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Vermont Surrenders

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Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has less than two weeks to either stand with the 90% of his constituents who support a mandatory labeling bill for genetically engineered foods – or cave in to Monsanto’s threat to sue the state if legislators pass H.722.
 
The bill that once appeared destined to pass on the merits of scientific evidence, overwhelming public support, and support of the majority of Vermont’s progressive legislators, now appears doomed – unless Vermont voters succeed in changing the Governor’s mind.
 
If the Governor’s words this past week are any indication, he’s already surrendered to Monsanto. But Vermonters, not known for backing down from a fight, are challenging legislators to take on the biotech industry. They’re even offering to raise money for the state’s defense.
 
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Save the Bees! Ban Bayer’s Poison Pesticide!

Commercial beekeepers have filed an emergency legal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend use of a pesticide that is linked to massive honey bee deaths. The legal petition, which specifies Bayer’s neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, is backed by over one million citizen petition signatures. Add your voice and learn how to protect your neighborhood bees.

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Support the Organic Revolution! Stop the Biotech Bullies!

OCA and our lobbying ally, the Organic Consumers Fund, put our money where our mouth is. With the 2012 California Ballot Initiative, and GMO labeling legislation gaining momentum in Vermont, Connecticut, Hawaii and other states, we have a real chance to hit Monsanto, corporate agribusiness, and the supermarket chains with the skull and crossbones they fear so much: mandatory labels on genetically engineered food, and a ban on the industry practice of marketing billions of dollars of GMO-tainted foods as "natural." At the same time we are continuing our struggle to strengthen organic standards and significantly expand the market for organic food and products, especially those produced locally and regionally; while warning consumers about the dangers of junk food and chemical agriculture.

Please Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible)

Please Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in California and other states)


Genetic Crimes Unit to Protest Monsanto/FDA Enforcer Michael Taylor at the Food Safety Summit

There is nothing safe about toxic pesticides & unlabeled genetically engineered foods. On April 19, 2012 the Occupy Monsanto Genetic Crimes Unit will protest outside of the Food Safety Summit at the Washington, DC, Convention Center.

Food safety activists will meet at 11:00am at the Mount Vernon Square / 7th Street / Convention Center Metro station (Yellow & Green Line at the corner of M Street & 7th Street, NW) and will call on FDA Commissioner Michael Taylor to resign.

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The Most Evil Chemical Company and the Second Richest Person in the World

Video of the Week

In this video, Bill Aal (AGRAWatch) and Alexis Baden-Mayer (OCA) speak to the various national and global aspects of the genetically modified food industry and the concerns for farmers and agriculture here and around the world. Interwoven is the influence of Monsanto and the Gates Foundation, the "charity" of Bill Gates, the 2nd richest person in the world, in government agencies.

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Control the Corporation!

Videos are online now from the day-long Control the Corporation conference, where OCA Political Director Alexis Baden-Mayer spoke on a panel titled, "Creating New Economic Models and Launching Initiatives."

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Message From Our Sponsors Free Trial of OCA Sponsored National Buying Club for Organic and Non-GMO Foods: The Green Polka Dot Box

The OCA-endorsed Green Polka Dot Box (GPDP) home delivery service for organic and non-GMO foods is up and running. Since October, OCA is happy to report that our staff, as well as hundreds of our members and subscribers, have been ordering and receiving regular home deliveries of organic and non-GMO foods, at 30-50% below the cost of retail, with free shipping on orders of $99 or more. As a result organic consumers who live in "organic food deserts," far from the nearest organic food store, have been able to start buying more organic food, while those of us on a limited budget have been able to buy organic products at a reduced price.

If you haven’t tried this wonderful service, yet, please do so today, there is a free 30 day trial membership being offered for a limited time to Organic Bytes subscribers.

Click here to place your order today!


Monsanto’s Enforcers

From threatening state legislators with lawsuits, to suing farmers, to assaulting scientists, to sending gunmen to intimidate activists, Monsanto has used many vicious and illegal tactics to force their dangerous products on us. What is Monsanto trying to hide? One thing they don't want you to know is that their herbicide RoundUp causes birth defects.

In the U.S., Monsanto has threatened to sue states like Vermont if they pass laws that require labels on genetically engineered food and ban the routine industry practice of labeling or marketing GMO-tainted foods as "natural" or "all natural."

In the U.S. and Canada, Monsanto has sued more than 150 farmers and threatened thousands of others, for refusing to pay for "intellectual property theft" after their fields were contaminated by Monsanto's patented genetically engineered crops.

In Argentina, thugs assaulted a well-know scientist, Andres Carrasco, who had carried out experiments demonstrating the extreme toxicity of Roundup; and activist Sofia Gatica was visited by an armed man who warned her not to "screw around with the soybeans" when she launched a campaign to ban Monsanto's Roundup-resistant soybeans, after her 3-day-old daughter died of kidney failure from pesticide poisoning.

In Ituzaingo, where Gatica lives, residents had to sign a waiver agreeing not to sue Monsanto in order to get drinking water that wasn't contaminated with pesticides.

But, in Misiones Province, Argentina, tobacco farmers have sued Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants for knowingly poisoning them with RoundUp herbicide.

The farmers, who grow tobacco on small family-owned farms and sell it to U.S. tobacco distributors, claim RoundUp is forced on them, and that the exposure has resulted in "devastating birth defects" in their children, including cerebral palsy, psychomotor retardation, epilepsy, spina bifida, intellectual disabilities, metabolic disorders, congenital heart defects, Down syndrome, missing fingers and blindness.

Monsanto and Philip Morris require the farmers to use RoundUp frequently and in excessive quantities beyond that necessary for effective weed control.

Please take action in solidarity with Carrasco, Gatica, the Argentine tobacco farmers in their efforts to let the world know the dangers of RoundUp, even in the face of Monsanto's brutal intimidation.

Ban Monsanto's Birth-Defect Causing RoundUp!