A.B. 1301, A.B. 1323, A.B. 649 Pass Assembly Natural Resources Committee Despite Oil Industry Pressure

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Three bills that would halt fracking in California won key votes last night, passing the Assembly Natural Resources Committee despite intense pressure from the oil industry. Richard Bloom’s A.B. 1301, Holly Mitchell’s A.B. 1323 and Adrin Nazarian’s A.B. 649 would place a moratorium on fracking while threats posed by the controversial practice to California’s environment and public health are studied.

Oil and gas wells have been fracked in at least nine California counties without fracking-specific regulation or even monitoring by state oil and gas officials. Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, employs huge volumes of water mixed with sand and toxic chemicals — including known carcinogens — to blast open rock formations and release previously inaccessible fossil fuels.

A.B. 1301 — sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch and Clean Water Action — is supported by the California Nurses Association, Breast Cancer Action, Family Farm Defenders and more than 100 other health, labor, environmental and social justice organizations. A.B. 649, A.B. 1301 and A.B. 1323 will next go to the Assembly Appropriations Committee

“This is a huge win for Californians threatened by fracking pollution,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. “These bills will protect the air we breathe and the water we drink from cancer-causing chemicals and other fracking pollutants. That’s why a fracking moratorium is supported by nurses, farmers and so many others concerned about our state’s health and environment.”

Fracking is linked to air and water pollution and releases large amounts of methane, a dangerously potent greenhouse gas. About 25 percent of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, according to scientists with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

“The Natural Resources Committee sided with the people of California yesterday when it voted to advance legislation that places a moratorium on fracking,” said Kristin Lynch, Pacific region director for Food & Water Watch. “From the food that California farmers grow today to the long-term future of our state’s water resources and air, California’s economy and vital resources hang in the balance if we allow fracking to continue in California.”

The huge volume of water used and contaminated by fracking is a critical issue for drought-ridden states like California. A new report from the Western Organization of Resource Councils estimates that fracking consumes about 7 billion gallons of water in four western states where fracking has become widespread. The report, titled “Gone for Good,” warns that water consumption by the oil and gas industry “simply cannot be sustained.”

“This vote is an important step in the effort to protect California from the dangers of fracking,” said Andrew Grinberg of Clean Water Action. “This committee gets it that the state needs to slow down and assess the many threats to our air, water, climate and communities of extreme oil extraction.”

Fracking also pollutes the air by releasing dangerous petroleum hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene and xylene. It can also increase levels of ground-level ozone, a key risk factor for asthma and other respiratory illness. Air pollution caused by fracking contributes to the risk of asthma, cancer, and other health problems in people living near fracked wells, according to a Colorado School of Public Health study.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

Clean Water Action is the nation’s largest grassroots group focused on water, energy and environmental health. With 1 million members, Clean Water Action works for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, and creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses. Clean Water Action’s nonpartisan campaigns empower people to make democracy work.

Contact:       
Kassie Siegel, (951) 961-7972, ksiegel(at)biologicaldiversity(dot)org
Kristin Lynch, (415) 293-9917, klynch(at)fwwatch(dot)org
Andrew Grinberg, (415) 298-8314, agrinberg(at)cleanwater(dot)org

Wenonah signing books at a recent event in Red Bank, N.J. Photo Credit: Jim Rapp

By Wenonah Hauter

Since January, I have been traveling the country promoting my book Foodopoly. While the travel is exhausting, the people I meet on the road keep me going. They tell me how much they appreciate Foodopoly’s honest account of the imbalance of power at the root of our dysfunctional food system and often share with me their personal experiences. Farmers impart stories of having to sell their land and find other work because they can’t compete in an unfair marketplace. Former neighborhood market owners explain how they’ve been pushed out of business by large national chains. And everyday consumers lament their frustration with the consolidation of every type of food – especially organic – that has diminished most real choice on grocery shelves. These are the people I wrote Foodopoly for.

