Lane County, Oregon Tries to Kick Out Monsanto with GM Ban
Jackson County, Oregon was already successful in banning genetically modified foods (known as GMOs)Â even though Big Ag tried to fight the democratic vote. Now another Oregon County is following suit.
Residents of Lane County have begun work collecting signatures to get a GMO crop cultivation ban onto the May 2016 ballot. They need 14,500 signatures by December 31st in order for it to come up for a vote among Lane citizens. Like all grassroots movements, they need help.
Recently, in Jackson County, A federal judge rejected a claim by farmers that the ordinance violated their “right to farm” under state law. Their claim that they should get $4.2 million in compensation from the county is still pending, however, and county officials agreed not to enforce the GMO ban until it’s resolved.
You can bet that Monsanto’s lawyers have already sniffed out this appeal, and will do anything to stop it. After all, one county has already been successful giving them the boot, and biotech can’t allow a precedent to be built upon. If that were to happen, the whole state, and then the entire nation, would soon be GM-free county-by-county if need be.
Big Ag and Biotech have already tried to supersede state’s rights to label or ban GMOs. You can be certain that if that law passes with the DARK act, then counties will be stripped of that right as well – even though it is entirely unconstitutional.
Sounds like one of those laws that a couple decades from now people will read and just shake their heads.
The only candidate for President that has firmly supported GMO’s from the time she was Senator of NY, is Hillary. I searched for Bernie’s position and could not find it. Can Natural Society give us an up to date position of all the candidates?
Bernie Sanders is for labeling GMOs. He supports our right of informed consent. Bernie introduced a bill to let states exercise their right to require mandatory GMO labeling. The GOPers defeated the bill; they’ve sold themselves out to the corporations.
We have to watch out now for a bill that’s been introduced to “mandate voluntary labeling” and thus kill mandatory labeling forever. FDA has had a voluntary labeling program in place for14 years,but no corporations has YET labelled its GMOs.
Clinton also supports the TPP, which would completely endanger our food freedom rights and the health of our food supply. Bernie opposes the TPP.