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Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate  TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK Send in the (Pro-GMO) Clowns Oops. Don’t bother. They’re here. As promised, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), the Congressman from Koch Industries, hasintroduced a federal bill to keep labels off GMO-contaminated foods. And he’s recruited a few fellow clowns, um, colleagues to stick out their necks along with him. They’re calling it the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014." Of course, it’s anything but. In a call promoting the bill, Pompeo said the “scientific community has spoken with one voice.” He went on to say: “There is not a single example” of anyone getting sick after eating food made with GMOs.” Either Rep. Pompeo lacks the intelligence required to understand what “long-term” negative health impact means. Or he thinks you do. The scientific community has not spoken with one voice. Genetic engineering is not what’s needed to feed the world. Genetic engineering has led to an increase in the amount of pesticides and herbicides used to grow food. And those toxic chemicals are making us sick. H.R. 4432 would lead to a useless “voluntary” federal labeling standard for GMOs. It would prohibit states from passing their own mandatory GMO labeling laws. And it would allow food manufacturers to use the word “natural” on products that contain GMOs. This is a law written by pesticide and junk food manufacturers. Sponsored by members of Congress whose nests are feathered by the likes of Monsanto and Coca-Cola. This week, Vermont moved closer to passing the country’s first no-strings-attached law requiring mandatory labeling of GMOs. H.R. 4432 seeks to take away Vermonters’ right to enact that law. This is an attack on consumer rights. On public health. On democracy. Together, we will stop it. NEW! TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Representative: Don’t Support Big Food’s Bill to Kill GMO Labeling Laws! TAKE ACTION: Tell the FDA: No Watered-Down, Voluntary Federal GMO Labeling Rules! TAKE ACTION: Tell Michelle Obama: Consumers Want Labels on Genetically Modified Foods! Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014  Pompeo Dear Colleague letter ACTION ALERT If It Walks Like a GMO . . . When you buy a certified organic product, you know it’s GMO-free—because genetic engineering isn’t allowed in organic. You also know the product and its ingredients haven’t been irradiated. Because irradiation is also banned from the USDA Organic certification rules. But here’s something you probably don’t know. USDA Organic rules do allow something called mutagenesis in organic. Even though mutagenesis is a form of genetic modification. Involving radiation. Mutagenesis is a method of plant breeding that involves subjecting plants to radiation, or dousing them in chemicals, in a way that scrambles their genes in order to produce new traits. The goal is to produce plants suitable for modern industrial agriculture, where crops are grown in vast monocultures with the aid of chemicals and machinery. If that sounds a lot like genetic engineering, it’s because it is. We don’t think mutagenesis should be allowed in organic. But if we want it out, we have to convince the National Organic Program to change its mind—and call for a change in the regulations governing organics. TAKE ACTION: Tell the USDA National Organic Program: Mutagenesis Doesn’t Belong in Organic!