Congress Is Back. And So Is Monsanto’s Sneak Attack.
by Organic Consumer Association
With the elections over, Congress has returned for a lame duck session to clear its plate of post-Thanksgiving legislative leftovers. Not surprisingly, Monsanto is back, too, pushing a rider to the FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations Bill that if passed, would grant the biotech engineering giant immunity from Federal law.
The so-called “Monsanto Rider” would require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for planting or cultivating a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed.
Why does Monsanto want to cut off our access to the courts? Because the courts have ruled that farmers have a right to grow non-GMO crops and consumers have a right to eat non-GMO food. Judges recognize that GMO contamination takes away those rights. So Monsanto is trying to bypass the courts.
Right now, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are drafting an omnibus appropriations bill behind closed doors, in the hope of passing it before January. The public won’t know what’s in the bill until it’s ready for a vote. And when the bill does hit the floor, amendments won’t be allowed.
Power-hungry Monsanto is counting on a sleepy public, distracted by the holidays, to let them slip this latest outrageous power grab through Congress.
Don’t let them do it! Contact your member of Congress and urge them to stop Monsanto’s rider.
Prop 37: What the Ongoing Vote Count Tells Us
As of November 28, the official vote count for Prop 37, the California Right to Know GMO labeling initiative looked like this: YES VOTES: 5,796,486 (48.2%); NO VOTES: 6,228,343 9 (51.8%)
The latest tally is an improvement over the official election-night results which showed Prop 37 defeated 53% to 47%.
Here are a couple of things we’re still learning about the vote from our pre-election polling and ongoing analysis. First, nearly half of California voters voted early. Among those early voters, Prop 37 lost. On election day, Prop 37 won – though not by enough to overcome the early losses. The well-funded NO campaign’s ability to launch their TV ads on October 1 gave them the clear advantage with early voters. Outspent nearly 5 to 1, the YES campaign couldn’t get on the air until the end of October. Once we did, we were able to bring voters back over to our side.
Second, we now know that more than 5.8 million people in California want a GMO labeling law. That’s a lot of consumers, many of whom had never heard of GMOs before Prop 37 came along. And it’s a number that state and national politicians can’t dismiss as a fringe minority.
Newly armed with the truth about GMOs and the passion to win the right to know, Prop 37 supporters inside and outside California are paying more attention than ever to food labels. They’re making different food choices. They’re making noise. It’s the next best thing to a win.
California election officials have until December 7 to report their final results to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has until December 14 to certify the results of all California elections. We probably won’t catch up enough to win this battle, but the war has just begun.