OUTLAWING LOCAL GM BANS IN CALIFORNIA

[Guest guest]

OUTLAWING LOCAL GM BANS IN CALIFORNIA

The debate over GMOs just got a lot hotter in California. Last month, Democratic

State Senator Dean Florez introduced an amendment that would effectively remove

a community's control over its food supply.

 

Florez's amendment reads, in part, " no ordinance or regulation of any political

subdivision may prohibit or in any way attempt to regulate any matter relating

to

the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution,

notification

of use, or use of field crops. "

 

This controversial overhaul comes in response to three California counties and

two

cities that banned the raising of GM crops and livestock. Activist groups are up

in arms over the proposed legislation, calling it an affront to local democracy.

 

It's easy to see why. Since California currently does not have any GMO

regulations

at the state level, the proposed law will successfully eliminate the only

limitations

that prevent biotech giants like Monsanto and Syngenta from moving in with their

patented GM seeds. Moreover, the bill, known as SB 1056, takes pre-emptive

measures

to preclude people from raising concerns about GMOs in the future, and in doing

so deprives the public of any chance debate on this hot-button issue.

 

Becky Tarbotton of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture, says, " If SB 1056

or a bill with similar pre-emptive language passes in California, it will

effectively

override the ability of local communities, including farmers, to make decisions

about whether or not they want to grow genetically engineered crops. "

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5568

 

 

 

 

" God was my co-pilot, but we crashed in the Andes and I had to eat him. "