We just have a few days to stop this lawlessness among our own lawmakers.
Congress is close to approving a sneaky, pro-GMO rider to an important funding bill, and it may become law without most people realizing it—unless you take action NOW. The GMO industry has inserted the worst kind of crony capitalist rider in support of genetically engineered crops into the FY 2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill, and we weren’t able to stop it last week in committee. The bill will likely reach the full House later this week, so it is vital that all of us contact our congressional representatives immediately and voice our opposition! This is our last chance to stop this extraordinarily bad legislation in the House.
As we explained last week, the pro-GMO amendment would strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale or planting of illegal, potentially hazardous genetically engineered (GE) crops while USDA is assessing potential hazards. In other words, even if a court said to halt the sale or planting of the genetically engineered crop until a USDA environmental impact statement was completed, the crop planting could still go forward!
Further, the provision would compel USDA to allow continued planting of that same crop upon request, even if USDA finds that the crop poses previously unrecognized risks. That’s right—the provision specifically mandates that the Secretary of Agriculture shall, upon request by a farm operator or producer, immediately grant a temporary permit authorizing the crops to be planted or cultivated, even if a court has called a halt until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. They’re calling it the Farmer Assurance Provision (Section 733). But far from safeguarding farmers, the only parties whose interests are “assured” by this rider are those of GE crop developers, in particular Monsanto, the company which we believe is almost certainly behind it.
This rider is a response to the recent federal court interventions we’ve been telling you about, preventing the sale, distribution, or cultivation of non-regulated GE sugarbeets and GE alfalfa while full environmental evaluations are being done. If passed, courts would be barred even from stopping GE crops whose approval had been won by fraud or bribery.
Note also:
- This is an appropriations bill, and this rider has nothing to do with appropriations. This is an attempt to sneak an unrelated provision into a must-pass bill in the hope that it won’t be noticed. While we believe the entire provision is a dangerous one, at a minimum it should have been presented in a bill of its own, to give it the full public exposure such a controversial subject deserves. We suspect the reason it wasn’t done this way is because it could never pass on its own—and they know it.
- It could cause substantial harm to farmers—not to mention the agricultural economy. The provision would allow non-GE crops to be contaminated by neighboring GE crops, without proper environmental studies being performed. Seeds, crops, and foods that are contaminated with GE material cannot be sold in many international markets. Agricultural commodities contaminated by GE crops that have not been approved for commercial use in the US are particularly shunned.
- As we all know by now, but most of the public doesn’t yet, GE crops are not at all safe. Remember the rats fed GE corn which seemed fine for two generations but in the third generation were sterile? There is by now massive evidence that GMO foods are not safe, but the biotech industry is determined to silence scientists as well as the media on this subject.
- The USDA already rubber stamps the approval and deregulation of GE crops. This rider, by law, provides USDA with even greater authority to continue to do so, with complete disregard of the courts or legal process.
- The “excuse” for the bill is to prevent farmers from having to rip up planted beds. But this is moonshine. It has not happened before, nor would it happen under current law.
Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-OR, is preparing his own amendment to strike the pro-GMO rider from the bill. We need to get an avalanche of messages to Capitol Hill supporting the DeFazio amendment and explaining just how lawless the pro-GMO rider is.
Please contact your congressional representatives TODAY—there’s not a moment to lose!
Please prosecute Dick Cheney for his crimes against humanity; it is imperative for Cheney to be prosecuted and sentenced before he dies in order for justice to be served!
GMO=Bad
Nuff said.
The judiciary was founded as a system of checks and balances against run-away government power. Thus it was intended to be a fundamental arm of government. To overstep the judiciary and disarm it, is to install dictatorship. That is unconstitutional, and not just illegal.
On our tax dollars, this is not acceptable.
Please spread word about this concern about the judiciary.
PS Anything that hurts or betrays the people, inflicted by a government official, is treason.
Keep our food supply clean and organic.
@Mary, dont entirely agree, keep GM engineering of ANY sort out of food and human life. But Organic Industry has been railroaded into a contra industry that the USDA controls. That should be a red flag right there. KEEP FOOD Natural that is chickens, cows hogs, milk meat, Vegetables, pastures, IT WILL Mean higher prices, too bad – eat less, but you will live healthier and longer. Organic labels are NOT the answer, only a total abolishment of ALL genetic engineering, additives, fillers, artifical aromatics, colorants, flavourings. Then we have a chance to resotre life as we knew it. Can you see this happenning?? If you can then act now – ban all the above, incarcerate business leaders and politicians, and govt servants who legalized this – WIPE the slate clean, then we can give our children and thier children a better quality life.
NO NO WE dont any more sick in this countrey no no mae velasquez
Rand Paul along with Kloubachar and Franken voted against GMO labeling amendment in the Senate Farm Bill. The states are already bribed. Yes we have a Xth Amendment. Time for the states to stand up against this defacto-criminal government.
GMO has become an enemy of the people…their practice is endangering farmers, citizens and consumers and they must not be allowed to worm their way through congress. Stop this now.
Please do not approve any rider that allows GMO crops from being planted with careless abandon. This has no place in an appropriations bill, and is obviously an attempt to give impunity to big Ag. Small organic family farms need your protection, please do the right thing and vote down any attempt at unregulated planting.
I do not want engineered food..Please support Congressman Peter DeFazio amendment to strike the Pro-GMO rider. The Farm Assurance Bill. I strongly oppose altered food.
To everyone
We should be aware what goes into our food, all the chemicals, how the food is prepared, how the food has been grown GMO or not. We have the right to know what goes into our body, then we could choose what we prefer. The government could help us see what we are eating by helping us see the label what goes into that package.
Thank you
Betsy Annabelle Palacios
Why can’t NEW foods be proven SAFE before authorized For Sale to the Public?
