After
45 years of hard work and grassroots struggle, the organic community
has built up a $30-billion organic food and farming industry and
community. This consumer and small farmer-driven movement, under steady
attack by biotech and Big Food lobbyists, with little or no help from
the federal government, has managed to create a healthy and sustainable
alternative to America’s disastrous, chemical and energy-intensive
system of industrial agriculture. Consumer demand is behind strong
organic sales. Conscious of the health hazards of genetic engineering
and chemical agriculture, and the mortal threat of global warming and
climate change, millions of Americans are demanding food and other
products that are certified organic.
It’s
a hopeful sign that, in spite of economic recession, organic foods now
make up 4.2% of all grocery store sales. However given the magnitude of
the country’s public health, environmental, and climate crisis, 10%
annual growth in the organic sector is simply not enough to reach the
proverbial “tipping point” before our current crisis metastasizes into
what can only be described as a catastrophe.
In
the food sector, we cannot continue to hand over 90% of our consumer
dollars to out-of-control, biotech, chemical-intensive,
energy-intensive, greenhouse gas polluting corporations and "profit at
any cost" retail chains. The growth of the Organic Alternative is
literally a matter of survival. After two decades of biotech bullying
and force-feeding unlabeled and hazardous genetically engineered foods
to animals and humans, it's time to move beyond defensive measures -
such as petitioning the FDA - and go on the offensive. With organic
farming, climate stability, and public health under the gun of the gene
engineers and their partners in crime, it's time to do more than
complain. With over 1/3 of U.S. cropland already contaminated with
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), with mounting scientific evidence
that GMOs cause cancer, birth defects, and serious food allergies, and
with new biotech mutants like alfalfa, lawn grass, ethanol-ready corn,
2,4 D-resistant crops, and genetically engineered trees and animals
being fast-tracked for approval by the government, with absolutely no
pre-market safety-testing required, time is running out.
The
burning question for us all then becomes how - and how quickly - can we
move healthy, organic products from a 4.2% market niche, to the
dominant force in American food and farming?
The
first step is to change our labeling laws. Nearly 80% of non-organic
processed foods, including so-called “natural” foods, contain
genetically engineered bacteria, viruses, antibiotic-resistant genes,
and foreign DNA. Yet none of these foods are labeled. No wonder only 30%
of Americans realize they’re probably eating GMOs on a regular basis.
Health-minded and environmentally conscious consumers actually buy more
products marketed or labeled as “natural” ($50 billion a year) than they
do organic ($30 billion), either because they don’t understand the
difference between organic and “natural”, and/or because so-called
“natural” foods are typically cheaper than certified organic. For
instance, two-thirds of the foods sold in Whole Foods Market or Trader
Joe’s are not organic, but rather “natural.” Polls indicate that
consumers are confused about the qualitative difference between organic
and natural products, with a near-majority believing that “natural”
means “almost organic.”
It’s
time to put an end to this massive fraud, and take back our right to
know what’s in our food. Since the federal government and the White
House seem to listen more to Monsanto and Big Ag than the 90% of
Americans who support mandatory labeling of GMOs, OCA and allied
activists have decided to bypass Washington politicians and take matters
into our own hands.
What
is likely the most important food fight in a generation is unfolding in
California. The grassroots-powered Nov. 6 California Ballot Initiative
(Proposition 37) to require labels on genetically engineered foods and
to ban the routine industry practice of marketing GMO-tainted foods as
“natural” or “all natural” is approaching a decisive moment. The outcome
of this ballot initiative will determine whether GMO foods are labeled,
not only in California but across the entire United States and Canada
as well. It’s time for all of us who care about an organic and
sustainable future to close ranks and support the Nov. 6 California
Ballot Initiative (Proposition 37). Over 650 organizations, organic
companies and retail stores have already endorsed the campaign. But we
need thousands more.
We need volunteers to help out - in California and nationwide. Please sign up here
if you are willing to approach the managers of the retail stores, CSA,
restaurants, or farmers market where you regularly buy your organic food
and ask them to join the more than 100 retail stores that have already
publicly endorsed Prop 37. Once your neighborhood health food store or
co-op has endorsed the campaign, you can get them further involved in
distributing campaign information and raising money. CA and our allies
in this campaign to pass Prop 37 have raised almost $4 million dollars
so far, but Monsanto, the Grocery Manufacturers, and the Farm Bureau
will spend $20-40 million to defeat Prop 37. Thank you to the 15,000
people who have already made donations to OCA or the OCF for this
campaign, but we need to raise even more.
Restoring
consumers' right to know, banning the industry practice of marketing
GMO-tainted foods as “natural,” and starting to drive genetically
engineered foods off supermarket shelves will not solve all of the life
and death issues that are currently staring us in the face: the climate
crisis, endless wars, economic depression, corporate control over
government, and the health crisis. But cutting Monsanto and the
biotechnocrats down to size and restoring consumer choice are good first
steps toward sustainability and a healthy food and farming system. Just
as important, in political terms, by defeating the Biotech Bullies and
indentured politicians, we can begin to restore the tattered
self-confidence of the American body politic. A resounding victory by
the organic community in the California Prop 37 campaign will prove to
ourselves and the currently demoralized body politic that we can indeed
take back control over the institutions and public policies that
determine our daily lives. Now is the time to move forward. Support Prop
37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Foods Act. This
is the food fight of our lives. Please join and support us in this historic struggle.
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