organic dairy industry, and will have farmers going back to Monsanto every year to buy its patented seed and Roundup.”

Information on GM alfalfa from prior blog:

There are 23 million acres of alfalfa.  15% of all crop land is planted in alfalfa. Until now 93% of alfalfa growing has not been sprayed with herbicides. Now with the alfalfa fields being planted with Round Up resistant seed they will be more likely to spray these fields with herbicide. This will increase the use of herbicides in the United States on this 15% of crop land and thereby increase the pollution of our land and water. It will increase the appearance of what is called super weeds.  Alfalfa puts out a lot of pollen so it will cross-pollinate all the fields near it and move Round Up Ready alfalfa seeds into organic fields. Since all the dairy cows and goats are usually fed alfalfa, there will be a complete invasion of GMO alfalfa into all alfalfa including organic alfalfa. This means all milk producing animals will be eating GMO’s eventually. This is bad news for those of us who consume milk.

OCA believes this is a premeditated act on Monsanto’s part to pollute all Alfalfa in an effort to force the organic community to weaken and allow GMO alfalfa into organics. This would then give them a door into organics that allows all GMO seeds to be allowed by the organic community in the future. Monsanto has been trying to get the organic certifying bodies to allow GMO food since the beginning of GMO seeds. It is their expectation that when their seed pollutes all the organic fields and there is only GMO alfalfa in existence that the organic farmers will not be able resist them. However, organic farmers will continue to resist GMO food. We need to be sure to do all we can to support farmers if we don’t want to continue the march of GMO food into our food chain. It is imperative that we get GMO food labeled immediately.

Full blog can be seen at: 

http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/grassroots-movement-against-gmos-is.html

This is the second case challenging the legality of USDA’s handling of GE alfalfa.  In 2007, in another case brought by CFS, a federal court ruled that the USDA’s approval of the engineered crop violated environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa, the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased use of Roundup.  The case resulted in USDA undertaking a court-ordered four-year study of GE alfalfa’s impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  Remarkably, it marked the first time USDA had ever undertaken such a study, known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), in over 15 years of approving GE crops for commercial production.  While USDA worked on the EIS, GE alfalfa remained unlawful to plant or sell, a ban that remained in place despite Monsanto appealing the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs include a diverse coalition of conventional and organic farmers, dairies and agricultural associations, and environmental and consumer groups: CFS, Beyond Pesticides, Cornucopia Institute, California Farmers Union, Dakota Resources Council, Geertson Seed Farms, National Family Farm Coalition, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Sierra Club, Trask Family Seeds and Western Organization of Resource Councils. 

“Approving the unrestricted planting of GE alfalfa is a blatant case of the USDA serving one form of agriculture at the expense of all others,” says plaintiff Ed Maltby, Executive Director of the Northeast Alliance of Organic Dairy Producers.  “If this decision is not remedied, the result will be lost livelihoods for organic dairy farmers, loss of choice for farmers and consumers, and no transparency about GE contamination of our foods.”

Because alfalfa is pollinated by bees that can fly and cross-pollinate between fields and feral sources many miles apart, the engineered crop will contaminate natural alfalfa varieties.  Roundup Ready alfalfa is the first engineered perennial crop, meaning it remains in the ground for 3-6 years and is widely prevalent in wild or feral form throughout America, further increasing the likelihood and extent of transgenic contamination.

Approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa will spur the glyphosate-resistant epidemic that is already regarded as one of the most serious challenges facing U.S. agriculture.  Weeds evolve resistance to glyphosate just as bacteria evolve immunity to overused antibiotics.  While other Roundup Ready crops spawned the epidemic, Roundup Ready alfalfa will exacerbate it by increasing the frequency and intensity of glyphosate use on millions of acres of cropland.  Farmers respond to resistant weeds by applying more and more herbicides, soil-eroding tillage operations, and even hand-weeding on hundreds of thousands of acres.  Such “superweeds” have expanded four-fold to infest over 10 million acres since just 2008, with some projecting 38 million acres by 2013.  Alfalfa, the fourth most prevalent crop in the U.S., is grown on over 20 million acres, spanning every state.