One Day, Three Events, Many Lies

Dear Supporter,
 

On December 10, I watched three important events unfold.
 

One of those events inspired hope.

Two of them filled me first with concern, then disgust, and finally, resolve.

Please help us raise $200,000 to #EndMonsantoLies in 2015. If we reach our goal by midnight December 31, natural health leader Mercola.com will match your donation. Details here on how to donate online, by phone or by mail.

On December 10, more than 600 activists gathered on Capitol Hill, many after riding buses all night from states as far away as Indiana, Michigan and Florida. They made the trip, after a last-minute call-to-action from OCA and our allies, to protest a federal bill (H.R. 4432) intended to strip states of the right to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws.

I was inspired by the crowd, the dedicated army of activists (maybe you were one of them?), willing to stand in the cold, in a show of solidarity, for health and democracy. 

They gave me hope.

But as I listened online to the hearing on H.R. 4432, taking place just across the street from our rally, hope gave way to concern. After initially believing that Congress would never consider such a blatant attack on states’ and consumer rights, I could tell from that hearing that this bill poses a very real, potentially devastating and imminent threat.

During the hearing for H.R. 4432, lawmakers laid the ground for allowing GMO foods to be labeled “natural.” And one by one, the people in the room parroted Monsanto’s worst lie of all—that GMO foods are “perfectly safe.”

And then there was the third event that day. In Oregon, a judge ruled that 4,600 uncounted votes would not be counted—ending a long, costly campaign to pass Measure 92, a statewide initiative to require mandatory labeling of GMOs.

Once more, a Big Food and Monsanto-led $20.7 million advertising blitz sunk (by a mere 800+ votes) a citizen-led initiative to require corporations to be transparent, and accountable, for the products they sell.

And once more, they did it with lies. They lied about the impact on farmers of their corporate system of patented seeds and expensive fertilizers. They lied about the cost to consumers and retailers of a simple line on a label.

They lied about the impact of GMO foods, which are nothing more than pesticide-delivery systems, on your health.
 

The day ended with the realization that we've substantially won the GMO labeling battle by passing a solid mandatory labeling law in Vermont, which includes a ban on labeling GMO-tainted foods as "natural," and by successfully pressuring major retailers, including Whole Foods Markets, to label all their 50,000 products, including meat, eggs, dairy and deli foods. 

But while we may be winning the battle for the hearts and minds of consumers, and influencing retailers, we have a long fight ahead of us as long as Washington bureaucrats remain indentured to Monsanto and Big Food.

Despite the day’s discouraging news on Capitol Hill and in Oregon, December 10 ended on a note of hope. Because we have you. And hundreds of thousands of people like you who are not buying Monsanto’s lies. People like you, grassroots activists from all political parties and all walks of life, who will ultimately expose the corporations that are poisoning our food and farming system.

We need you in this movement. We need you to help grow this movement.
 
Now, more than ever, we need your help to #EndMonsantoLies.

Please help us raise $200,000 to #EndMonsantoLies in 2015. If we reach our goal by midnight December 31, Mercola.com will match your donation. Details here on how to donate online, by phone or by mail.

Ronnie Cummins
National Director, Organic Consumers Association and Organic Consumers Fund

 

P.S. Contrary to Monsanto’s PR machine, there is no scientific consensus on the “safety” of GMOs. In October 2013, more than 200 scientists, physicians, academics, and experts from disciplines relevant to the scientific, legal, social and safety assessment GMOs issued a statement which said “we strongly reject claims by GM seed developers and some scientists, commentators, and journalists that there is a ‘scientific consensus’ on GMO safety and that the debate on this topic is ‘over. Please make a year-end donation today to help #EndMonsantoLies.