Last week the Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill by a vote of 64 to 35. Despite the hard won battles by Food Democracy Now! and our allies, the bill’s passage is another sad reminder that our elected officials in Washington, DC are continuing to place the interests of corporate lobbyists over the wellbeing of the American people.
Nowhere was that more evident than the vote against the Sanders’ “Consumers Right to Know About Genetically Engineered Food Act” (amendment S. 2310) that would have clarified state’s rights to label genetically engineered foods. Rather than stand up for the rights of Americans, 73 U.S. Senators chose to vote against your basic Right to Know what’s in your food.
Today the assault on our rights continues in the House of Representatives, where a provision was added to the House Agricultural Appropriations Bill that would strip federal courts of their authority to halt the sale and planting of an illegal and potentially hazardous GMO crop. This new provision, called a “rider”, would allow biotech companies to continue to sell their unapproved seeds to farmers, who could plant them while important legal appeals are taking place, instead of halting the planting of the unapproved crop until the court settled the appeal as has been done up until now.
In classic form, the biotech industry has cleverly hidden their toxic plan under the deceptive title of a “Farmer Assurance Provision” (Sec. 733). In truth, the language in this provision is nothing short of a “Monsanto Protection Act” that would allow this company to continue to flout American legal precedence and violate the constitutional separation of powers set forth by our Founding Fathers.
In short, the “Farm Assurance Provision” is the greatest threat to farmers’ and citizens’ rights that Monsanto and the biotech industry has ever devised and it must be stopped - today!
This provision is being debated this week in the House of Representatives and we need your help today. Click here to stop the Monsanto Protection Act and tell your member of Congress to stand up for your rights and the Constitution!
Click here
According to legal advocates at the Center for Food Safety, this provision “would create a precedent-setting limitation on judicial review” and is a “dangerous assault on fundamental federal and judicial safeguards”.
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Passing this on. Please sign and pass on as well. This assault on our democracy, judicial review and food sovereignty by a handful of biotech/big ag companies is a travesty. Let your voice be heard to protect farmers, our environment and the judicial process.
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