The latest from OCA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob402.html

Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate  I-522 UPDATE Gaining Ground The votes are still being counted in Washington State. And although our opponents are still ahead, the YES on 522 campaign to label GMOs gained a little ground yesterday. But the ground we gained in Washington, in the form of votes, is nothing compared with the ground—in the form of soil and farms and fields—we plan to take back from Monsanto in the months and years ahead. This battle, win or lose in Washington State, has just begun. Our opponents filled the Washington State airwaves these past few months with the same lies they used last year, to defeat GMO labeling in California. They even brokecampaign finance laws in order to shield the big-name junk food corporations who didn’t want us to know they were funding those lies again. But of all the lies and illegal maneuverings, the worst one, the most dangerous lie, perpetrated by Monsanto and the junk food industry was this: GMOs are safe. In their haste to claim victory yesterday, the Grocery Manufacturers Association released a statement, which included this egregious lie: “Genetically modified food ingredients (GMOs) are safe, good for the environment, reduce the cost of food and help feed a growing global population of seven billion.” As long as the food companies are under Monsanto’s spell, as long as there are uninformed people who buy into the propaganda, we have our work cut out for us. Labeling GMOs is only the beginning. Watch out, Monsanto. We have plans. And those plans include taking back our seeds, our food, our farms, our rights. Our health. We will keep gaining ground. Until we reclaim it for the people. CAMPAIGN UPDATE Ten Senators, Zero Promises It took months of dogging the office gatekeepers and synchronizing schedules. But as promised, the OCA arranged meetings with 10 (well, eight, technically), of the 71 U.S. Senators who on May 24, 2013, voted against the Sanders Amendment to the Farm Bill. (The Sanders Amendment, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was intended to definitively establish that states have the right to label genetically engineered ingredients in food sold in retail stores). What we learned was this: Not one out of the 10 senators, including staunch Republicans who historically have fought for states’ rights, would commit to rejecting federal legislation intended to preempt or overturn states’ rights to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food products.  Not one. On the upside, we were able to deliver our message, and let it be known that consumers—and voters—in these 10 states expect lawmakers to take GMO labeling laws seriously. Read the wrap-up More background on the 10 Senators Project