We'd like to thank the hundreds of thousands
of Oregon voters who voted YES on Measure 27. And we'd
like to thank the very many volunteers who helped fight
for the right of Oregonians to know what's in their
food.
Though we lost in the polls Nov. 5th, we remain committed
to the effort to label genetically engineered foods
in Oregon, and across the nation.
We will maintain this web site for the foreseeable
future. We also encourage folks who are interested in
labeling genetically engineered foods to visit our web
site at www.thecampaign.org.
There, you can sign up for our e-mail news update list,
and keep posted on national efforts, and local efforts
around the country, to label genetically engineered
foods. You'll also find form letters that you can send
to your members of Congress, President Bush, and various
government agencies, asking for labeling. Send in those
letters -- it can make a huge difference in convincing
Congress to act.
It took a record-setting, multi-million dollar advertising
blitz by the biotech industry to defeat Measure 27 and
reverse the polls, which initially showed Measure 27
winning in Oregon. Yet, also on election day, a
new national poll shows that 88 percent of Americans
want genetically engineered foods labeled.
The battle to label genetically engineered foods clearly
is not over. It has just begun. Labeling is already
in place throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand,
Japan and many other countries. It's just a matter of
time -- and our collective activist efforts -- before
the United States grants its citizens the same right
to know what's in our food.
|
 Monsanto
and their coalition associates seem desperate
to keep you from knowing that your food is genetically engineered.
Do they know something that we don't? Why are they trying
to keep it a secret?
Learn
more
The Monsanto files
 The
highly influential and non-partisan Consumers
Union has endorsed Measure 27. “Passage
of Measure 27 would be a significant victory for consumers,
who want to be able to make an informed choice about the foods
that they eat and feed to their families.
Federal and state laws currently require many labels on products
that line supermarket shelves--consumers must be told when
milk is homogenized, juice is made from concentrate, beef
is irradiated, and if canned sardines come from Norway. Genetically
engineered foods warrant the same treatment,” says Jean
Halloran, Director of the Consumer Policy Institute, Consumers
Union.
Read Consumers Union media
advisory
Consumers Union sends
letter to Gov. Kitzhaber Supporting Measure
University of Oregon's newspaper, Oregon Daily Emerald, endorses
Measure 27. "We heartily
endorse Measure 27. It is only fair that the people know what
they are eating -- especially if it contains genetically engineered
products." Read
the full editorial.
Democratic Party of Oregon, Sierra Club (OR Chapter),
League of Conservation Voters, OSPIRG, Pacific Green Party
and more
For state government: Less than 75 cents per year per Oregonian.
(See government estimate.) For
consumers: No increase in cost of consumer foods has resulted
in other countries from laws that require labeling of genetically
engineered food, so there is no reason to expect increases
in Oregon. See statements by Safeway
and other major food retailers in the European Union.
Oregon Measure 27 would require labeling of genetically engineered
foods in Oregon. Out-of-state multinational chemical and biotech
corporations that produce genetically engineered (GE) foods
are spending millions of dollars in misleading advertising
to confuse the public. To date, opponents have raised nearly
$4.6 million, only $5,500 of which came from Oregon. The Vote
Yes on 27 Committee wants you to know the facts. (PDF
flyer - pass it around!)
 "There's
something very American about it. People want the right
to know. We're the country of freedom of information.
It's antiquarian not to have labeling on these foods."
Dennis Kucinich, Ohio Congressman
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Monsanto is
the world's dominant biotech company, and the largest
contributor to the Measure 27 opposition effort so far.
Some controversial products made by Monsanto over the
years:
- Saccharin
- Agent Orange
- DDT
- Dioxins
- PCBs
- RoundUp, which became the world's top-selling herbicide
- Bovine Growth Hormone (Posilac)
- Aspartame (Equal/Nutrasweet)
- Neotame
- Genetically engineered seeds
- Terminator seeds
- Pesticidal potatoes
- Roundup-Ready soybeans
Learn more in the Monsanto Files |
"The GM food industry's
insistence on keeping secrets further exposes its shortcomings"
-- PR Week article by Paul Holmes, president
of The Holmes Group. "Let's say your company makes a
massive technical advance, one that both improves the quality
of the product you sell and has the potential to solve one
of the world's most intractable problems. You'd be ready to
spend millions to promote it, right? Well, not if you're in
the genetically modified (GM) food business. Then you spend
$4.5 million on a campaign to keep your new technology secret....
"
"....Fighting against an informed public only creates
the impression that it has
a sinister secret to hide. " Read
the full story.
- Require foods that have been genetically engineered to
be labeled -- something that an amazing 93 percent of Americans
say they want
- Protect your right to know what's in your food
- Empower you to choose whether to buy controversial genetically
engineered foods for your family
- Make Oregon's food more attractive to millions of Americans
in other states who want labeling
- Send a message to the rest of the world finally that
America DOES care about the controversial issue of genetically
manipulated foods.
Two-thirds of foods on supermarket shelves are genetically
engineered, or contain genetically engineered ingredients.
Check out our list of some common
foods that have been genetically modified.
