Stonyfield Likes Organic & Labeled GMOs!

Eat Food & Live in California? You Have a Right to Know.

They won’t let us label GMOs in the US

Health Impact News Editor Comments: The FDA was required to respond to the “Just Label It” petition within 180 days. The petition garnered a record 1 million signatures during the 180 days, the most ever for any petition presented to the FDA. So how did they respond? They basically ignored it, and said that there were only 394 signatures on the petition. --Source: healthimpactnews.com

Article source: Daily News Los Angeles/By Stephanie Cary, Staff Writer

You stand in the aisle of your local grocery store to read the labels of foods you’re buying.

You think you know what you’re putting in your cart, paying money for and feeding to your family.

But do you really?

The people behind the It’s Our Right to Know campaign say no and are trying to get a California initiative on the November ballot that would force companies to label foods that contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

GMOs are organisms that have been manipulated in a laboratory to contain foreign genes such as bacteria, viruses, human genes and pesticides.

“The GMO labeling initiative is a grassroots effort to try and get genetically engineered organisms in our food labeled so that we have choices as to whether or not we eat it,” says Stacey Hall, the Southern California director for LabelGMOs.org, the group behind the labeling initiative.

Bags of MON810, a variety of genetically modified corn developed by Monsanto, were ripped open by anti-GMO activists in southern France in January. (AFP/Getty Images)

“Right now it’s not labeled in the United States. It’s labeled in almost 40-plus other countries including all of Europe, Japan, China, Russia, Brazil – they require labeling. They won’t let us do it here, so we are taking matters into our own hands and trying to create the right to choose what we feed our families and educate the public so the public can make educated decisions, basically.”

To get the initiative on California’s ballot, the campaign needs to obtain 560,000 qualifying signatures by April 22 – that’s the required 5 percent of the number of voters in the last gubernatorial election.

As of a few weeks ago, the group had more than 500,000 signatures, but their real goal is to obtain 850,000 to make up for any signatures the state might not recognize as qualifying.

Currently, many of the crops in the United States are being genetically engineered, including most corn, soy, canola, cotton seeds, sugar beet and papaya, and some crookneck squash, zucchini and alfalfa, says Hall.

“In order to avoid it, you would have to buy products that are certified USDA organic,” Hall says. “That’s the only way and, you know, it could be costly just to buy organic.”

Read the entire article

Eat Food & Live in California?

The California Committee for the Right to Know wants to let you know about this new ballot initiative in California and what it REALLY means for you and your family.

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You Have a Right to Know – LabelGMOs.org

Our Misplaced Trust in the FDA

The FDA does not require safety studies. Instead, if the makers of the GM foods claim that they are safe, the agency has no further questions. ~Jeffrey Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology

The FDA has approved GMOs based on the concept of “substantial evidence”, which means “if a new food is found to be substantially equivalent in composition and nutritional characteristics to an existing food, it can be regarded as safe as the conventional food.” This decision is not made by the FDA, but by the biotech company manufacturing GMOs. It’s a policy based on politics, not science.

Over 80% of all GMOs grown worldwide are engineered for herbicide tolerance. As a result, use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has increased 15 times since GMOs were introduced. GMO crops are also responsible for the emergence of “super weeds” and “super bugs:’ which can only be killed with ever more toxic poisons like 2,4-D (a major ingredient in Agent Orange). GMOs are a direct extension of chemical agriculture, and are developed and sold by the world’s biggest chemical companies. The long-term impacts of GMOs are unknown, and once released into the environment these novel organisms cannot be recalled.

read more: http://www.drfranklipman.com/q-and-as-about-the-safety-issues-regarding-gmos/

Our Children Deserve to Know it’s GMO

Photo shared by Empowering World Change

Before the FDA decided to allow GMOs into food without labeling, FDA scientists had repeatedly warned that GM foods can create unpredictable, hard-to-detect side effects, including allergies, toxins, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged long-term safety studies, but were ignored. ~ Institute of Responsible Technology

GMO foods were not sufficiently tested prior to their release on an unsuspecting populace. Serious questions have been raised about the scientific validity of the in-house studies run by GMO manufacturers which were accepted by the FDA as proof of safety. Independent studies have shown possible links between genetically modified foods and allergies, cancer risks and a host of other health problems. Labeling genetically engineered food will help pinpoint their effects on consumer health. “Because the FDA has failed to require labeling of GMO food, this initiative closes a critical loophole in food labeling law. It will allow Californians to choose what they buy and eat and will allow health professionals to track any potential adverse health impacts of these foods,” says Andy Kimbrell, Director of the Center for Food Safety. ~ Natural News, by: Tara Green

The Committee for the Right to Know is a grassroots coalition of consumer, public health, environmental organizations, and food companies in California that is seeking the labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs).

