Together, we passed a landmark genetically engineered (GE) foods labeling law in Vermont. Now, the giant food and chemical corporations are dispatching their armies of lawyers to try and defeat it in court. They want to continue to engineer our food and stop our right to know what’s in it. Next week, the hearings begin. 

Will you make a donation today to support our efforts in Vermont? I’ll be in court protecting Vermont’s GE labeling law, but I need to know you’re with me.

Since 2013, CFS’s legal team has been instrumental in helping pass and successfully defend the Vermont GE labeling law.  This work resulted in a great victory earlier this year, when the federal district court upheld this groundbreaking law. But, now, the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, Snack Food Association, and other plaintiffs have appealed the decision, trying to halt the law’s implementation. 

So we’re heading back to court on October 8th – and I’ll be there to defend your right to know. Will you stand by CFS to help us defend Vermont’s law?

As we have in many other states, CFS advised the State and Vermont groups on the crafting of the legislation for several years leading up to the GE labeling law’s passage in 2014, and has defended the Vermont GE labeling law in court since May 2014.  

The Vermont case has huge implications for the rest of the country. Why? Because it’s the first case challenging any state labeling law and as such will set a legal precedent. 

Winning this case will establish that state GE labeling laws are lawful, rejecting industry’s claims that they have a constitutional right to keep the public in dark about whether their food is genetically engineered, or that such state laws are preempted by federal law. This ruling could put to rest Big Food and Chemical’s claims that state GE labeling is unlawful. Vermont’s mandatory labeling policy will likely set the stage for more states to introduce and adopt labeling laws.

Next week is a big week for CFS, the culmination of many years of work—and for all of us who believe in the right to know. Please help us with the funding we need to take on these big food companies and win.

In addition to the Vermont law, CFS’s legal team is defending several other laws in court, and we have a history of winning: earlier this year, CFS won our case in Jackson County, Oregon to protect that county’s prohibition on GE crop cultivation. We are also currently defending similar laws in other counties.

CFS has been there every step of the way to defend these laws and the communities who worked so hard to pass them. At CFS, we do all of our work, including our legal efforts, without charge, and there are no monetary awards when we win.  Instead, we count on donations from our members to support these critical efforts. So we need your help to counter this corporate attack and defend these laws in court. Please donate what you can for the food movement and our right to know how our food is produced.  

Together, we can succeed in defending justice, democracy, and our right to know.

Thank you for making this work possible,

George Kimbrell
Senior Attorney, Center for Food Safety