Genetically modified democracy: Monsanto moves to obliterate states' rights to label GMOs

Genetically modified democracy: Monsanto moves to obliterate states' rights to label GMOs


(NaturalNews) Reliable sources in Washington D.C. have informed the
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) that Monsanto has begun secretly
lobbying its Congressional allies to attach one or more "Monsanto
Riders" or amendments to the 2013 Farm Bill that would preempt or
prohibit states from requiring labels on genetically engineered (GE)
foods.

In response to this blatant violation of states' rights to
legislate, and consumers' right to know, the OCA and a nationwide
alliance have launched a petition http://salsa3.salsalabs.com
to put every member of Congress on notice: If you support any Farm Bill
amendment that would nullify states' rights to label genetically
modified organisms (GMOs), we'll vote - or throw - you out of office.

On
Wednesday, May 15, an amendment to the House version of the Farm Bill,
inserted under the guise of protecting interstate commerce, passed out
of the House Agricultural Committee. If the King Amendment makes it into
the final Farm Bill, it would take away states' rights to pass laws
governing the production or manufacture of any agricultural product,
including food and animals raised for food, that is involved in
interstate commerce. The amendment was proposed by Rep. Steve King
(R-Iowa), largely in response to a California law stating that by 2015,
California will allow only eggs to be sold from hens housed in cages
specified by California. But policy analysts emphasize that the
amendment, broadly and ambiguously written, could be used to prohibit or
preempt any state GMO labeling or food safety law.

Will the King Amendment survive the Senate? No one can be sure, say analysts. However few doubt that Monsanto
will give up. We can expect that more amendments and riders will be
introduced into the Farm Bill--even if the King Amendment fails - over
the next month in an attempt to stop the wave of state GMO labeling laws
and initiatives moving forward in states like Washington, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and others.

Monsanto
and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) have admitted privately
that they've "lost the battle" to stop GE food labeling at the state
level, now that states are aggressively moving forward on labeling laws.
On May 14, Maine's House Ag Committee passed a GMO labeling
law. On May 10, the Vermont House passed a labeling bill, 99-42,
despite massive lobbying by Monsanto and threats to sue the state. And
though Monsanto won a razor-thin victory (51 percent to 49 percent) in a
costly, hard fought California GMO labeling ballot initiative last
November, biotech and Big Food now realize that Washington State voters
will likely pass I-522, an upcoming ballot initiative to label GE foods,
on November 5.

If
Monsanto can't stop states from passing laws, then the next step is a
national preemptive measure. And all signs point to just such a power
grab. Earlier this year, Monsanto slipped its extremely unpopular
"Monsanto Protection Act," an act that gives biotech immunity from
federal prosecution for planting illegally approved GE crops, into the
2013 Federal Appropriations Bill. During the June 2012 Farm Bill debate,
73 U.S. Senators voted against the right of states to pass mandatory GE
food labeling laws.
Emboldened by these votes, and now the House Ag Committee's vote on the
King Amendment, Monsanto has every reason to believe Congress would
support a potential nullification of states' rights to label.

The
million-strong OCA and its allies in the organic and natural health
movement are warning incumbent Senators and House members, Democrats and
Republicans alike, that thousands of health and environmental-minded
constituents in their Congressional districts or states will work to
recall them or drive them out of office if they fail to heed the will of
the people and to respect the time-honored traditions of shared state
sovereignty over food labels, food safety laws, and consumers' right to
know.

Trouble in Monsanto Nation
Over the past 20 years
Monsanto and the biotech industry, aided and abetted by indentured
politicians and corporate agribusiness, have begun seizing control over
the global food and farming system, including the legislative, patent,
trade, judicial and regulatory bodies that are supposed to safeguard the
public interest.

In the U.S., despite mounting evidence www.earthopensource.org
of the damage GE crops inflict on human health and the environment,
approximately 170 million acres of GE crops, including corn, soybeans,
cotton, canola, sugar beets, alfalfa, papaya, and squash, are currently
under cultivation. These crops, untested and unlabeled, comprise 41
percent of all cultivated cropland, or 17 percent of all cropland and
pastureland combined. According to the GMA, at least 70 percent of
non-organic grocery store processed foods contain GMOs. And GE grains
and mill byproducts now supply the overwhelming majority of animal feed
on the factory farms that supply 90 percent to 95 percent of the meat,
eggs and dairy products that Americans consume.

Yet despite their
marketplace dominance, record profits and enormous political clout in
Washington D.C., Monsanto and the biotech industry are in deep trouble.
Evidence is mounting that Monsanto's top-selling herbicide, Roundup, is a
deadly poison, destroying important human gut bacteria and likely
contributing to the rapid increase of food allergies and serious human
diseases including cancer, autism, neurological disorders , Attention
Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), dementia, Alzheimer's,
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Those most susceptible http://articles.mercola.com to poisoning by Monsanto's Roundup are children and the elderly.

Scientists
aren't the only ones raising new questions about Roundup. Farmers are
complaining that they're being forced to spray more and more chemicals
on crops increasingly under siege from a growing army of
herbicide-resistant weeds. The situation is so bad that the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just raised http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27491.cfm
the limits of Roundup residue allowed on grains and vegetables to even
more dangerous levels. But just in case the EPA someday stops raising
the limits, Monsanto, Dow and the biotech industry are working on a new
"solution" to the onslaught of herbicide-resistant Superweeds: They've
applied for approval of a new and highly controversial generation of
super toxic herbicide-resistant GE crops, including "Agent Orange"
(2,4-D and dicamba-resistant) corn, soybeans and cotton.