New Drugs are… why not FOODS?
Isn’t one just as important as the other?
I’m not sure who this letter will go to,but what right dose any company have to put anything in my food that Nature didn’t put there. Do not contamiate food with GMO. Did you hear about the GMO grass that killed 15 head of cattle by producing synide gas. It time to take back control of the people in our government that are allowing this kind of behavor to run ramped. Monsato and other GMO companies have done very long term research on the affects of toxic substances in food that feed human beings.It’s time this practice STOPS!!!
Please check your facts again on the cows eat grass and die event in Texas:
1. Although this was genetically altered grass, bred for high protein content, it was NOT a GMO grass
2. The sad event has been preliminarily attributed to well-known prussic acid produced by these grasses under certain conditions. Apparently, a similar event had occurred a few years back to horses in Kentucky.
3. It appears the initial CBS news report, although shocking, used half-baked information.
Even the same thing happened when they were feeding cattle the foods that……..had animal stuff in them, and it was causing the “mad cow” disease! Everyone should know that no animal which has been designed to eat grass products,………. should ever think that they can be fed animal stuff! We need more common sense everywhere! We do not need man-made crops, but natural God-made crops that we have lived on since the beginning of time. It is amazing that many Nations in the world, have banned these GMO foods since the beginning. We should not allow it in America either!
The sneaky, dirty, underhanded tricks these big companies and their lobbyists make are sickening. They are literally ruining this country and killing the people. Just so they can make a few more million or billion each year. They don’t care about the people. Unfortunately our “Protective” organizations have been bought off by them and can’t be trusted. My hope is that the families of the people in all these organizations/businesses who are responsible for this get to personally experience the results of what is being thrown at the public. Sorry if that means suffering and dying from cancers and other illnesses–TOO BAD. When is everyone going to wake up to what is happening and do something about it? Probably never, since there’s too much money behind supporting these dangerous practices. This country is a mess.
Aloha! When these bills have attachements why can’t you also put in an attachement…like cutting congresses wages in half, and other monies rec’d for their position?
Many people don’t know the difference between GMO foods and Hybrid foods. Big difference.
GMO foods are very dangerous.
One reason Monsanto and couple smaller GMO producers are getting away with this is Nothing more than GREED and even worse is the GREED and Corruption of Our Congress People that are paid off by Lobbyists so they Get big money donations into their campaigns. Simple. Buy Off Gov’t. officials and that also includes the agencies like USDA and more of course.
I applaud Oregons Defazio putting in an amendment against this particular bill . Congress ALWAYS sneaks in amendments to Bigger Bills that have nothing to do with the big bill. Naturally, many Congress people don’t even read the darn things as usual and it is always a few that read or push for it. WE NEED A BILL to Stop putting in Amendments that have nothing to do with main Bill!
You know….I am just so tired of having to fight for every little change we want. The interference of the Repubs is just so unbelieveable. WHY DON”T THEY HAVE THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE AT HEART? Because they are greedy bastards and have been taking PAYOFF’S from the corporations who want to continue to poison us.
Don’t blame just the Republicans. The Democrats are just as bad. It’s high time we threw them both out and got some fresh blood in our government, people who will look out for the interests of the common people (us) instead of all the time bowing down and kissing the feet of corporate interests in return for more campaign money.
We do not support GMO anything.
But we do support the DeFazio amendment. No more GMO’s!
We don’t have to wait for foreign terrorists to poison our food and water…we can just sit back and wait for the big corporations to do it.
There is much more to this “lawlessness” than most are willing to consider. The are laws of the land and there are God’s laws. Sin is the transgression of the law, God’s law, not man’s law. Humans believe we should be free to worship as we please. God says we worship according to His statutes. The first four commandments tells us how to worship Him and when to worship Him. Ever since the fall into sin, man has made it his business to make God into his image instead of the other way around. Because we are unrepentant as a nation for our sin, God’s wrath is increasing. The oceans and lakes are dying. Our food sources are being corrupted. Governments are more and more corrupted. Our hope and our peace comes with the understanding that God is in His Holy place and at some time Jesus will return with power and with glory to rid this world of corrupt governments and false religions. We live in a world where profits matter more than people. In the last days, man will come close to annihilating all life from this planet. Jesus will return to save us from ourselves.
Please support the DeFazio amendment to strike the pro-GMO rider from the FY2013 Agricultural Appropriations Bill. It doesn’t belong in the Bill and is yet another end-around to help big industry profit even more at the expense of the safety and wholesomeness of the nation’s food supply. The US does not need GMO crops.
Thank you for your consideration.
Don’t let the GMO industry make an end run around the courts. Do not approve the sneaky pro GMO rider!
Common sense needs to be summoned here. What good is greed in a matter of life or death for millions of people?
Stop the GMO industry. NOW.
Agreed…..BOOM!
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 1Timothy2…If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James1…One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. Luke18…”And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Luke11..
Stop tampering with our food , have you all not done enough you now what to poison us ….Stop we have had it with all of you …..Leave our food alone , and stop the flouride in our water ….
There are thousands of chemicals which do not have to be included in food labeling. Where is the labeling on alcoholic beverages? What kind chemicals, preservatives and dyes are in alcoholic beverages? That is a ginormous industry which gets away without any labeling or transparency?
It is a ridiculous argument that regulation kills jobs, when regulations actually save the lives and health of people!
We want more regulation about food origin and safety, lots more jobs could be created keeping our food and drink supply organic and safe. Lots of jobs……we must create and support them ourselves because our govt. is not functioning.
I do not want GMO food.
P
This feels a little overwhelming that we have to deal with the large bio tech companies, as well as our elected officials, but we cannot give up now because this is a war and not just a single battle . Please write your elected officials, and tell your friends &family about what is going on, and don’t give up!