Today, I am in Willits, a little town in Northern California, where I will be speaking at the Little Lake Grange. Willits is called the Gateway to the Redwoods – majestic tree groves and farmland form a beautiful patchwork in this tiny town in the heart of Mendocino County – and it is a welcome detour from my typical tour route of big cities.

Sadly, however, this beautiful patchwork is endangered by an unnecessary freeway bypass project. And peaceful protests by residents against the project have been trounced by a massive occupation by the California Highway Patrol. Since March 21, Willits has had the highest CHP-to-citizen ratio in the state.

The Willits Bypass would require clear-cutting an old growth forest, cause severe damage to the watershed, seasonal wetland and wells. The bypass construction and mitigation would take more than 2,060 acres of farmland out of production. If the bypass is constructed, the valley would essentially be owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), with no mind to the farmers and residents who will be forced to live in the bypass’s shadow.

And, the saddest part of this obsolete monstrosity is that there is no need for it. Sara Grusky, who runs Save Little Lake Valley and coincidentally used to work for Food & Water Watch, tells me that the traffic volumes through Willits do not call for a project of this size and her group has proposed several time- and environment-saving alternatives to the bypass.

“The bypass is an obscene waste,” Sara told me. “It is all part of the same obsolete model as the Keystone XL pipeline, fossil fuel intensive energy solutions that we just cannot let go forward.”

Which is why Sara, the brave tree sitters, and other residents of Willits are risking arrest and injury to protect their town and precious ecosystem. I am awed by the fortitude shown by the people of Willits and hope their courage will inspire others to stand up for what they believe in. Whether it’s stopping a destructive, wasteful freeway project from tearing your town apart, fighting to get genetically engineered food labeled in your grocery store, or holding the Department of Justice accountable for blocking food monopolies that harm farmers and consumers, we must all do our part to take back our political system.

By Adam Scow

Despite the narrow loss of Proposition 37 last November, the movement to label genetically engineered foods in California is stronger than ever. A new statewide coalition has emerged to continue and grow the movement to win labeling in California. Coalition participants include a wide range of organizations at the forefront of food issues including the Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network, Consumers Union, California State Grange and dozens of other organizations. The coalition is considering advancing state legislation and revisiting the possibility of another ballot initiative in the near future. Stay up-to-date on the lastest by following us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/FoodWaterWatchCalifornia

The looming threat of the approval of GE salmon by the Food & Drug Administration has also galvanized local activists across California to petition the agency to not allow the potentially dangerous salmon to reach our plates. If approved, GE salmon would be the first “transgenic” animal allowed into our food supply. It’s also unlikely that it would have to be labeled, so you might not even know you’re eating it. Recognizing these threats, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution to oppose FDA approval of the salmon and we were pleased to testify and support its passage, introduced by Councilmember Paul Koretz.

Video courtesy of Citizens for Health

Statement from Kristin Lynch, Pacific Region Director of Food & Water Watch

SAN FRANCISCO—“With proposed regulations, which took nearly a year to draft, today the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) proves that it has no intention to move beyond the lawless Wild West when it comes to fracking in our state, leaving us at the mercy of the oil and gas industry.

“DOGGR’s draft regulations will do nothing to protect Californians from the dangers fracking poses to our air, water and climate. It does not address the federal environmental and health legislative exemptions the oil and gas industry currently enjoys, including the key exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Nor does it provide meaningful chemical disclosure requirements and it would have the industry police itself by evaluating and monitoring its fracking operations for safety. The ‘regulations’ proposed are akin to having state speeding regulations where automobile drivers are expected contact law enforcement on their own volition if they break the posted speed limit at any given time.”

Contact: Anna Ghosh, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 415-293-9905

Marisa Tomei, James Franco, Stacy Keibler, Minnie Driver, Brett Ratner, Trevor Plouffe, Tony Goldwyn, James Van Der Beek, Lisa Bonet, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eloise Mumford, China Chow, Molly Ringwald and More in a New Series of Ads to Make Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Mandatory in California

LOS ANGELES — To combat the growing intensity of deceptive advertising blanketing California airwaves – funded by the giant chemical and food corporations opposed to Proposition 37 at an estimated $1 million a day – Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water, sponsored by Food & Watch, has created a second big wave of viral Internet celebrity videos and TV ads asking Californians to vote YES on Proposition 37.

