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from NaturalNews Website
After two decades of biotech bullying and force-feeding unlabeled and hazardous genetically engineered (GE) foods to animals and humans - aided and abetted by the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations - it's time to move beyond defensive measures and go on the offensive.
With organic farming, climate stability, and public health under the gun of the gene engineers and their partners in crime, it's time to do more than complain.
With over 1/3 of U.S. cropland already
contaminated with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs),
with mounting scientific evidence that GMOs cause cancer, birth
defects, and serious food allergies (http://www.responsibletechnology.org/)
and with new biotech mutants like alfalfa, lawn grass, ethanol-ready
corn, 2,4 D-resistant crops, and genetically engineered trees and
animals in the pipeline (http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/)
time is running out.
It is impossible to coexist with a reckless industry that,
It's time to take down the Biotech
Behemoth, before the living web of biodiversity is terminated.
Given the near-dictatorial control of,
...we have no choice in the present
moment but to revert to "asymmetrical" guerrilla tactics, to seek
out the Achilles heel or fundamental weakness of the biotech
industry.
If GE-tainted foods are labeled in supermarkets and natural food stores, a massive rejection of chemical and GMO foods will take place, transforming the marketplace and supercharging the organic and local foods revolution. The biotech industry has been aware of their tremendous vulnerability in the United States ever since Monsanto forced their controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone on the market in February 1994.
In the wake of nationwide "Frankenfood" protests and milk dumps, industry made sure that no federal labeling or safety testing would be required. As the biotechnocrats understand full well, mandatory GE food labels will cripple the industry: consumers will not buy gene-altered foods, farmers will not plant them, restaurants and food processors will avoid them, and grocery stores will not sell them.
How can we be certain about this?
By looking at the experience of the
European Union, the largest agricultural market in the world. In the
EU there are almost no genetically engineered crops under
cultivation or GE consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And
why is this? Not because GE crops are automatically banned in
Europe. But rather because under EU law, all foods containing
genetically engineered ingredients must be labeled.
Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to consume GE foods.
European farmers and food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by the Monsanto executive quoted above:
The biotech and food industry are acutely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods.
Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or DuPont - the same people who brought you toxic pesticides and industrial chemicals, Agent Orange, carcinogenic food additives, PCBs, and now global warming.
Industry leaders are definitely aware of the fact that every poll over the last 20 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on genetically engineered foods.
Why do consumers want labels? So that we can avoid buying these mutant foods, gene-spliced with viruses, bacteria, antibiotic- resistant marker genes and foreign DNA.
Gene-altered foods have absolutely no
benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why
Monsanto and their friends in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama
administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws
from ever getting a public discussion, much less coming to a vote,
in Congress.
Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court
decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave big
corporations, millionaires, and billionaires the right to spend
unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to
buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO
labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all
but non-existent.
Of the 18 states where GE food labeling
legislation has been introduced over the past two years, only in
Vermont does our side seem to have the votes to push labeling
through, as well as a Governor who will not cave in to Monsanto.
A state ballot initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can bring about a public vote on a proposed statute or constitutional amendment, in our case a law requiring mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.
Ballot initiatives are also called, depending on the state, "popular initiatives," "voter initiatives," "citizen initiatives" or just "initiatives."
In fact passage in just one large state, for example California, where there is tremendous opposition to GE foods as well as a multi-billion dollar organic food industry, will likely have the same impact as a national labeling law.
Will they dare put labels on their
branded food products in just one or two states, admitting these
products contain genetically engineered ingredients, while still
withholding label information in the other states? The answer is
very likely no. Withholding important and controversial information
in some states, while providing it to consumers in other states,
would be a public relations disaster.
Once food manufacturers and supermarkets
are forced to come clean and label genetically engineered products,
they will likely remove all GE ingredients, to avoid the "skull and
crossbones" effect, just like the food industry in the EU has done.
In the wake of this development American farmers will convert
millions of acres of GE crops to non-GMO or organic varieties.
Monsanto, DuPont, and other corporate giants have used their enormous clout to send their lawyers and scientists through the revolving door into jobs as government regulators.
Biotech's financial power has polluted
state and federal governments, along with trade associations,
universities, research institutions, philanthropic organizations,
and media outlets.
...indicate that nearly all Americans
believe that foods made with genetically modified organisms should
indeed be labeled.
It's not news that most Americans support labeling of GMO foods.
Since genetically modified foods were first introduced in mid-1990s, scores of public opinion polls have shown that the vast majority of consumers want mandatory labeling of all genetically modified foods. These include recent polls by CBS News/New York Times, NPR/Thomson Reuters and the Consumers Union.
Unfortunately Congress and the White
House have ignored these polls, accepting instead the claims of
lobbyists and indentured scientists that genetically engineered
foods are perfectly safe, and that uninformed and
scientifically illiterate Americans must not be given the choice to
buy or not to not GMOs, because they will reject them.
Monsanto's money has bought it influence and allowed it to move its lawyers and scientists through the revolving door into roles within the regulatory agencies. The USDA, FDA and State Department are full of appointees with connections to Monsanto.
Monsanto's efforts have successfully
stifled attempts in Congress and state legislatures to pass GMO
labeling legislation.
As poll after poll has shown, 85-95% of Americans support mandatory GE food labels.
No matter how much money Monsanto and
their allies spend to defeat a ballot initiative, it is very
difficult to turn back overwhelming public sentiment. Monsanto has
become one of the most hated corporations on earth.
We probably won't be able to raise
enough money to outspend Monsanto, the Farm Bureau, and the Grocery
Manufacturers Association, but we can raise enough money to defend
our popular position and maintain majority support.
Biotechnology or BioDemocracy?
But cutting Monsanto and the biotechnocrats down to size and restoring consumer choice are a good first step to move us toward sustainability and a healthy food and farming system.
Just as important, in political terms, by defeating the Biotech Bullies and indentured politicians we can begin to restore the tattered self-confidence of the American body politic. A resounding victory by the organic community and OCA's Millions Against Monsanto campaign will prove to ourselves and the currently demoralized public that we can indeed take back control over the institutions and public policies that determine our daily lives.
Now is the time to move forward.
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