On November 9, 2011, the coalition submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General for title and summary, prior to circulation as an initiative measure for the November 2012 election. ~ labelgmos.org

A Flood of Genetically Engineered Foods

 

If it seems like the of GE food approvals has accelerated, take a look at the chronology of GE food approvals below – and how many have come after the Obama Administration came into office:

1992 – Calgene’s GE Flavr SavrTM tomatoes become first GE food on the market after approval by FDA.

1994 – Calgene’s GE canola approved by USDA.

1994 – Monsanto’s first Roundup Ready soybean approved by USDA.

1995 – Monsanto’s NewLeafTM potato, the first pest protected plant, approved by the EPA and FDA in 1995.

1996 – Monsanto’s first GE insect-resistant corn variety approved by USDA.

1997 – Calgene’s GE insect resistant Bt cotton approved by USDA.

1999 – GE papaya strains developed by Cornell University and the University of Hawaii approved by EPA.
2005 – Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa approved by USDA. This approval was challenged in court and planting of GE alfalfa was prohibited.

2005 – Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beets approved by USDA. This approval is challenged in court and planting of GE sugar beets was prohibited, although USDA allowed some of the crop to be planted.

2009 – Start of Obama Administration

2009 – Food and Drug Administration approved ATryn, an anticlotting agent that is produced in the milk of transgenic goats. This was the first U.S. approval of a GE animal.

2009 – GE papaya strain developed by University of Florida approved by USDA.

2010 – USDA approves Syngenta’s “stacked” corn variety (MIR162) that contains multiple GE traits, including resistance to a variety of corn pests.

2010 – Pioneer’s GE soybean, modified to produce increased amounts of monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic) and decreased amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) approved by USDA.

2011 – Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa is approved by USDA, with no planting restrictions.

2011 – USDA allows planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets despite unresolved legal challenges to the department’s approval of the crop.

2011 – Syngenta’s corn variety, genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that facilitates ethanol production, approved by USDA.

2011- Monsanto announces its intention to bring its stacked Roundup ready and insect-resistant sweet corn to market in 2012.

2011- Syngenta’s insect-resistant Bt cotton is approved by USDA.

2011- Monsanto’s insect-resistant Bt soybean, the first of its kind, is approved by USDA.

2011- USDA approves Bayer CropScience’s stacked herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant cotton.

Read the entire article from foodandwaterwatch.org:  “Genetically Engineered Foods”

TAKE ACTION

Tell the Obama Administration, “NO MORE GE FOOD!”

Idyllwild LabelGMOers Get 368 Signatures in 2 Days

In response to the issue of  GMOs (genetically engineered organisms) and the risks they pose to safe, sustainable food production. concerned Idyllwild citizens coordinated local efforts with the Coachella Valley Chapter of LabelGMOs.org, a statewide ballot initiative to label all food products containing genetically engineered ingredients. The State requires 500,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot, and in two days they gathered 368 towards this goal  in Idyllwild.

GMO-labeling game plan: California or bust! | Grist

Source article: GMO-labeling game plan: California or bust!
http://grist.org/scary-food/gmo-labeling-game-plan-california-or-bust/

22 FEB 2012 7:39 AM

Taking a play from the gay marriage battle, GMO-labeling advocates are taking a state-level approach. The plan has been to pass labeling bills in states where food is on the public’s radar, in order to convince Congress, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that the issue has teeth.

“We want to see it on a national level, but as more states put it up, we’ll get more attention,” says Cary Condotta, the Washington state representative who co-sponsored a GMO-labeling bill.

However, it’s not as simple as pointing to the high percentage of Americans who would like to know when they’re eating genetically modified food. According to a 2010 poll [PDF], 93 percent of Americans were in favor of such labeling.

Thanks to lobbying by seed companies and other agribusiness players, however, state legislators all over the nation have been hitting a wall. Now advocates are joining forces to create a super team in California, in an attempt to get a ballot initiative passed in the state that’s home to 10 percent of all the nation’s grocery stores.

