Doubling Down
As soon as the newswires lit up last week with the report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, “probably” causes cancer in humans, Monsanto doubled down on its efforts to deny the truth about what’s in your food.
We doubled down, too. And so did an anonymous donor in New England who stepped up to match your donations to our March online fundraising campaign.
DEADLINE MARCH 31: Support GMO labeling laws today and your donation will be matched by an anonymous donor.
When the damning report on glyphosate broke, the Biotech Bully’s public relations flacks flatly denied the claims, and immediately set out to attack the report and the scientists who wrote it—just as they’ve attacked every other credible scientist and study questioning the safety of the world’s most widely used herbicide.
Meanwhile this week on Capitol Hill, a bill written by industry lobbyists to preempt states’ rights to pass GMO labeling laws, was reintroduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). The bill, dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, is a desperate attempt by Monsanto and Big Food to keep consumers in the dark about what’s in their food—including “accepted allowable” residues of cancer-causing glyphosate.
It is critical that we keep the pressure on Monsanto and the Junk Food Giants by continuing to launch state GMO labeling campaigns. That’s why OCA is leading the new GMO labeling campaign in Maine this legislative season, and lending background support to other New England states, including Massachusetts, whose grassroots coalitions are working fast and furiously to pass GMO labeling laws before Congress moves to stomp them out.
This latest report from WHO should have every consumer alarmed—and ready to fight back.
It's Back. And It's Worse.
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) didn’t like the fact that consumer groups renamed his bill to kill state GMO labeling laws the "Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act." So, in order to appear to be on the side of consumers who want the right to know if their food contains GMOs, Pompeo has reintroduced the bill, [LINK TO COME] with a new plan.
The new-and-improved (but really much worse) DARK Act would still do what it set out to do—strip states of their century-old rights to pass food labeling laws. But the bill now also includes a scheme for a national, uniform standard for labeling products non-GMO—a new program that would be overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Really? Pompeo, a member of the Republican Party which purports to stand for states’ rights and is allegedly anti-big government, wants to create yet another federal government-run program? This time, to certify non-GMO? We fail to see how that's preferable to just requiring food manufacturers to do what they already do in more than 60 other countries—simply state whether or not their products contain GMOS?
The DARK Act 2.0 was introduced on the heels of a hearing held this week by the House Committee on Agriculture to, the committee said, examine the “Cost and Impacts of States Implementing Mandatory Biotechnology Labeling Laws.” During that hearing, industry trotted out all of its talking points, including false claims that labeling will cost food manufacturers millions of dollars, a cost they’ll have to pass on to consumers. Never mind that study after study has proven otherwise. That food manufacturers change their labels all the time. And that in countries where GMO labeling is required, costs have not been passed on to consumers.
Pompeo’s bill has nothing to do with protecting consumer or states’ rights, and everything to do with protecting the profits of those companies—like Monsanto and Coca-Cola—who have essentially written this law. It’s an outrage. And we will do everything in our power to stop it dead in its tracks.
Read the OCA press release
TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Representative: Support Consumer and States' Rights. Reject Rep. Pompeo's DARK Act!:
The new-and-improved (but really much worse) DARK Act would still do what it set out to do—strip states of their century-old rights to pass food labeling laws. But the bill now also includes a scheme for a national, uniform standard for labeling products non-GMO—a new program that would be overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Really? Pompeo, a member of the Republican Party which purports to stand for states’ rights and is allegedly anti-big government, wants to create yet another federal government-run program? This time, to certify non-GMO? We fail to see how that's preferable to just requiring food manufacturers to do what they already do in more than 60 other countries—simply state whether or not their products contain GMOS?
The DARK Act 2.0 was introduced on the heels of a hearing held this week by the House Committee on Agriculture to, the committee said, examine the “Cost and Impacts of States Implementing Mandatory Biotechnology Labeling Laws.” During that hearing, industry trotted out all of its talking points, including false claims that labeling will cost food manufacturers millions of dollars, a cost they’ll have to pass on to consumers. Never mind that study after study has proven otherwise. That food manufacturers change their labels all the time. And that in countries where GMO labeling is required, costs have not been passed on to consumers.
Pompeo’s bill has nothing to do with protecting consumer or states’ rights, and everything to do with protecting the profits of those companies—like Monsanto and Coca-Cola—who have essentially written this law. It’s an outrage. And we will do everything in our power to stop it dead in its tracks.
Read the OCA press release
TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Representative: Support Consumer and States' Rights. Reject Rep. Pompeo's DARK Act!:
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