 |
 |
Well now our SB777 is going national. This is from the SANET listserv -----Original Message----- From: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Raquel & Greg Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 1:16 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SANET-MG] federal preemption of local GE laws The following provision is being inserted into the farm bill. This email is from California Certified Organic Farmers. --Greg ------------------------------------------ House to Consider Language TODAY, MAY 24th to Deny State's Rights to Protect Citizens from GE Food Crops: SEC. 123. EFFECT OF USDA INSPECTION AND DETERMINATION OF NON-REGULATED STATUS. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has- (1) inspected and passed; or (2) determined to be of non-regulated status. Take Action Now! That means no state or locality can ban risky products when the federal government has failed to act to protect our health or the environment. The primary intent of this passage is to deny local or state rights to regulate genetically engineered crops or food. This would wipe out the restrictions passed by voters in four California counties and two cities, and the California Rice Certification Act, which prohibits the introduction of GE rice varieties without state approval. Local and state laws pertaining to GE crops have also been passed in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. All of these democratically enacted laws are threatened by this language. The biotech industry and big agribusiness have been trying to push similar bills in dozens of states across the country, and also at the Federal level with last year's so-called "Food Uniformity" bill. Now they want to sneak it into a committee hearing and hide it in the Farm Bill. The members of the committee need to hear from all of us NOW! The hearing starts at 10am EST THURSDAY, MAY 24TH so we need to contact our Representatives immediately and tell them we oppose ANY language in the Farm Bill that would pre- empt local or state regulations on food or agricultural production! Contact your representatives: Leonard Boswell, Chairman, Iowa - Phone: (202) 225-3806 Fax: (202) 225-5608 Kirsten Gillibrand, New York - P (202) 225-5614 F (202) 225-1168 Steve Kagen, Wisconsin - P (202) 225-5665 F (202) 225-5729 Tim Holden, Pennsylvania - P (202) 225-5546 F (202) 226-0996 Joe Baca, California - None Listed Dennis Cardoza, California - P (202) 225-6131 F (202) 225-0819 Nick Lampson, Texas - P (202) 225-5951 F (202) 225- 5241 Joe Donnelly, Indiana - P (202) 225-3916 F (202) 225- 5241 Jim Costa, California - P (202) 225-3341 F (202) 225- 9308 Tim Mahoney, Florida - P (202) 225-5792 F (202) 225- 3132 Robin Hayes, North Carolina - P (202) 225-3715 F (202) 225-4036 Mike Rogers, Alabama - P (202) 225-3261 F (202) 226- 8485 Steve King, Iowa - P (202) 225-4426 F (202) 225- 3193 Virginia Foxx, North Carolina - P (202) 225-2071 F (202) 225-2995 K. Michael Conaway, Texas - P (202) 225-3605 F (202) 225-1713 Jean Schmidt, Ohio - P (202) 225-3164 F (202) 226- 1992 Adrian Smith, Nebraska - P (202) 225-6435 F (202) 225-0207 Tim Walberg, Michigan - P (202) 225-6276 F (202) 225-6281 Thank You! Your action will help protect the future of our families, fields, environment and economy from the devastating effects of genetic engineering. ******************************************************** To unsubscribe from SANET-MG: 1- Visit http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html to unsubscribe or; 2- Send a message to <[log in to unmask]> from the address subscribed to the list. Type "unsubscribe sanet-mg" in the body of the message. Visit the SANET-MG archives at: http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html. Questions? Visit http://www.sare.org/about/sanetFAQ.htm. For more information on grants and other resources available through the SARE program, please visit http://www.sare.org. If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html