GMO LABELING IN CALIFORNIA - JAN 6, 2014 PRESS CONFERENCE RALLY!

For Immediate Release:                 
Tuesday, December 24, 2013               Urgent Action 

Genetically Modified (GMO) Food Labeling: California seeks State Senate and Assemblymember Authors Press Conference & Rally!

Dear Californians,

Please join our call to action from California State Grange and our new statewide coalition, Californians For GE Labeling, seeking both CA State Senate and Assemblymember authors for a 2014 CALIFORNIA State GE (Genetically Engineered, aka GMO)                                          Food Labeling Bill.

Suit back up, California, GAME ON!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS – JOIN US!
MASS RALLY! PRESS CONFERENCE SEEKING BILL AUTHOR! SPEAKERS!  CALIFORNIANS For GE Labeling and CALIFORNIA STATE GRANGE To introduce a new 2014 CA State GE Labeling Bill

Date:  Monday January 6, 2014

Time:  9:30 am – Noon

Place:  CA State Capitol, Sacramento – West Steps

 TAKE ACTION: SEEKING - CA State Assembly and Senate Authors!

On the first day of the 2014 legislature, Californians for GE Labeling ask EVERY one of our fellow CALIFORNIANS who eats food, to call and/or email your CA Assemblymember and CA Senator BEFORE December 31, 2013, to ask for their true leadership to author and co-author, and pass a new GE Food labeling bill, which will mandate the labeling of GE (genetically engineered, aka: GMO genetically modified organism) foods and seed offered for retail sale in the State of California. Contact us for text of the proposed bill.

For all of us who have helped move California so close to a GE labeling law,  and have already contacted our elected officials urging enactment of a GE labeling law, we must now let our elected officials know WE’RE BACK to urge support for introduction of a GE labeling law by the end of January 2014! 

Our mission is to compel our State Assemblymembers and Senators to author or co-author a bill that will label GE Foods throughout California.  We have a bill, we need authors to support it and vote YES!

Inspired by the massive national momentum the State of California championed in our 2012 Prop 37 action, Connecticut and Maine have passed GE Labeling Bills, and there are now some 95 GE Labeling bills being worked on throughout the USA in 25 states, including active bills in NY, MA, NJ, and others.

Opponents of Labeling GE Foods spent nearly $100 million dollars in 2012-2013, to prevent Americans from knowing, by a simple clear label, which of the foods in our grocery stores are genetically engineered. In 2014, they can plan to spend a few hundred million more, because 93% of Americans in poll after poll demand labeling in GE food, and we ain’t goin’ nowhere.

Now is the time for California to finish what we started! Let's work together to make California the first state to pass a clean, strong GE labeling law!

HOW TO TAKE ACTION: 

A.      Find out who your CA Assemblymember is by clicking here.

When you call or email (BOTH actions would be fabulous!):

1. State your name, address, and that you are a constituent of the Assemblymember/Senator.
2. Ask them, “Will the Assemblymember/Senator step up and be a true leader for the state of California and author or co-author, and support a GE Foods Labeling bill during the 2014 Legislative Session?”
3. Tell them we have the bill language for them to review, and are happy to provide it.
4. If the answer is, “yes” thank them and report back to us.
5. If there is no “yes” or “no” answer, let them know you will be calling back for an answer. 
6. Tell them that the rest of the nation is watching, we consider Prop 37 a huge victory, and we want to join NY as one of the largest states in the union, leading to way to pass a strong GE labeling bill in 2014.
7. Ask them to sign on as a cosponsor and support the bill when it comes up for a vote in 2014.

B.  Find out who your CA State Senator is here.

1. Follow steps above - adapt for Senators - above

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BASIC POINTS for GE LABELING:

·       -  1996: GE (aka: GMO, genetically modified organisms) foods were introduced into the U.S. food supply by  the biotech industry without adequate testing for human health or environmental risks and we've been eating them without labels ever since.

·        - 64 countries around the world -- including the EU (since 1998), China (since 2001), Russia, and Japan -- label GE Foods. What do they know that Americans don’t know?

·         American children under the age of 19 have been on a steady diet of GE Foods since birth.

·         - The FDA says foods that have been genetically engineered are as safe as conventional foods and don't require any special labeling. If biotech tech industry and big food believe their GE Foods are safe, we Americans say, “Label them now.”

·         - FDA’s own scientists, many scientists, and doctors around the world, urge GE Labeling.

·          Independent GE feeding studies on rats, pigs, and human breast cancer cells show causation for health  risks.

·         -  GE crop farming techniques require ever-increasing use of pesticide, herbicide and chemical  environmental poisons.

·         - “Bt” corn, soy, canola and cotton crops, a GE variety, are classified by the EPA as “insecticides” because  every cell of the plant produces the poison Bt pesticide. So, why are they approved for human consumption  in food products?

·        -  RoundUp, the herbicide most commonly sprayed on GE crops -- has been shown to have toxic effects on  human health.   But, without labels there is no traceability, no accountability, and no liability. Labels will give  Californians the    information we need to choose for ourselves what we want to eat and feed our families.

·        - The FDA won't label GMOs, so it's been left up to our state governments to give us the right to know what's  in our food.

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       Please forward this email to every Californian you know who votes and eats food. Thank you for taking action to write, call and get back into the game of our lives, and for your support! We need all hands on deck to make this happen.

·         Hey, we’ve all gotta eat!

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CONTACT:
Californians for GE Food Labeling Campaign
Jessica Denning  916 715-2731 c   jessica@denningfamily.com
Website
Facebook
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Rick Keel, Public Relations (916) 454-5805
California State Grange