NOBULL: Connecticut makes history with the first in the nation GMO labeling bill
Connecticut makes history with the first in the nation GMO labeling bill – It’s time to TURN UP THE HEAT in all 50 states!
Dear Mike
What a difference a week makes! Last week Food Democracy Now! reported that efforts in Connecticut to label genetically engineered foods had hit a roadblock when the House passed a different version of the bill and last minute amendments deeply compromised real prospects of a GMO labeling bill passing this year in the state.
Undeterred, we issued a grassroots call to action to stand with local Connecticut activists on the ground to make sure that their elected officials did the right thing. After more than 40,000 phone calls from across the country, and as far away as Netherlands, a compromise was reached with leaders in the House, Senate and Governor’s office that makes Connecticut the first state in the U.S. to pass a strong, common sense GMO labeling bill.
Over the weekend the Connecticut Senate voted 34 to 0 to pass an amendment to HB 6527 to label GMOs in Connecticut and 2 days later, the CT House passed the bill 134 to 3. But we need your help to finish the fight to label GMOs in ALL 50 states.
From the beginning Food Democracy Now! has supported mandatory state and federal labeling of GMOs. Right now, Connecticut, has led the way, but we need help to pass a similar bill in Maine, New York and Massachusetts. With GMO labeling in one state, the momentum is already spreading across the country like dominoes falling and Monsanto is panicking.
Because of Monsanto’s threats to sue any state that passes a stand alone GMO labeling bill, leaders in the Connecticut House, Senate and Governors office reached a compromise that says GMO labeling will go into effect in Connecticut once 4 other states pass a mandatory GMO labeling. According to the provision, which is meant to insulate the state of Connecticut from an expensive lawsuit, one state must be touching the Connecticut border (New York, Massachusetts or Rhode Island) and that the states in the North East region have a population totaling 20 million.
The great news is that Maine, Massachusetts, Pennslyvania, New Jersey and New York all have GMO labeling bills in the current session and could follow Connecticut in a matter of weeks so we need your help to keep the pressure on!
Already 26 states have introduced GMO labeling bills this year, with Vermont passing a version in their state House and Maine close to passing one now. Also, this November in Washington state, we’ll fight to win ballot initiative I-522 to make sure we have another state that supports mandatory labeling of GMOs in the U.S.
With your help we can help put a crack in the wall that Monsanto’s corrupt lobbying practices have held up for so long. Earlier this year, you stood with us as Food Democracy Now! helped lead the charge against the Monsanto Protection Act with more than 300,000 signatures and we need you now more than ever!
Click here to support GMO labeling and the fight to stop Monsanto. With your help we can win!
Last year, Monsanto spent nearly $6 million on lobbying, we’ll never match them financially, but we have something more important – YOU – and an army of grassroots activists dedicated to standing up for our basic right to not only know what’s in our food, but also to protect America’s farmers, our environment and our health from Monsanto’s flawed genetically engineered technology.
With the Senate’s recent failure to allow a floor vote on Senator Merkley’s amendment to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act and the discovery of illegal and unapproved Monsanto GMO wheat in an Oregon farmer’s field, we need your help more than ever!
Because of your help in the past, we’ve been able to take on the most powerful and despised company on the planet. Join Food Democracy Now! today to:
- Support state’s rights to label GMOs!
- Continue our fight to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act!
- Expose the shoddy science behind Monsanto’s GMOs and their toxic chemicals.
- Protect America’s farmers from unwanted contamination of their crops through our lawusit against Monsanto.
Yes, I want to join the campaign to stop Monsanto!
Remember, democracy is like a muscle, either you use it, or you lose it!
Thanks for participating in food democracy,
Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! team
Sources:
1. “Politicians Flinch as a Grass-Roots Movement Comes of Age to Force GMO Labeling” The CT Mirror, June 2, 2013.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/960?t=12&akid=889.48727.DQIvOM
2. “Monsanto shares fall as South Korea joins pause in wheat imports”, The Washington Post, May 31, 2013.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/961?t=14&akid=889.48727.DQIvOM
3. “HB 6527 Amendment LCO 8508: An Act Concerning Genetically-Engineered Food”.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/962?t=16&akid=889.48727.DQIvOM
4. How Grassroots Advocates Beat the Biotech and Food Lobbies”, Huffington Post, June 5, 2013.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/965?t=18&akid=889.48727.DQIvOM
