Maine lawmakers along with members of the grassroots coalition, Organic Consumers Association, have put forth a bill, LD 991, with strong bipartisan support to label GMOs immediately. Not with strange “supporting-state clauses,” and not in years to come – but NOW.
Maine has just as much chance as winning this GMO-labeling fight as Vermont –and they did win – even against the seemingly endless funds of Monsanto, the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, and infiltrated FDA and USDA within our government.
Previously, Maine passed a GMO labeling law which contained a trigger clause which required five Northeast states, including New Hampshire, to also pass mandatory labeling laws before Maine’s law to protect consumers from biotech could become active. Maine’s 2013 law also said that if the five-state threshold isn’t met by December 31, 2018, the bill is dead. That’s why this new bill, LD 991 is so important.
Katherine Paul, a resident of Freeport, Maine, and associate director of the Organic Consumers Association, said:
“Mainers overwhelmingly support the right to know if the food they put on the dinner table every night contains genetically modified organisms. Sixty-seven countries that represent sixty-five percent of the world’s population have already embraced transparency through GMO labelling. We believe that Maine is ready to lead the nation and adopt this common-sense requirement to ensure that we have a choice in the types of foods we decide to feed to our children.”
The new bill is trigger-free, which means it could go into effect as soon as it was voted through, and it needs your support – even if you don’t live in Maine. Why? Because every state that wins out over Monsanto is another nail in their proverbial coffin – and they will be defeated.
No longer will seed monopolizing companies who really just want to sell chemicals to farmers and ruin our food supply be allowed to win.
The grassroots coalition is trying to raise $200,000 by March 31st in order to help promote his new labeling bill. If you would like to support the effort with a monetary donation, visit this site. Otherwise, you can call representatives in Maine and tell them exactly what you think of allowing Monsanto and other biotech and food corporations to continue to feed the world toxic food.
Rep. Michelle Dunphy, D-Old Town, the bill’s lead sponsor, said:
“Take a look at any food product that you see in the grocery store. There are labels that show nutritional facts such as total calories, sugars, and carbohydrates, labels that indicate measurements, like the number of ounces in a soda, and in many cases, bottle deposit information for several different states, not to mention constant re-branding for marketing purposes. Opponents of this bill contend that labeling will place a hardship on producers. But this argument simply fails to pass the straight-faced test.”
As I’ve said before, whittling away at the power of Monsanto and their GMO ‘seed’ is like carving a fine sculpture from ice –because that is what the corporate executives seem to have running through their veins. Speak out loudly. It works, as evidenced in Vermont.
This article originally appeared at Natural Society.
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