Statement on Election Results from the California Right to Know Campaign

Yesterday,
we showed that there is a food movement in the United States, and it is
strong, vibrant and too powerful to stop. We always knew we were the
underdogs, and the underdogs nearly took the day. Dirty money and dirty
tactics may have won this skirmish, but they will not win the war.

Today, we are more than 4 million votes closer
to knowing what’s in our food than when we started. This is a victory
and a giant step forward. We are proud of our broad coalition of moms
and dads, farmers, nurses, environmentalists, faith and labor leaders
who did so much with so few resources to bring us to this point, and we
will carry forward.

These results are also a reminder of the corrupting influence of huge
multinational corporations on our electoral process. The world’s
leading pesticide and junk food companies outspent Yes on 37 by more
than 5 to 1, and beginning on October 1, spent about a million dollars a
day on a hailstorm of false claims, misrepresentations and fear mongering
over five simple words on a label. In the end, they spent enough money
to hide the truth from the majority of voters. The food manufacturers
are on the wrong side of history; they should not fight their customers,
but join them.       

Today
is not the end of our campaign to secure our fundamental right to know
what’s in our food. It is a strong beginning, and we thank the millions
of Californians who stood with us. We are proud of our grassroots
movement, our 10,000 hardworking volunteers, and the diverse coalition
of health, faith, labor and consumer groups that stood with us. We will
keep fighting for consumer choice, fairness and transparency in our food
system. And we will prevail.

To Victory!