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Park rangers began turning visitors away from Mesa Verde National Park as the federal government shutdown forced the U.S. Park Service to close the national park system.

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Companies Against GMO Labeling

cal-access.sos.ca.gov

Numerous large food and seed corporations sunk over $46 million into the fight to defeat Proposition 37, which would have required food companies to list genetically modified ingredients on the labels of its products sold in retail stores. It would have also prevented the labeling of GMO foods as “natural.” The law would would have affected California, but because Californians make up 12% of the U.S. population, those Californian labels would have spilled over to other states as well. Currently food processors list ingredients, calorie, nutritional value and peanut content. Adding GMO ingredients to that list will benefit those who wish to steer clear, until GMO foods are deemed safe and healthy into the long term (yet many feel certain GMOs will never be proven healthy).

The record keeping necessary for the added labels will also help keep track of ecological issues such as gene flow between GMOs and the surrounding ecology, weed killer's affects, pest and superweed resistance and a host of other ecological issues that could potentially arise with rampant GMO use. This bill would have slowed down the influx of GM crops and help keep track of GMOs impacts.

All is not lost, as there is still hope. GMO Labeling Ballot Initiative (I-522) will be up for a vote in Washington State in 2013.

Currently Europe, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, Australia and numerous other countries require that food labels list genetically modified ingredients. Why hasn't the the U.S. insisted on this labeling? Because many large corporations are fighting to keep the U.S. consumer in the dark. Let us know, if there are GMOs. We should have the right to know!

Companies and their donations to keep GMO off of labels:

Ironically most of the companies lobbying against Prop 37 have a stake in the organic industry. See that list below, it might surprise you.

Monsanto  =  $7,100,000.

DuPont  =  $5,200,000.

PepsiCo Inc.  =  $2,500,000.

BASF Plant Science  =  $2,000,000.

Bayer CropScience  =  $2,000,000.

Dow Agrosciences  =  $2,000,000.

Syngenta Corp  =  $2,000,000.

Kraft Foods  =  $2,000,000.

Coca-Cola  =  $1,700,000.

Nestle USA  =  $1,315,400.

ConAgra Foods  =  $1,200,000.

General Mills  =  $1,200,000.

Del Monte  =  $674,000.

Kellogg Co.  =  $790,700.

Smithfield  =  $671,000.

Council for Biotechnology Information  =  $625,000.

Heinz  =  $500,000.

Hershey Company  =  $493,900.

J.M. Smucker Co.  =  $555,000.

Grocery Manufacturers Association  =  $375,000.

Hormel Foods Corp.  =  $374,300.

Unilever  =  $ 460,000.

Mars Food North America  =  $370,280.

Bimbo Bakeries USA  =  $422,900.

Ocean Spray Cranberries  =  $326,500.

Campbell Soup Co.  =  $320,455.

Pinnacle Foods Group LLC  =  $266,100.

Dean Foods Co.  =  $253,950.

Biotech Industry Organization  =  $250,000.

McCormick & Co. Inc.  =  $248,200.

Abbott Nutrition (Infant Formulas / Similac)  =  $230,900.

Rich Products Corp.  =  $225,500.

Cargill Inc.  =  $226,800.

Welch's  =  $167,000.

Knouse Foods Cooperative  =  $160,300.

W.M. Wrigley Jr. Co.  =  $116,900.

Sunny Delight Beverages Co.  =  $114,500.

Tree Top  =  $110,300.

Bumble Bee Foods  =  $98,000.

Sara Lee Corp.  =  $96,800.

Hillshire Brands (Ball Park, Jimmy Dean)  =  $86,000.

McCain Foods USA  =  $50,600.

Dole Packaged Foods Co.  =  $45,580.

Goya  =  $ 56,100.

Clorox  =  $33,000.

S & W  =  $21,100.

BASF, Bayer and Syngenta are subsidiaries of foreign pesticide companies.

Organic (and some Natural) food brands owned by big corporations:

Coca-Cola -  Honest Tea,  Odwalla,  Simply Orange.

Cadbury -  Green and Black's Chocolate,  Nantucket Nectars.

ConAgra -  Alexia,  Hunt's Organic,  Lightlife (vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes like Smart Deli),  Orville Redenbacher's Organic.

