permaculture

["Frances and David" <fdnokes@hotmail.com>]

interesting timing here...
just as people planning a nearby rally have met up with a sudden wall in the 
form of a call by the police for the organizers to carry a huge amount of 
insurance!
unheard of previously.
fran


-----Original Message----- 
From: Lawrence London
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 10:18 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] Monsanto's Next Target: Democracy

Monsanto's Next Target: Democracy
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15650-monsantos-next-target-democracy

Monsanto's Next Target: Democracy  Wednesday, 10 April 2013 11:02  By Ronnie
Cummins <http://truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/46658> and
Katherine Paul<http://truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/47407>,
AlterNet<http://www.alternet.org/food/monsantos-next-target-democracy?paging=off>|
Op-Ed

*The battle for food sovereignty is a battle we cannot afford to lose.*

Big Food’s greatest fear is materializing. A critical mass of educated
consumers, food and natural health activists are organizing a powerful
movement that could well overthrow North America’s trillion-dollar junk
food empire. Savvy and more determined than ever, activists are zeroing in
on the Achilles heel of Food Inc. -- labeling.

But as consumers demand truth and greater transparency in labeling, it
isn’t just Big Food whose empire is vulnerable. The biotech industry, which
makes billions supplying junk food manufacturers with cheap, genetically
engineered (GE) ingredients, has even more to lose. Monsanto knows that if
food producers are forced to label the genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) in their food products, they’ll reformulate those products to meet
consumer demand for GMO-free alternatives. That’s why companies like
Monsanto, DuPont and Dow, along with Coca-Cola and Pepsi, last year spent
more than $46 million to defeat Proposition 37, California’s GMO labeling
initiative.

The junk food and biotech industries narrowly (48.5% - 51.5%) prevailed in
California, but they know it’s only a matter of time before one or more
states pass a mandatory GMO labeling law. More than 30 state legislatures
are now debating GMO labeling bills. And consumers have broadened the
fight<http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27247.cfm>
beyond
just labeling. Five counties and two cities in California and Washington
have banned the growing of GE crops. In addition, given the near total
absence of FDA regulation, 19 states have passed laws restricting
GMOs<http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27247.cfm>
.

How is the biotech industry fighting back? By attacking democracy.  Experts
say the laws are on the side of consumers. But consumers will no doubt
still have to defend democracy against an increasingly desperate, and
aggressive, industry bent on protecting the highly profitable business of
genetically engineered food.

The battle lines have been drawn. Will we cede our food sovereignty rights
to a profit-at-all costs corporatocracy?
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