Campaign update from OCA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob396.html

Read PDF | Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate  I-522 UPDATE Poisoning Minds For more than two decades, Monsanto has been poisoning our water, our soil, our food. But right now, the Biotech Bully is focused on one thing: Poisoning the minds of voters in Washington State - voters who are still on the fence about I-522, an initiative to label GMOs in food sold in grocery stores. Last week, Monsanto and friends launched a statewide, anti-labeling, anti-I-522 ad blitz. It looks a lot like the $46-million worth of negative, deceitful ads they unleashed last year this time in California. Ads that helped defeat California’s GMO labeling initiative. Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Bayer, BASF and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (representing the junk food gang) are footing the bill. With almost $12 million (so far) to spend, they’re running ads that are dishonest and misleading. But clever. And convincing. If you’re a busy mom or college student, a distracted worker with too much on your everyday plate, you might be hearing “GMO” for the first time. From Monsanto. The lies Monsanto will feed you – that labeling will cost you money, that farmers and grocers will be hurt – just might resonate. If you never see or hear the truth, from the YES on I-522 campaign, you could be one of the voters who checks the “NO” box. That’s what we’re up against, today, in Washington State. And that’s why we need your help. Today. Your donation will help us dilute the poison. And win this seminal GMO labeling battle. Thank you! Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in Washington, Vermont and other states) Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education) CAMPAIGN UPDATE Good Riddance. We Hope It’s not a done deal yet. But we’re close to scoring a huge victory: the end of the Monsanto Protection Act. Yesterday (September 24), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, proposed an alternative to the House version of the Continuing Resolution, a bill to fund the federal government beyond Sept. 30, 2013. Absent from the new-and-improved version is the Farmers Assurance Provision, that sneaky, Monsanto-friendly “policy rider” better known as the Monsanto Protection Act. On Tuesday, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) told Poltico: “That provision will be gone.” Gone from the Senate version. But will the House approve the Senate’s new Continuing Resolution? With more than 30 hours of debate to go, there’s no guarantee the Senate and House will come to terms on any new bill. Much less one without the Monsanto Protection Act. In the meantime, we hope. And we keep up the pressure on our Senators TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Vote No on the Continuing Resolution unless the Monsanto Protection Act is removed