As Election Day nears, the top myth being spread by the opposition to create confusion and doubt among voters is the fallacy that Prop 37, a measure to require that GE foods (GMOs) be labeled, will raise food costs. A new series of Public Service Announcement videos featuring Academy Award-winning and nominated actors along with other celebrities and California parents and their kids, takes the issue of cost head-on and reminds Californians not to fall for the food industry’s deceptive scare tactics.

The featured PSA “Grocery Costs” stars Marissa Tomei, James Franco, Minnie Driver, Lisa Bonet and Mary Elizabeth Winstead telling viewers, “Large processed food companies have always claimed that giving consumers basic information about their food – using labels – would increase their grocery costs. And every time…it’s been a lie. Now those same companies are at it again, making more outlandish claims that your grocery bill will skyrocket under Proposition 37-which requires labels for GMO’s. Well IT’s NOT TRUE! And we’re fighting back…with the truth.”

“Grocery Costs” along with another powerful spot entitled “I’m A Mom” will air on television across Los Angeles during popular shows like Good Morning America, Meet the Press and an NFL game in the final days of the campaign. These videos and two other PSAs will also be shared virally through social media.

 These new videos are part of a larger series of videos released since October 15, 2012, by Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water. Previous videos featured celebrities such as Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Dave Matthews, Jillian Michaels, Emily Deschanel, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten, as well as children describing the problems with GE foods (GMOs) and encouraging adults to vote YES on Prop 37.

The first series of PSAs have received over 310,000 online views combined and the overwhelmingly positive response led to a generous outpouring of individual donations to help expand the videos’ reach further across television.

“Since the pesticide and junk food companies opposed to Prop 37 don’t have the truth or public opinion on their side, they’re spending about $1 million a day on ads attempting to confuse the public into voting against their right to know what’s in their food,” said Food & Water Watch Pacific Region Director Kristin Lynch. “While we may never be able to match our opponent’s spending, we’re hoping these popular celebrities and everyday moms and kids will help make this message viral so that every Californian realizes that a yes vote for Prop 37 is a vote towards a healthier, more transparent food supply for everyone.”

Proposition 37 is a ballot measure that requires simple, clear labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically engineered. It was written with broad input from food groups, industry, science, legal and health experts and qualified for the November ballot with more than 1 million signatures from California citizens.

The series of PSA videos is part of a larger campaign that Food & Water Watch is waging nationally and Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is waging throughout California in support of Proposition 37 and mandatory GE labeling. Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water’s efforts include grassroots organizing that contributed to the LA City Council unanimously endorsing Yes on 37, 90 billboards throughout Los Angeles County, a $10,000 contribution to the California Right to Know campaign, efforts to attract and coordinate volunteers for phone banking and other campaign activities, and email notifications to its more than 60,000 California supporters.

Versions of the videos and more information about Prop 37 and Food & Water Watch’s commitment to mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods can be found at: www.voteyes37.com

Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is the political action committee for Food & Water Watch. Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

 Contact: Anna Ghosh, 415-265-1568, aghosh(at)fwwatch(dot)org

Think you have the right to know what’s in your food? So do Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Jillian Michaels and other celebrities who think GE food should be labeled

By Eric Anderson

The No on 37 campaign has been carpet-bombing the airwaves with misleading ads, hoping to pummel people with enough misinformation to defeat the measure. Their spending has increased to more than $40 million, more than all donations for and against Props 31, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 40 combined. This has definitely taken on a toll on the poll numbers, which show the Yes side down for the first time.

Since the campaign in support of Prop 37 is being primarily funded by average Californians who can’t compete with the $1 million-a-day that the pesticide and junk food companies are spending to mislead undecided voters, we’ve had to take a more creative approach. Using a combination of new media and on-the-ground organizing, a grassroots campaign has taken shape to fight for our right to know what’s in our food.

