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Will the Real "Monsanto Bill" Please Stand Up? OCA petition.
  1. Signatures
    306 out of 4,092,009
  2. Created By
    Ani L. Schwartz
    Arroyo Seco, NM
About this Petition Pledge Petition Updates

[started ~ 04/09/09 --- 03/25/11 UPDATE: STILL OPEN --- OCA Editable Petition to Congress:
Stop the Global Food Security Act --- Get GMOs out of the Global Food Security Act  
LINKS at bottom of "Overview" ---- copy of Petition Text in Letter Box below that.
This here petition does not go anywhere from here, nor do your comments here. . . .
HEAR HEAR . . . ©€L§c}{vv@^+z™   .•*¨`*♥  ]

    HR 875 Update:

News of a "Monsanto Bill to Criminalize Organic Farming" has been speeding around the internet. The Organic Consumers Fund, OCA's lobbying partner in Washington, DC, analyzed the bill and determined that we could not support food safety legislation like this that could be applied in a one-size-fits-all manner to all farms, including organic and farm-to-consumer operations -- especially a bill that references the National Animal Identification System (a voluntary USDA animal tagging program that some influential members of Congress are trying to make mandatory for every owner of even a single farm animal). With these concerns, we put out this alert on March 12.  [ THIS ALERT BUTTON DIED SEE BUTTON BELOW ]

Nevertheless, we were alarmed by the misleading headlines attached to anti-HR 875 alerts. Even if this bill were passed as is today, it wouldn't criminalize organic farming. The bill would require farms to have a food safety plan, allow their records to be inspected, and comply with food safety regulations. To say this is tantamount to criminalization doesn't give organic farmers enough credit.

Worse, linking this bill to Monsanto (for no other reason than because the bill's sponsor Rosa DeLauro is married to political operative Stan Greenberg, who lists Monsanto as a past client) obscures the real damage Monsanto is doing in Congress. This past week, Monsanto got a bill passed in committee that forces GMOs on Africa. 

From: "Organic Consumers Association"
Date: 9 апреля 2009 г. 13:16 

 WORKING LINKS:
--- If you don't know your congressmen or the system does not automatically recognize you - go here --- Learn more and take action
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/bills/?bill=13092666&size=full 
This pair of links did not work for me, perhaps because I am already "registered" here???

--- This link takes me directly to the petition with my congresspeople already filled in. ---
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/mail/compose/?target=NS&type=&billid=13092666&voteid=0&azip=87514  

 

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Will the Real "Monsanto Bill" Please Stand Up? OCA petition.

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<b><i>EDITABLE PETITION TEXT</b> (7873 characters left): </i>

<b>Get GMOs out of the Global Food Security Act</b>

The UN recently released a report saying that Africa's best hope for the future is organic agriculture. Yet the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed S.384, the Global Food Security Act, that would require "research on biotechnological advances appropriate to local ecological conditions, including genetically modified technology" as a condition of US aid.

As a sponsor of S.384, I respectfully ask you to remove this amendment or withdraw your support for the bill.

Instead of cynically cloaking corporate welfare for chemical companies like Monsanto in agriculture aid packages, why not support the United Nations Environment Program's Green Economy Initiative?

A new survey by the UN Conference on Trade and the Environment and UNEP in East Africa found that over 90 per cent of studies show that organic or near organic agriculture had benefits for soil fertility; water control; improved water tables, carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

This allows farmers to extend the growing season in marginal areas. The research in East Africa was among 1.6 million organic or near organic farmers from seven countries working on 1.4 million hectares.

Other findings include an increase in crop yields of 128 per cent since switching.

Higher incomes too are a result of not having to buy fertilizers and pesticides; as is more food availability; higher prices are paid through certification schemes for both export and domestic markets - which addresses poverty in environmentally friendly way.

Close to 90 percent of cases showed an increase in farm and household incomes and because organic agriculture is more knowledge intensive it has led to improvements in education, community bonds and cooperation on market access.

The report concludes: "Organic and near-organic agricultural methods and technologies are ideally suited for many poor, marginalized smallholder farmers in Africa, as they require minimal or no external inputs, use locally and naturally available materials to produce high-quality products, and encourage a whole systemic approach to farming that is more diverse and resistant to stress."

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