As a recent widely-circulated article points out, http://articles.mercola.com

"The
use of 2,4-D is not new; it's actually one of the most widely used
herbicides in the world. What is new is that farmers will now 'carpet
bomb' staple food crops like soy and corn with this chemical at a
previously unprecedented scale - just the way glyphosate has been
indiscriminately applied as a result of Roundup Ready crops. In fact, if
2,4-D resistant crops receive approval and eventually come to replace
Monsanto's failing Roundup-resistant crops as Dow intends, it is likely
that billions of pounds will be needed, on top of the already insane
levels of Roundup being used (1.6 billion lbs were used in 2007 in the
US alone)."

In addition to these Agent Orange crops, an
expanded menu of genetically engineered organisms are awaiting approval.
Next on the menu? GE apples, trees, and salmon.

State Labeling Laws: The 'skull and crossbones' that terrify Monsanto
Monsanto's
greatest fear isn't a federal government charged with protecting the
health and safety of its citizens. Congress and the White House seem
only too happy to oblige the biotech industry's unquenchable thirst for
growth, power and dominance. No, it's the massive, unstoppable (so far)
grassroots movement of Millions Against Monsanto that strikes fear in
the heart of the Biotech Bully. U.S. citizens are waking up. They're
demanding labels on genetically engineered foods, similar to those
already required in the European Union. They're calling for serious
independent safety-testing of GE crops and animals, both those already
approved (especially Monsanto's Roundup-resistant crops) and those
awaiting approval.

The anti-GMO movement has finally figured out,
after 20 years of fruitlessly lobbying Congress, the FDA and the White
House, that the federal government is not going to require labels on GE
foods. Instead the movement has shifted the battleground on GMO labeling
from Monsanto and Big Food's turf in Washington D.C. to the more
favorable terrain of state ballot initiatives and state legislative
action - publicizing the fact that a state GMO labeling law will have
the same marketplace impact as a national labeling law.

State
laws spell doom for Monsanto. Companies like Kellogg's, General Mills,
Coca-Cola, Pepsi/Frito-Lay, Dean Foods, Unilever, Con-Agra, Safeway,
Wal-Mart and Smuckers are not going to label in just one or two states.
Monsanto knows that U.S. food companies will go GMO-free in the entire
U.S., rather than admit to consumers that their products contain GMOs.

As
Monsanto itself has pointed out, labels on genetically engineered foods
are like putting a "skull and crossbones" on food packages. This is why
Monsanto and their allies poured $46 million into defeating a
California ballot initiative last year that would have required labels
on GMO foods. This is why Monsanto has lobbied strenuously in 30 states
this year to prevent, or at least delay, state mandatory labeling laws
from being passed. This is why Monsanto has threatened to file federal
lawsuits against Vermont, Connecticut, Maine and Washington if they dare
grant citizens the right to know whether or not their food has been
genetically engineered or not.

And this is why Monsanto's minions
are trying to insert amendments or riders into the Farm Bill that will
make it nearly impossible, even illegal, for states to pass GMO labeling
laws. And there's nothing to stop them when Congress is filled with
pro-biotech cheerleaders who could care less that 90 percent of U.S.
consumers want mandatory labels and proper safety testing of genetically
engineered crops and foods.

Countering Monsanto's Final Offensive: Throw the Bums Out!
Only
a massive grassroots resistance will deter the U.S. Senate and House
from stomping on our rights. Only an unprecedented campaign of public
education, petition-gathering and grassroots pressure will be able to
convince the ever-more corrupt and indentured politicians in Washington
D.C. to back off.

Eighteen state constitutions have century-old
provisions for state registered voters to collect petitions and recall
state and local officials, forcing them to either resign or stand for
reelection. But what very few Americans, and even members of Congress,
realize is that 11 states have constitutional provisions to recall U.S.
Senators and House of Representative members, as well as state elected
officials.

It's time we exercise the full power of direct
democracy, not just state and municipal ballot initiatives. We must
continue to support efforts like the current state ballot initiative to
label GMOs in Washington state, and county ballot initiatives to ban
GMOs, factory farms and other corporate crimes, in the 24 states and
hundreds of counties and municipalities where these are allowed. But we
also need to use the power we have to recall and throw out of office our
out-of-control Congressional Senators and Representatives as well.

If
our elected officials in Congress continue to represent Monsanto and
big corporations, rather than their constituents, then let's throw the
bums out! If the Washington political Establishment, both Democrats and
Republicans, continue to trample on our inalienable constitutional
rights and contemptuously disregard the 225-year principle of a shared
balance of power between the federal government, the states and local
government, then we have no choice but to recall them or throw them out
of office.

Please join the nation's organic consumers and natural
health advocates in this strategic battle, the Food Fight of Our Lives.
Please join this campaign to save, not only our right to choose what's
in our food, but our basic right to democratic representation and
self-determination as well. Sign the petition. http://salsa3.salsalabs.com
Tell your Congressmen and women, especially the 73 incumbents who voted
last year to eliminate states rights' to legislate on GMO labels, and
those in the House this week who voted to support the King Amendment
that "enough is enough," "basta ya." Power to the People!


source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/040413_Monsanto_states_rights_GMO_labeling.html