Help Stop GMO Farming!

From: "Food Democracy Now! Team"
Subject: farmers say, stop the frankenfish

Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013
Farmers say: "Call the White House to stop new GMO crops and GMO salmon. It's time to make a stand!"
Stand with Family Farmers Today!
Stand with America's Farmers to Tell President Obama to halt new GMO crops and stop GMO salmon!

Today we're only yards from the White House and it's a big day for America's farmers. In fact, it's a big day for farmers and eaters everywhere and we realize that people from all over the world are watching. Yesterday more than 30 family farmers, who traveled from across the U.S. and Canada, arrived in Washington DC to stand in federal court to ask for an end to the genetic contamination of their crops by GMO pollen and to protect them from Monsanto’s abusive patent infringement lawsuits.

For the past 16 years, Monsanto’s seed police have run roughshod over America’s farmers, suing more than 144 family farmers for patent infringement and settling out of court with another 700 farmers for undisclosed sums. At the same time, every year Monsanto sneaks onto the fields of more than 500 farmers and steals their plants to see if they contain the biotech giant’s patented genes. This is an outrage, but currently U.S. law allows this and as a result, Monsanto has created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.

Last night we had dinner with these brave farmers and we asked them what they wanted.

They said they wanted justice, not only for them, but also for you and for future generations and the planet.

Many of you have asked us what you can do to help these farmers and now we need your help!

Today, after our court hearing we will be gathering less than a hundred yards from the White House to send a message that America’s farmers and our food supply need protection and we need your help right now!

Click here to join America’s family farmers in calling President Obama to halt the approval of new GMO crops and to stop GMO salmon.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/749?t=9&akid=721.479479.K9r-Sp

We know people don't like to make phone calls, but now it's more important than ever to pick up that phone and make a call. The future of our food supply depends on it!

Right now 13 new genetically engineered crops are awaiting approval at the USDA, including GMO crops that are resistant to more toxic pesticides, such as 2,4-D (half the chemical component of Agent Orange) and dicamba, along with a non-browning GMO apple.

At the same time, the FDA recently cleared a final hurdle for the approval of AqauBounty’s GMO salmon when the agency ruled that the fast growing genetically engineered fish does not pose a threat to the environment. Already bureaucrats at the FDA have ruled that GMO salmon is safe for human consumption, despite no independent scientific research and only tiny sample sizes from the corporation that stand to benefit from its approval.

Despite the biotech industry’s assurances that GMOs are safe, new science is emerging that calls into question what they really know about the safety of their own genetically engineered products and also what they reveal to regulatory agencies when they apply for approval.

Already the first generation of biotech crops has failed in farmer’s fields and failed badly, creating more than 21 million acres of superweeds and a new breed of superbugs resistant to their genetically engineered toxins. What’s next?

Join Food Democracy Now! and America’s family farmers in calling President Obama to halt the approval of new GMO crops and stop GMO salmon until proper long-term safety tests are conducted.

Leaked documents reveal that even government scientists are dubious about the FDA’s own assessment. In fact, the FDA’s own assessment of AquaBounty’s studies to determine whether GMO salmon are safe for human consumption states that the studies contain “technical flaws” and provide “insufficient data”.

While a scientist at the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish & Wildlife Service goes so far as to say: “Maybe [the FDA] should watch Jurassic Park”!

For the past 20 years, the biotech industry has gotten away with rigging science and our regulatory system, while systematically abusing America’s family farmers, the very people who work so hard to feed us.

This time, they’ve had enough and they want you to lend your voice to stand with America’s family farmers. More than anything, the farmers said they wanted a return to fairness in our laws governing our food supply and integrity in our regulatory system, which giant corporations like Monsanto have been allowed to corrupt.

Join America’s family farmers today, call President Obama immediately to stand up for farmers and eaters everywhere to stop GMO salmon.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/749?t=13&akid=721.479479.K9r-Sp

Thanks for participating in food democracy,

Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! team

Show You Care About Food

Food Democracy Now! says,
"Take a Stand with Family Farmers vs. Monsanto!


At Food Democracy Now! we believe that family farmers have a right to farm without threat and intimidation. We don’t think farmers should be sued because Monsanto’s patented genes from a neighbor’s field blow across their fence and contaminate their organic or conventional, non-GMO seeds. Actually, we’re outraged by this Orwellian practice and think it needs to stop.

That’s why we’re suing Monsanto in court to protect family farmers from unwanted genetic contamination of their crops and from Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits.

As an Iowa-based organization, we understand the threats and challenges that family farmers face every day. We don’t fight these battles from comfortable offices in Washington DC, but from the Heartland in rural Iowa where we see the harms from industrial agriculture firsthand. We know the risks that farmers face and we know what’s at stake if we don’t win.

Food Democracy Now! is on the front lines of the battle for the heart and soul of agriculture and a healthy food system, but we can only continue this work with your help today.

Can you chip in today so we can have the resources to stand up for family farmers? It’s time to end Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits and unwanted genetic contamination of our food! With your help we can win in 2013. Every bit counts!

http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/744?t=9&akid=706.479479.zubau0

Every year Monsanto investigates more than 500 family farmers for alleged patent “infringement” by sneaking onto their land. At Food Democracy Now! we find this outrageous and believe that it needs to stop immediately.

That’s why in March 2011, Food Democracy Now! joined the lawsuit Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) et al v. Monsanto during the first round of plaintiffs, in what could be an historic lawsuit to protect family farmers and challenge the legitimacy of Monsanto’s patents on their genetically engineered (GMO) seeds and their right to sue farmers indiscriminately.

In the past 16 years Monsanto has sued 150 farmers and filed charges against more than another 700 farmers who settled out of court rather than face a brutal and expensive lawsuit versus Monsanto, who has a team of aggressive lawyers and endless resources.

In the coming weeks, on January 10, 2013, Food Democracy Now! will travel to Washington DC to stand with family farmers in court to make sure that their rights are protected.

Donate today to stand with family farmers versus Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits and unwanted genetic contamination to help us continue our important work. Your donation before December 31st will help us meet our fundraising goal.

Like most Americans, we believe that farmers have the right to farm how they choose, and that any inadvertent genetic contamination that they experience through no fault of their own should not open them up to frivolous patent infringement lawsuits by biotech bully Monsanto.

It’s an outrage that this can happen, but right now in America that’s just the case. Every year biotech chemical and seed giant Monsanto sends its "seed police" out into the fields of unsuspecting farmers, where they steal farmer’s plants to have them tested in their labs to see if they contain Monsanto’s patented genes.

It sounds crazy, that Monsanto’s seed police could sneak onto a farmer’s field without permission, but that’s exactly what they do.

Last year, we travelled to New York City with more than 50 family farmers to face Monsanto in court. Unfortunately, federal district court judge Naomi Buchwald dismissed our case, claiming that we overestimated the threat Monsanto poses to farmers with their abusive lawsuits and the risk that farmers face from unwanted genetic contamination of their crops.

On January 10th, we’ll stand in court with family farmers again, this time in Washington DC to have our appeal heard to make sure that farmers are protected. Please join us in helping make sure that our voice is heard loud and clear.

Can you donate today to make sure we have the resources to fight for farmers in the coming year? We can’t do it without you! Click here to donate $10 or more. Every bit counts.

http://fdn.actionkit.com/go/744?t=13&akid=706.479479.zubau0

Thank you for participating in food democracy,

Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! team"

This is just one more proof that America is not free.  You have to fight for the health of your food!  Please help by making a donation or, at the very least, investigating food products so that you can help farmers and not consume GMOed foods.  Thank-you.