Leid Stories—After the Storms, Few Reasons to Be Calm—09.12.17

There’s big money blowing in behind the storms this hurricane season, and if history tells us anything, there won’t be much careful thought behind who’ll get it and how it will be spent. While no one’s looking too closely in the middle of several disasters, this is when a lot of shady deals are done. Leid Stories cautions that citizen …

David Bronner – On the Organic Trade Association’s betrayal of the movement for mandatory GMO labelling

Last week President Obama signed the DARK (Deny Americans their Right to Know) Act into law that pre-empts Vermont’s and all other state’s mandatory GMO labeling laws. This bill, passed by Congress two weeks ago, was championed by Senators Debbie Stabenow and Pat Roberts (Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Ag committee) along with USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom …

Vandana Shiva – Avoid ‘miracle’ rice, just eat a carrot!

Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, died on September 9, 2009. Alfred G. Gilman died on December 23, 2015. Both were Nobel laureates and now both dead. Gilman was a signatory to a recent letter condemning Greenpeace and its opposition to genetic engineering. How many Nobel laureates does it take to write a letter? Easily ascertained — the dead …

DARK Act passes Senate vote, proceeds to final debate

The Roberts/Stabenow bill to kill clear GMO labelling has passed the cloture vote in the Senate, 65 yes to 32 no. This means that there will be 30 hours of debate on the bill and then a simple vote, where they only need 51 yes votes, so this means the bill will undoubtedly pass. More stories on this tragic development: …

Brandon Turbeville – DARK Act Passes Senate Committee, A Coup For Big Ag Corporations

On Tuesday June 23rd, it was reported that the Senate’s Agriculture Committee had reached a deal on GMO food labeling and what is essentially a slightly modified version of what clean food proponents have labeled the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know Act). Senators, corporations and the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association are hailing the bill as the victory for …

MARY CLARE JALONICK – Senate bill would block mandatory GMO labeling

A Senate committee is moving forward on legislation that would prevent states from requiring labels on genetically modified foods. Vermont is set to require such labels this summer. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas released draft legislation late Friday that would block that law and create new voluntary labels for companies that want to use them on food packages …

Friends Like These: Back Stabbing in the GMO Labeling Movement?

Organic Consumers Association, February 18, 2016 Last week, we were told that introduction of a Senate bill to kill GMO labeling was “imminent.” When the bill never materialized, its sponsor, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), toldthe press that it “wasn’t ready yet.” Now we know why. It seems that Gary Hirshberg, chairman of the board of JustLabelIt (JLI), along with USDA Secretary …

Stop Calling the TPP a Trade Agreement – It Isn’t – Dave Johnson

This is a message to activists trying to fight the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Stop calling the TPP a “trade” agreement. TPP is a corporate/investor rights agreement, not a “trade” agreement. “Trade” is a good thing; TPP is not. Every time you use the word “trade” in association with the TPP, you are helping the other side. “Trade” is a propaganda …

Food Stamps Are Worth Double at These Michigan Farmers Markets—Helping Families and Local Businesses – Araz Hachadourian

Vicki Zilke is a farmer in Ypsilanti, Mich., population 20,000, where more than a quarter of residents live below the poverty line. Every week, she sells her vegetables at Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market, one of two in the city. Nearly 40 percent of the shoppers at both hubs are on some form of food assistance funding from the government. The …