Dean Foods -  Horizon Milk,  Silk Soymilk,  Organic Cow of Vermont,  White Wave.

(Said to be in control of up to 90% of the milk market in many states.)

General Mills - Cascadian Farms, Cheerios, Food Should Taste Good,  Larabar,  Muir Glen, Nature Valley.

Groupe Danone -  Stonyfield Farm.

Hershey’s -  Dagoba Chocolate.

Hain-Celestial - (partially owned by Heinz) Arrowhead Mills,  Bearitos,  Breadshop Cereals,  Casbah,  Celestial Seasonings,  DeBoles Pasta,  Earth's Best,  Ethnic Gourmet,  Garden of Eatin',  Gluten Free,  Greek God's,  Hain Pure,  Health Valley,  Imagine Soups,  Linda McCartney,  Maranatha nut butters,  Mountain Sun Juices,  Nile Spice Soup,  Rice Dream,  Sensible Portions,  ShariAnn's,  Soy Dream,  Terra Chips,  TofuTown,  Walnut Acres,  Westbrae Natural,  WestSoy,  Yves Meatless.

JM Smucker -  After the Fall,  R.W. Knudsen,  Santa Cruz Organic.

Kellogg -  Bear Naked,  Gardenburger,  Kashi,  Morningstar Farms,  Natural Touch,  Wholesome & Hearty. (Kashi cereals contain GMOs!) Kellogs uses genetically engineered sugar beets in its non-organic cereals.

Kraft -  Boca,  Back to Nature.

Mars/M&M -  Seeds of Change

Nestle -  Tribe Mediterranean Foods

Pepsi -  Dole,  Harvest Crunch,  Izze,  Naked Juice,  Ocean Spray,  Tazo,  Tostito's Organic, Tropicana.

Rich's -  Fresh Meadow

Unilever -  Ben & Jerry’s,  Knorr,  Salada

Personal Care:

Clorox -  Burt’s Bees.

Colgate-Palmolive -  Tom’s of Maine.

Hain Celestial -  Alba Botanica,  Avalon Organics,  Jason,  Orjene,  Queen Helene,  Zia.

Beer:

Anhueser Busch -   Stone Mill and Wild Hop.

______________________________

Private/Small Companies 'FOR' GMO labeling:

Only a handful listed. For a larger listing: www.carighttoknow.org

Alvarado Street Bakery - a coop

Amy’s Kitchen

Ancient Organics

Annie's

AppleGate Farms

Aubrey Organics

Bob's Red Mill

Cedarlane

Earthbound Farms

Eden Foods

Equal Exchange - a cooperative

Frey Vineyards

Golden Temple (Yogi Tea & Peace Cereal)

Lundberg Family Farms

Nature’s Path -  Canadian company, family owned

Newman's Own

Nutiva

Organic Valley - a cooperative of family farms.

Pacific Natural Foods

Simply Organic

Tofurky

Turtle Mountain (Purely Decadent, So Delicious)

Support for GMO labeling:

www.cornucopia.org

Source: Inspiration Green

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14-year-old GMO Activist Schools Ignorant TV Host

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Her name is Rachel Parent, and she’s suddenly an internet sensation for her cool-headed debate about GMOs on a popular Canadian TV show. (She’s also the founder of the Kids Right to Know GMO Walk.) As you’ll see in the video below, Rachel calmly argues for the basic human right to know what’s in our food, even as the condescending bully of a host named Kevin O’Leary verbally assaults the girl and practically accuses her of murdering children.

During the debate, Kevin O’Leary, co-host of the The Lang And O’Leary Exchange show, viciously attacked Rachel, first accusing her of being a “lobbyist” against GMOs (an absurd accusation that O’Leary knows is false, as there is no corporate interest in honest food labeling), and then equating her position of questioning GMOs with somehow supporting a holocaust of widespread death of children. Despite the outrageous attacks, Rachel Parent simply countered his utterly contrived accusations with the facts: GMO crops don’t out-produce regular crops, GMOs are a dangerous global experiment using human beings as lab rats, and consumers should have the right to know what they’re buying or eating.

(It is astonishing that people like O’Leary want consumers to have less information about what they’re buying, keeping them in the dark and subjecting them to the accidental ingestion of modified foods that have been linked to organ damage and cancer tumors.)