Prop 37’s for luddites? WRONG

One of the arguments Prop 37’s opponents use is that the people fighting for their right to know what’s in their food hate technology. Really? Then how to you explain tech entrepreneur Ali Partovi who launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo driven by an irreverent video about GE foods. His strategy primarily consists of using Facebook ads to draw in more supporters and spread the word about Prop 37. Partovi says that enacting Prop 37 would “return us to a baseline of basic transparency from which a free market can thrive.”  

Or how to you explain this poignant op-ed by the molecular geneticist who helped commercialize the world’s first GE whole food?

Prop 37’s bad for business? Don’t tell these chefs for successful restaurants

With California being the premiere “foodie” state, it’s not surprising that an army of renown celebrity chefs – 1,200 so far – have joined godmother of California cuisine Alice Waters in pledging their support for Prop 37. So far, it has received over 1,200 signatures. Overall, more than 2,000 businesses have spoken out in support of Prop 37.

Prop 37 will cause family farmers to go out of business? Fact check please!

Over 2,000 farmers have endorsed Prop 37, undermining the narrative that the initiative will hurt farmers. The No on 37 campaign has used cotton farmer Ted Sheely in their advertisements. Sheely is a longtime ally of big agribusinesses having previously served on the board of the Westlands Water District, one of the most powerful water districts in the state. He hardly represents that average farmer.

Here at Food & Water Watch, we’ve released several videos featuring Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Dave Matthews and Jillian Michaels as well as adorable kids. The overwhelming positive response led to a generous outpouring of individual donors, helping us catapult these ads on the airwaves.

Illustrating the power of on-the-ground grassroots organizing, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting Prop 37. “It’s not often that the LA City Council votes unanimously to support a measure, but Prop 37 was a no-brainer. We have the right to know what’s in the food we’re eating and feeding our families,” said Councilmember Paul Koretz, the resolution’s author. “I’m proud to be a part of this true grassroots campaign in our struggle against the biggest pesticide and junk food companies in the world.” The LA City Council joins countless other local governments and politicians including the City of Long Beach and Senator Barbara Boxer in supporting Prop 37.

There’s no doubt that the odds and the money are stacked against Prop 37, but we have truth and people power on our side. That said, for the next 6 days, everyone who believes in their basic right to know whether or not their food is genetically engineered needs to be working to counteract the opposition’s expensive disinformation campaign. The California Right to Know campaign has set up an easy phone banking system so that anyone can help get out the vote for Prop 37 from their own couches – even people from out of state. So make a call and take on Big Food head on by helping Prop 37 to pass.

Eric is the California Communications and Outreach Assistant in Food & Water Watch’s San Francisco office.

A Series of Online and TV Ads Released This Week in Support of Prop 37 to Make GE Food Labeling Mandatory in California

Los Angeles – With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the David vs. Goliath battle over Proposition 37, the initiative to require labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food, or GMOs, is in a dead heat, according to polls. To combat the vast amounts of deceptive advertising funded by the giant chemical and food corporations opposed to Prop 37 that is blanketing California airwaves, consumer and health advocates and grassroots activists have created a wave of viral Internet videos and social media activity.

This week, one of those videos, the “Right to Know” public service announcement featuring Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Dave Matthews and several other celebrities will hit televisions across Los Angeles during popular shows like Good Morning America and Meet the Press. “Right to Know,” in addition to three other PSAs, will also reach more than 2.5 million Californians through advertisements across the Internet between now and Nov. 6.  

Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water’s series of PSAs has received nearly 250,000 online views combined since launching on Oct. 15. The overwhelmingly positive response led to a generous outpouring of individual donations to help expand the videos’ reach further.

Two of the four PSAs feature a diverse, all-star cast including Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Dave Matthews, Jillian Michaels, Emily Deschanel, John Cho, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, KaDee Strickland and Kristin Bauer van Straten. The other two PSAs feature children describing the problems with GE foods (GMOs) and encouraging adults to vote yes on Prop 37.