The state-level legislation that could have been

Seventeen states introduced GMO-labeling legislation this session but very few of them appear to have a shot at a vote. With Big Ag providing major campaign contributions, it’s a hard sell. “They know that we’re here on this one issue but Monsanto is there all the time,” says Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director for the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). (The OCA also created the Millions Against Monsanto campaign.)

While many Americans may say they’re pro-GMO labeling, a much smaller number truly understands what genetically modified foods are, let alone how prevalent they are in their diets. In fact, as Tom Laskawy mentioned in a recent post, genetically engineered corn and soy are nearly impossible to avoid if you eat any non-organic processed foods at all.

It certainly doesn’t help when legislators don’t know what the bills are about either. “I bet most people in this legislature didn’t know what a GMO is,” says Condotta, “[So] we knew the likelihood of this legislative session [passing the bill in Washington] was low.”

Washington’s bill has been effectively killed, but Condotta doesn’t see it as a complete loss. It brought attention to the issue, educated the state’s residents on genetic engineering, and it sparked talk of creating GMO-free zones on a county-by-county level in Washington. (Over 40 countries currently have GMO bans or restrictions, which means that Washington’s farmers are worried about their export market if GMOs aren’t contained, Condotta says.)

“The simple answer is that our federal government hasn’t acted,” says Hawaii State Sen. Mike Gabbard in an email. He also introduced labeling legislation this session, but it was never heard in the state’s Agriculture Committee. “It’s going to take the public stepping up and demanding action,” he says. “Back in 2008, I was presented a petition signed by 4,000 Hawaii residents asking for the passage of my ‘whole foods’ labeling bill. Even this wasn’t enough to get my colleagues to act.”

Out of the 17 states with bills introduced, Connecticut and Vermont are the only ones where lawmakers may still have a chance at making something happen through their legislative bodies this year. Baden-Mayer says things in Connecticut are still “too early to call,” whereas Vermont gets a “definitely possible.”

Then there’s the question of if or when Right to Know legislation passes, whether it’ll be held up in court when Big Ag lawyers drag it there — which is likely. Their argument is most likely that food labeling belongs in the federal domain and should not be a state issue.

California’s ballot initiative

As legislation in state houses languishes, some people are proposing another way to get GMO products labeled. Write a bill, collect some signatures, get on the ballot, and lean on the popularity of genetically modified food labeling to get it passed. Sounds simple enough.

To get on the November 2012 ballot, California advocates will need more than 800,000 signatures (to account for ones that get thrown out for a plethora of ineligibility reasons) and have just started collecting them.

But pro-labelers aren’t the only ones pulling out the megaphone. Companies like Monsanto and DuPont will certainly put up a fight. “We have our work cut out for us because there’s this huge misinformation campaign and they’ll try to confuse voters,” says Pamm Larry, the instigator of the ballot initiative. “They’ll try to mislead consumers by saying the cost will go up when in fact, labeling changes happen all the time.”

Ballot initiatives are simple in theory and obscenely expensive in practice because they often rely heavily on television. And as with any David and Goliath story, companies like Monsanto clearly have the dollars to spend on lobbying against the initiative.

Proposition 2, a ballot initiative promising to improve the quality of life of caged farm animals, which passed in 2008, cost supporters $10 million, according to OCA. A 2004 GMO-labeling ballot initiative attempt in Oregon failed when supporters put up only $100,000 compared to the $5.5 million that came form a group calling themselves “Coalition Against the Costly Labeling Law” which included Monsanto, DuPont, Croplife, and Conagra, to name a few.

The California Right to Know Coalition hopes that by combining forces and money from around the country, they’ll outsmart industry effort. “We think we have the very best chance taking this to the voters,” Baden-Mayer says. “It’s a scary thing putting everything into this one, very expensive basket.”

The initiative is on track money- and volunteers-wise at the moment, according to Baden-Mayer.

Pamm Larry is definitely optimistic. “I think it’s going to pass,” she says. Either way, it seemed worth a shot: “Nothing else was working. Legislation was never going anywhere and the [government] agencies weren’t listening to people with their petitions.”
Jenny An is a writer based in Brooklyn. She’s written about food, technology, and the arts for Mashable, Conde Nast Traveler, and whomever else will let her.

Jenny An is a writer based in Brooklyn. She’s written about food, technology, and the arts for Mashable, Conde Nast Traveler, and whomever else will let her.

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