GMO small victory

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MONSANTO ALARMED"Biotech industry leaders are monitoring the rising power of their opponents and facing the possibility that county-level bans in California could spur a state-wide campaign... This week, GMO-Free Mendocino officially joined arms with the Organic Consumers Association, which bills itself as the nation's largest public-interest group dedicated to a healthy food system. The goal of the newly minted BioDemocracy Alliance is to prepare for 'the biotech bullies' who could challenge California county bans in court or the state Capitol." --- Sacramento Bee, July 15, 2004

FOUR COUNTIES PLACE GMO-FREE REFERENDUMS ON BALLOTLast week GMO-Free Mendocino officially teamed up with the Organic Consumers Association to form the BioDemocracy Alliance, a coalition of grassroots groups focused on helping new regions across the U.S. pass legislation to ban genetically engineered crops. The Alliance has already helped four new counties in California gather enough signatures to place GMO-free initiatives on their November ballots: Butte, Humboldt, Marin, and San Luis Obispo. Informed sources have told the press that biotech behemoths like Monsanto will likely soon seek state legislation to suppress these county bans. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Monsanto spokesperson George Gough expressed the corporation's fears, saying, "While this still is certainly a grass-roots, county-by-county effort, it may be quickly becoming not so grass roots." http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge-free.htm

The OCA urgently needs additional funds to fight Monsanto's counter-attack in California, and to help spread GE-Free Zones across the country. Earlier this year, on March 15, the OCA sent out an email Action Alert asking for $50,000 to launch this effort, and you, the readers of Organic Bytes, responded generously by sending us $53,000. Now we are asking for your help once again. This is a turning point in the struggle against Monsanto and genetically engineered foods, so please take the time now to send us a donation. Please make an online donation (http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm) or call or mail in a donation to our office:

Organic Consumers Association6101 Cliff Estate RoadLittle Marais, Minnesota 55614Telephone: 218-226-4164

We are also looking for volunteers to help pass GMO bans in other areas. If you wish to volunteer, please email <ryan

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FBI HARASSING ART PROFESSOR FOR ANTI-GE ACTIVISMDr. Steven Kurtz, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Buffalo was recently taken into custody by the FBI for having bioengineered organisms. The organisms were harmless, legal, and commonly used throughout the U.S., but they were being used to create an art piece protesting the history of germ warfare experiments by the U.S., including the Bush Administration's plans to use hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to build more military focused high security labs across the nation. The FBI stacked the jury box with representatives from the FBI and the Department of Defense. Although Kurtz was found innocent of any real terrorist crimes, the FBI succeeded in charging the professor with four counts of mail and wire fraud (up to 80 years in prison). According to the CAE Defence Fund, "Historically, these laws have been used when the government could not prove other criminal charges." http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/fbi-buffalo.cfm