Watch her video debate with Kevin O’Leary below:



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Gardening is not a crime: Woman charged with misdemeanor for having a garden

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Gardening and crime don't really sound like they go together, but when faced with an overbearing government bureaucracy anything is possible. This video is a prime example of what happens when the government gets out of control and the corporate grocery industry has it's tentacles around the local city politicians. Julie Bass was fined and charged with a misdemeanor for planting an organic garden in her front yard.



A more in depth look at Julie's situation:

 

Mother Fined $2,500 After Her 3yr Old Pees in Her Own Yard

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A mother has been fined $2,500 (£1,600) after her 3-year-old son peed in the front garden. Ashley Warden in Piedmont, Oklahoma received the fine when her toddler Dillan was caught urinating in the yard by a passing police officer. Dillan was being potty trained at the time and was not near a toilet.

Ashley told News 9: "Dillan pulled down his pants to pee outside.[Then] the cop pulled up and asked for my licence, and told me he was going to give me a ticket for public urination."

Dillan's grandmother Jennifer added: "I said, 'Really? He is 3 years old', and he said, 'It doesn't matter, it is public urination'. I said we are on our property and he said it's in public view."

Ashley stated that she would be fighting the fine, as Dillan didn't finish peeing because he was interrupted by the police officer.

Monsanto officially gives up on European approval for new GMO crops

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The good news: Monsanto can’t get approval for new GMO crops in Europe. A Monsanto spokesmen says they will withdraw all approval requests.

The bad news: Monsanto will concentrate on getting European approval to import GMO crops grown in the US and South America.

Let’s hope European officials aren’t that stupid or corrupt to grant this company such approval. The EU currently allows GMO crop inputs for animal feed. In fact, it is one of the biggest importers of this junk. This latest development suggests Monsanto is trying to deceitfully expand that foot in the door into EU approval for GMOs in human food.

European consumers are overwhelmingly opposed to such a move. If Monsanto persists in this stealth approach, there will be huge anti-Monsanto GMO demonstrations across Europe.

US GMO opponents should take heart from European developments. Consumer resistance is a powerful force and politicians ignore it at their peril.

82% of Americans support GMO food labeling and a GMO label would be a skull and crossbones on the package for health conscious consumers.

GMO crops are actually registered as pesticides! People are effectively eating genes that produce insecticides when they eat GMO food.

US consumer awareness about GMOs should keep growing and keep force Monsanto and other GMO firms (Syngenta, Dupont, Dow) into retreat.

Let’s keep up the pressure on these corporate criminals who put market domination and profit ahead of science and your health!

Now here is the full article from reuters:

(Reuters) - Monsanto Co said on Wednesday it will withdraw all pending approval requests to grow new types of genetically modified crops in the European Union, due to the lack of commercial prospects for cultivation there.

"We will be withdrawing the approvals in the coming months," Monsanto's President and Managing Director for Europe, Jose Manuel Madero, told Reuters by telephone.

Madero said the decision would allow the company to focus on growing its conventional seeds business in Europe, as well as securing EU approvals to import its genetically modified crop varieties widely grown in the United States and South America.

The decision covered five EU approval requests to grow genetically modified maize, plus one soybean and one sugar beet. The company said it would not withdraw its application to renew the approval for its insect-resistant MON810 maize - the only GMO crop currently cultivated commercially in Europe.

A spokesman for the European Commission, which manages the EU's GMO approval system, confirmed that Monsanto had informed it of its intention to withdraw the applications.

The move reflects the frustration felt by many biotech companies towards the EU's approval system for GMOs. Decisions routinely face years of delays, and only three varieties have ever been given the green light for cultivation.

While Monsanto's MON810 maize has been approved for cultivation throughout the EU, several countries including France, Germany and most recently Italy have imposed national bans, driven by strong public opposition to the technology.

Last year, German biotech producer BASF halted the development of genetically modified crops in Europe and moved all of its European GMO research operations to the United States.

Despite public hostility to genetically modified foods, Europe is one of the world's major buyers of biotech grain, importing more than 30 million metric tons of mostly GM animal feed each year for its livestock industry.

Here are some related articles you may enjoy:

New App Lets You Boycott Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

Monsanto: A Documentary On GMO's (A Must Watch)

A Long List of GMO Companies And Products

Sources : The Refusers, Reuters