Measure 27 opponents say Measure 27 would be challenged in
court if passed. But analysis by Colorado attorney Gillian
Dale of the firm Petros & White LLC shows that courts
are apt to uphold Measure 27 if challenged.. Read
the full 17 page analysis (PDF)
Conclusion: "Although constitutional
arguments may be raised against the implementation of state
laws requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods,
the case law discussed above is generally positive and provides
us with strong arguments, both that such legislation is authorized
under the commerce clause, and that it is not preempted by
the FPLA or the FDCA. Further research may be warranted to
determine whether any other federal statutes could be cited
in a preemption argument. Any state legislation introduced
in Colorado should be checked against existing or proposed
legislation from other states to ensure uniformity and avoid
any conflicting requirements. Finally, all of these arguments
could be avoided entirely if Congress could be persuaded to
enact uniform federal legislation on this subject. However,
the promulgation of legislation by a few individual states
may provide the most effective impetus for the enactment federal
legislation." |
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Read a statement
from The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods,
creater of this web site, about the next steps in the fight
to label genetically engineered foods.
Legendary musician Paul McCartney has endorsed
Measure 27 and recorded a radio spot promoting the YES
effort.
Listen to the radio spot
(Real Audio)
Read the transcript
of the ad
Read the press release announcing
the McCartney radio ad
McCartney, whose former wife Linda started a convenience
food business, has been an activist on genetically engineered
food matters for some time. In 1999, he said: “People
are genuinely worried about the power that these great
big companies have. And if these companies
can put a fish gene into a tomato and not have to label
it, I understand people’s worries. I'm worried.
How do I know what I'm eating?”
The McCartney story, picked up by the AP News wire,
has made it to news outlets throughout Oregon, across
the United States, and even half-way around the globe
to the Times of India! Thank
you, Sir Paul!
|
OSU professor's report reveals
total annual costs may range from about 26 cents to $10.37
per person -- nowhere near the amount claimed by Measure 27's
opponents.
Oregon
Public Broadcasting Radio reported on the story:
"Backers also received a boost from an Oregon State
University report that analyzed the cost of the measure. OSU
Economics Professor Bill Jaeger concluded that opponents
had severely overestimated how much Measure
27 would cost the government and consumers.
Bill Jaeger: I think they're highly exaggerated and I don't
think they come from, what I would consider to be an authoritative
or carefully done economic analysis."
Full page ad in Oregon newspapers -- large
graphic, or PDF
Listen to the one-minute Yes on 27 radio ad hitting the airwaves
(Real Audio)
Oregon Rural Action has created the following four 30-second
radio ads (Real Audio): A, B,
C, D
Almost all Americans want genetically engineered foods
to be labeled, according to the polls. ABC News, for example,
found that a remarkable 93 percent
of Americans support labeling.
Learn more
Contaminated choices:
CropChoice editor Robert Schubert commentary. "The
fact that the biotech corporations are well along in
polluting organic foods with a technology they can't
control undercuts their argument in the Oregon labeling
debate that people who don't want to eat genetically
engineered foods can simply go down the organic aisle.
Those consumers increasingly don't have that choice.
The biotechnology industry contaminated it." Read
the commentary.
Busted:
Oregon State University economist and agriculture/resource
policy specialist reveals that Measure 27 opponents
are dramatically overstating costs of the measure. The
cost estimates used by opponents of Measure 27 are between
15 and 45 times higher than estimates from economic
studies of comparable labeling laws in several other
countries. Read the summary,
or the full 5-page report
in PDF format.
Steve Duin column in
the Oregonian: Oregonian politics should be better than
this. "I don't doubt that there's
a cost to firing up this labeling process, but those
estimates are ridiculous, unnecessarily including the
cost of applying the measure to restaurants and schools.
For a point of comparison, Florida runs a similarly
unique country-of-origin labeling program for less than
$250,000 per year. " Read
the article.
Alert: Alliance for Bio-Integrity
Exposes misrepresentations in FDA's letter to Gov. Kitzhaber.
(FDA letter from Deputy Director Lester Crawford Oct.
4th voiced FDA's opposition to labeling.) "It is
disappointing that Dr. Crawford has renewed the fraudulent
claim that the FDA is 'not aware of any information
or data that would suggest that any genetically engineered
foods … are not as safe as conventional foods.'
It is especially troubling that he is employing this
falsehood in an attempt to defeat an Oregon ballot initiative...."
Read the letter.
Alert: U.S. companies
already label products for shipment overseas
-- Greenpeace press release. “Everyone
in Oregon should get a chance to see this label,”
said Greenpeace spokesperson Lindsay Keenan. “When
a major company like Heinz can label all the GE ingredients,
ship the product all the way to Australia, and still
make a profit selling it, then you have to wonder why
labelling opponents say this is not possible for Oregon.”
Read the press release and
see the label.
Survey says:
58% Yes
36% No
Details: The
Oregonian, Oct. 9
(The numbers look good right now, but just remember
that the Monsanto-led opposition is spending massive
amounts of money trying to defeat the measure through
misleading TV ads. Every vote counts!)
"Food
label measure a no-brainer,"
says Corvallis Gazette-Times, in urging YES vote on
Measure 27. Read the editorial.
Flying Their Freakfood
Flag High: Monsanto could bust the Oregon
campaign-spending record in its attempt to cut off Measure
27. Willamette Week. Read
the story.
Monsanto running scared?
"A political barometer: Donations show which measures
scare whom" -- Eugene Register-Guard. Read
the editorial.
Monsanto in pickle of
its own making on Measure 27, says the
company's hometown newspaper. "It seems a stretch
to believe that labeling would add very much to food
costs." Read the
editorial.
For an extensive selection of news about genetically
engineered foods, including Oregon, national and international
news, visit The
Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods news
pages. |
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Sir Paul McCartney endorses Measure 27, records radio
commercial
