OCA Wins Victory in St. Paul City Council Resolution

August 8, 2001
For Immediate Release - text of the resolution

Contact: Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy,
612-870-3416
Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association - MN, 888-403-1007

St. Paul City Council Passes Resolution on Genetically Engineered Food

City Calls For Greater Federal Regulation, Schools to Consider Organic

Minneapolis - The St. Paul City Council passed by unanimous vote a
resolution calling for greater regulatory scrutiny of genetically
engineered foods. The resolution also urged the St. Paul school district to
consider organic food as part of its school lunch program.

The resolution, introduced by Council Member Kathy Lantry, was officially
passed when Mayor Norm Coleman let it go unsigned at the end of business
day on Tuesday. The Council had passed the resolution on August 1.

"The resolution sends another strong signal to our representatives in
Washington that citizens want greater oversight of genetically engineered
crops," said Kristin Dawkins, of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy. "St. Paul is joining the growing chorus of cities calling for
greater safety protections for consumers and farmers when it comes to
genetically engineered crops."

"The Organic Consumers Association and our public interest group allies
across the country are determined to see hundreds fo cities pass and
implement resolutions such as the ones recently approved in Minneapolis and
St. Paul. Consumers and concerned parents are fed up with unlabeled and
untested genetically engineered foods flooding the marketplace and ending
up, among other places, in our kids school lunches. Now is the time to
begin the long overdue transition to non-genetically engineered, organic
foods," said Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers
Association.

The resolution calls for federal agencies to research and publicly
disseminate findings to determine the human health and environmental risks
associated with eating genetically modified foods. The resolution also
calls for legislation supporting labeling of all GMO food products - both
foreign and domestic.

Approval of the St. Paul resolution adds to the growing list of cities
expressing concern about federal oversight of genetically engineered crops.
Other cities passing similar resolutions include: Boston, Austin Texas,
Minneapolis, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Cleveland and Boulder, Colorado.

St. Paul Mayor and US Senate candidate Norm Coleman elected to not sign the
resolution. By not signing it, and not vetoing the resolution, Coleman
allowed the resolution to be adopted.

GMO crops planted in the US are primarily soybeans, corn, cotton and
canola. Nationwide, an estimated 60 percent of all soybeans are genetically
engineered, and an estimated 25 percent of all corn is genetically
engineered. An estimated 60-70 percent of products on supermarket shelves
contain some genetically engineered ingredients.

The Organic Consumers Association and Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy are part of Genetically Engineered Food Alert - a coalition of
organizations working to keep genetically engineered foods and crops off
the market until: 1) Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no
harmful effects on human health or the environment, 2) They are labeled to
ensure the consumer's right-to-know, and 3) The biotechnology corporations
that manufacture them are held accountable for any harms they may cause.

Below is the text of the resolution:

St. Paul GMO Resolution

WHEREAS, genetically engineered foods are not tested by any federal agency;
and

WHEREAS, the Food and Drug Administration requires only that companies
producing such genetically engineered foods state, on the "honor system",
that such foods are safe with no further testing required; and

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Council of the City of Saint Paul
urges the Federal Government to encourage research and to disseminate
information from that research to determine the safety for human
consumption of GMO_s and any dangers to the environment. This research
should assess the human health impact of genetic engineering in agriculture
that conform to scientific standards; and

Be It Further Resolved, that the City of Saint Paul supports the
establishment of federal legislation requiring labeling of all foods and
products, whether foreign or domestic, derived from, processed with
produced by, containing or consisting of genetically engineered organisms;
and

Be It Further Resolved, that the Council of the City of Saint Paul urges
the Saint Paul School District to investigate the viability of offering
organic