MILLIONS AGAINST MONSANTO
Get on the Bus!
The battle for the right to know if your food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could come to a screeching halt with the signing ofone bill in Congress.
We need to stop that bill in its tracks.
H.R. 4432—the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) ACT—was introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) at the bidding of Monsanto, Big Food and the Koch Brothers. If passed, H.R. 4432 will strip your state of the right to pass a GMO labeling law.
The DARK ACT will have its first hearing on Capitol Hill, on December 10. If we don’t turn out in numbers to protest this bill, our voice could be silenced.
We’re organizing busloads of people to attend the hearing, followed by a rally and an organic lunch. But if we want to have an impact, if we want to attract the attention of Congress and the media, we need a minimum of 1000 people to be there.
Here’s how you can help. OCA will help pay for a bus from your state to Washington D.C., if you can fill the bus. Right now we have bus captains trying to fill buses in Pennsylvania, Central New Jersey, Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, Maine, West Virginia and Maryland. If you live in one of those areas, please email campaigns@organicconsumers.org, or call our office at 218-226-4164.
If you live outside those areas, and want to organize a bus, please use the above contact information. To attend the protest, RSVP here and we’ll contact you if a bus is organized in your area.
This could be the most important action you’ve taken yet to protect your right to know about GMOs. We have all signed the petitions. We have all called our Congress members. But Monsanto and Big Food are running scared, and they will do everything in their power to pass this law.
We must do everything in our power to stop them.
Please get on the bus for GMO labeling on December 10!
GMO LABELING CAMPAIGN
Let the Recount Begin!
It’s official. With only 812 votes separating the YES and NO on 92 campaigns, Oregon’s Measure 92, an initiative to require mandatory labeling of GMOs in food products, is now in recount mode.
We could still win this. And we aren’t the only ones who think so.
Oregon’s KGW Channel 8 initially called the Measure 92 race for the No side. But now, long-time KGW political analyst Len Bergstein says that he believes the YES side will be victorious!
That news has sent Monsanto and Big Food into overdrive. They already spent a record-shattering $20.8 million on the campaign to defeat GMO labeling in Oregon. You can bet they’ll dig as deep into their pockets as they have to in order to try to manipulate this recount.
Right now, the YES on 92 campaign is building a team of legal experts and volunteers to ensure that every vote is counted fairly and accurately. The kind of team we need is going to cost money. That’s why we’ve pledge yet another $25,000 to the campaign, through our 501(c) 4 lobbying arm, the Organic Consumers Fund.
If you’re one of the thousands of people who have already donated to pass this historic initiative in Oregon, thank you. Today, we’re asking you to protect your investment by making one last donation to help with the recount.
If you haven’t yet donated to support Measure 92, now’s your chance.
The YES on 92 campaign has done an incredible job so far of keeping this fight alive. The recount is our last hope—and it’s not just a stab in the dark.
We have a real chance of winning this.
Photo Credit: Defence Images via Compfight cc
ACTION ALERT
Cryin’ in their Coffee
When singer/songwriter Neil Young wrote that he was boycotting Starbucks—a member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)—because the GMA is suing to overturn Vermont’s GMO labeling law, Starbucks fired back on its website claiming that a “petition claiming that Starbucks is part of this [lawsuit against Vermont] litigation is completely false and we have asked the petitioners to correct their description of our position.”
But Starbucks’ denial wasn’t enough to convince consumers. So the GMA rushed to the rescue with this statement: "Neither Starbucks nor Monsanto is participating in our lawsuit to overturn Vermont's GMO labeling law."
Nice try. Fact is, corporations join lobbying groups like the GMA so they can maintain a consumer-friendly image while the lobbying group does the dirty work for them. Case in point: When Washington State sued the GMA for money laundering, the GMA defended its creation of the “Defense of Brand Strategic Account” to “better shield individual companies from attack,” by claiming that the lobbying group speaks “with one voice” for its members.
And a statement by GMA President and CEO Pamela Bailey, on the GMA website, says: “From rapidly changing consumer preferences to the public policy arena, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is uniquely positioned to bring the industry together, as one voice, to lead and to address those issues that no one company can solve alone.”
Issues like keeping labels off all of the GMO-tainted foods sold in Starbucks.
If Starbucks wants consumers to believe that the company is not, at least indirectly, party to the GMA’s lawsuit against Vermont, Starbucks needs to quit the GMA immediately. End of story.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Your Lab-Grown, Pesticide-Drenched Dinner is Ready
Monsanto’s image has taken a beating, as the company has been exposed for what it is—a greedy, monopolistic pesticide-maker willing to poison every last acre of land, and every last bite of food, in order to maximize its profits. Now the world’s most evil corporation is running a slick public relations campaign targeted directly to you, the consumer. Will this warm, fuzzy video convince consumers that Monsanto is all about helping farmers and feeding the world?
THANKSGIVING COVERAGE
An ‘All’ American Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving. Sometimes it seems the day is all about the three Fs—food, family and football. (Followed by the Big S—Shopping).
Some people do manage to work in a “thank you” here and there.
A few of us even pause long enough to reflect on the story behind the holiday. One of those is writer Jennifer Browdy:
“The indigenous people of this continent are not gone–they are alive and well and living among us. Let us raise a glass to them today and give them the honor and thanks they deserve.”
ACTION ALERT
Vote Bayer into the Corporate Hall of Shame!
It’s that time of year again. When the worst companies in the world compete for their rightful place in the Corporate Hall of Shame.
This year we’re partnering with Corporate Accountability International to hold Bayer accountable for not only manufacturing the pesticides that kill bees, but for shifting the blame.
By now, we all know that neonicotinoids are the primary culprit in Colony Collapse Disorder. We also know who stands to profit the most from selling neonics—Bayer CropScience is the world’s number one seller of neonics, with annual sales of over $1 billion.
Yet to hear Bayer tell it, the neonic-maker is the honeybee’s best friend. It’s climate change that’s killing the bees, says Bayer. Or mites. But certainly not the pesticide-maker’s poisons.
Bayer has even established the Bayer Bee Care Center in a disingenuous public relations move aimed at convincing consumers that the company is dedicated to protecting bees.
It’s all part of Bayer’s “Tobacco-Style PR tactics,” outlined in this report by the Friends of the Earth.
Bayer should be ashamed. It isn’t, of course. So it’s up to us to shame the world’s leading bee-killer.
Vote Bayer into the Corporate Hall of Shame
LITTLE BYTES
Essential Reading for the Week
Bone Broth: A Nourishing Food for Virtually Any Ailment
The Negative Effects of Pesticides on Children
General Mills Agrees to Drop “100% Natural” Labeling in Face of Lawsuit
Wal-Mart's Bottomless Greed: Dodging Billions in Taxes, Scheming to Avoid Billions More
Leading NGOs Slam Greenwashing by Meat Industry, Demand Beefier Sustainability Standards
5 Surprising Lessons about Organic Food from the Organic World Congress
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