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Last week we had an incredible victory by stalling the Fast Track for secretive international trade agreements like the TPP that would undermine representative democracy and make it illegal to label GMO foods. Your calls and emails helped make the difference, but we can’t let up.
Right now Congress is back at it, once again carrying Monsanto’s water to put their toxic profits over our nation’s health and our democracy.
This time, Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) has reintroduced his disastrous bill, the so-called “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” (H.R. 1599), which would make it illegal for states to pass common sense GMO labeling and now also prohibits states or counties from banning or regulating GMOs in any way.
Take a stand! Tell Congress: “I support GMO labeling!” The Monsanto Protection Act is back and worse than ever! Every voice counts!
For the past 23 years, Monsanto and giant chemical companies have gotten away with writing the rules and regulations behind closed doors allowing their toxic chemicals and untested genetically engineered crops to receive rubberstamp approvals at the FDA, EPA and USDA.
The latest additions to Pompeo’s deceitfully named bill would only further enshrine regulatory incompetence here in the United States and permanently preserve the illusion of government oversight of GMO crops put in place when Monsanto’s former attorney Michael Taylor originally wrote the rules of “substantial equivalence” that currently deny Americans the right to know if their food has been genetically engineered.
What Monsanto’s New Protection Act, the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act” (H.R. 1599) will do if passed:
1. Forbid states from labeling GMO foods or enforcing existing labeling laws passed in Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.
2. Prohibit any state or local county or city oversight of GMO crops, even when the federal government has declined or failed to regulate them.
3. Weaken already impotent federal regulations on GMO crops at USDA and FDA.
4. Make it more difficult to voluntarily label GMO and non-GMO foods by prohibiting any private label claims that do not go through a new USDA certification standard established by the bill.
2. Prohibit any state or local county or city oversight of GMO crops, even when the federal government has declined or failed to regulate them.
3. Weaken already impotent federal regulations on GMO crops at USDA and FDA.
4. Make it more difficult to voluntarily label GMO and non-GMO foods by prohibiting any private label claims that do not go through a new USDA certification standard established by the bill.
This morning, June 18th, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will be holding a hearing on Pompeo’s dangerous new bill and we need your help to stop this undemocratic bill. We can’t let Monsanto get away with killing the growing grassroots movement to hold them accountable, especially when glyphosate, the main chemical ingredient in their weedkiller Roundup, which more than 90 percent of GMO crops have been engineered to withstand, was recently declared a probable cancer-causing agent by the World Health Organization.
In the past 3 years, more than 30 states have introduced bills or ballot initiatives to require GMO labeling – and because of this growing grassroots movement, mandatory GMO labeling laws have passed in Connecticut, Maine and Vermont.Now Monsanto’s getting more desperate than ever.
If members of Congress voted to pass Pompeo it will preempt state’s rights, outlaw state GMO labeling and reverse recent victories like bans on GMO crops passed in Jackson and Josephine County in Oregon and Maui, which passed by popular votes to protect organic seed and community health in these states last year.
Click here if you support labeling genetically engineered foods! Don’t let Monsanto get away with continuing to undermine our democracy write the rules behind closed doors.
Remember, democracy is like a muscle, either you use it or you lose it!"
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