“Since the pesticide and junk food companies opposed to Prop 37 don’t have the truth or public opinion on their side, they’re spending about $1 million a day on ads attempting to confuse the public into voting against their right to know what’s in their food,” said Food & Water Watch Pacific Region Director Kristin Lynch. “While we may never be able to match our opponent’s spending, we’re hoping these popular celebrities and adorable kids will help make this message viral so that every Californian realizes that a yes vote for Prop 37 is a vote towards a healthier, more transparent food supply for everyone.”  

Proposition 37 is a ballot measure that requires simple, clear labels letting consumers know if foods are genetically engineered. It was written with broad input from food groups, industry, science, legal and health experts and qualified for the November ballot with more than 1 million signatures from California citizens.

“The ability to make an informed choice about what you feed your family is a right no American should be denied,” said Jillian Michaels, fitness expert, author and trainer who has appeared on TV’s The Doctors, The Biggest Loser and Losing It With Jillian. “I support Prop 37 because regardless of how you feel about the safety of genetically engineered foods we all deserve the right to choose whether or not we want to consume them – and labeling GMOs grants us that right.”

The series of PSA videos is part of a larger campaign that Food & Water Watch is waging nationally and Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is waging throughout California in support of Proposition 37 and mandatory GE labeling. Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water’s efforts include grassroots organizing that contributed to the LA City Council unanimously endorsing Yes on 37, 90 billboards throughout Los Angeles County, a $10,000 contribution to the California Right to Know campaign, efforts to attract and coordinate volunteers for phone banking and other campaign activities, and email notifications to its more than 60,000 California supporters.

Versions of the videos and more information about Prop 37 and Food & Water Watch’s commitment to mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods can be found at: www.voteyes37.

Consumer Advocates for Safe Food and Water is the political action committee for Food & Water Watch. Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

By Tim Schwab

If you’ve been paying attention to the news about food lately, you’ve probably read about the now infamous “Seralini study,” in which University of Caen (France) molecular biologist Gilles-Eric Seralini demonstrated major health issues associated with eating Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) corn and the herbicide used in conjunction with it, RoundUp.

Widely covered by the media, most reports have tried to portray Seralini as a strident, ideologically driven researcher who willfully designed a study to produce a result showing that GE food is bad. Many science journalists criticized Seralini for having an anti-GE bias, for taking research money from a foundation that is anti-GE, and for not disclosing every piece of data to the public.

But this attack coverage seems grossly disproportionate given the realities around funding and bias in agricultural research. Science journalists seldom, if ever, cover the opposite angle: that industry has funded much of the scientific literature we have about the safety of GE foods. These industry-funded studies aren’t science as much as they are public relations, always concluding that GE is safe and good. And in our broken regulatory system for these controversial new foods, these industry studies are also what regulators use to approve new genetically engineered crops for our food supply. Read more…

Los Angeles—At the Plains Exploration & Production Company’s (PXP) annual community meeting last night, people from the communities surrounding the Inglewood Oil Field joined advocacy organizations Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community and Food & Water Watch in speaking out against PXP’s recent study on fracking and the practice of fracking and its related activities in general. During a brief press conference before PXP’s meeting, Food & Water Watch released a detailed analysis of PXP’s fracking study that delineates how the study does nothing to address the community’s concerns and bends science to suit the oil and gas industry’s financial interests. 

“The conflict of interest and lack of independent scientific scrutiny involved in this ‘study’ could not be more obvious and does nothing to address the long-term risks that drilling and fracking pose to communities surrounding the Inglewood Oil Field,” said Food & Water Watch Pacific Region Director Kristin Lynch. “On the contrary, truly independent studies have consistently shown that fracking and its related activities pose an unacceptable risk to our water, air, climate, homes and communities. The only way to protect California’s future and move toward clean and sustainable energy resources is to ban fracking.”

Dozens of residents from the communities of Culver City, Ladera Heights and Baldwin Hills shared with the crowd of more than 200 how they have already suffered from the impacts of the Texas-based oil company’s drilling and that fracking would make their problems worse. The study was a result of a lawsuit settlement between environmental and community groups and PXP. It was intended to assess “the feasibility and potential impacts of fracking operations that PXP may conduct in the Inglewood Oil Field” but as the Food & Water Watch analysis reveals, the study falls drastically short of this objective with narrow scope and sweeping conclusions.

“Unfortunately, given the Settlement Agreement terms acceptable to all parties involved and the history of the implementation of the agreement by both Los Angeles County and PXP, one could only assume the results would be favorable to the oil operator and industry,” said Paul Ferrazzi, Executive Director of Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community. “We wish we could have some confidence in this study but given the study’s preparing company’s and the peer reviewer’s direct advocacy for the industry, we do not feel it was adequately conducted, properly reviewed or that the public should take comfort in the conclusions of the study.  If anything, this study raises more questions than it answers.

“The public should be able to ask for clarification and further support for the authors’ contentions. CCSC urges the county to use the study as a starting point for further discussion and allow public participation and professional scientific responses independent of the oil and gas industries influence to test the validity, assumptions and conclusions of the study before any fracking is allowed,” said Ferrazzi.

Food & Water Watch’s 10-page analysis of the PXP fracking study can be downloaded here: http://fwwat.ch/PXPfrack

Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community was born in 2008 out of the efforts of grassroots community organizing for the protection of the environmental health and safety of Los Angeles County residents. Its purpose is to alert, educate and empower residents to participate in the governmental process with informed public comment to projects negatively impacting our community.

 Contact:

Brenna Norton, bnorton(at)fwwatch(dot)org, 323-843-8446

Paul Ferrazzi, 310-909-6652

By Anna Ghosh

By Khalil Bendib, courtesy of OtherWords. Shared under Creative Commons

For the past 10 days or so, the anti-Prop 37 henchmen funded by Monsanto, Dow and their agribusiness cronies have been blanketing California with advertisements full of confusion and outright lies. So, it’s not terribly surprising that a Pepperdine Poll released yesterday shows that support for Prop 37 has taken a hit.

The good news is, Prop 37 is still leading in the polls with nearly 50 percent of respondents planning to vote yes, and we still have a few weeks to reach Californians who may not even know what genetically engineered food is or how pervasive it already is in our food supply. In addition to the truth and the power of information, we also have some pretty great celebrities on our side. And, while we’ll never match our opponents’ campaign coffers, Food & Water Watch and our allies have been busy getting the word out and we wanted to share some of the highlights with you.

Here’s an op-ed by our Executive Director Wenonah Hauter, syndicated by the Institute for Policy Studies OtherWords Project: Consumer Choice: As American as Apple Pie

And another great OtherWords op-ed by Jill Richardson: Big Food Fight

Wenonah’s Letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune was published on Oct. 10:

Genetically modified

Your Sept. 29 editorial “Corny scare tactics; New study attacking genetically modified crops falls flat” sings the praises of genetically modified corn, calling Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready corn a “boon” and questioning the validity of a study that recently linked consumption of genetically engineered corn to cancer in lab rats.

If the Chicago Tribune editorial board is so excited by the “contributions” of biotechnology to the food system and so sure that the research showing it’s unsafe is bunk, wouldn’t you advocate for making sure people could choose such a wonderful product in the supermarket? If GE foods are so great, why is the food industry fighting tooth and nail to stop labeling efforts around the country, like the more than $30 million being spent to stop a GE labeling ballot measure in California, Prop 37?

Let’s not let the food industry or editorial boards decide whether or not GE foods are desirable. Let’s let consumers decide. Let’s make GE labels the law.

And don’t miss Michael Pollan’s piece in this weekend’s upcoming New York Times Magazine or Dan Imhoff and Michael Dimock in the LA Times.

Good stuff! But we’re not out of the woods yet. Much more needs to be done to make sure California voters understand that a vote for Prop 37 is a vote for our health, our environment, consumer choice and information. The best way to chip away at the confusion and misinformation being strewn across California’s airwaves is to hit the airwaves ourselves. Are you with us? Please donate what you can to help us air a version of this excellent public service announcement featuring Danny DeVito, Bill Maher, Jillian Michaels and several other stars. With your help, we just might make history by making GE labeling the law in California.