Dear other Moms who want to know what we are feeding our children, ourselves and our families:
I am reaching out as a member of MomsRising.org to encourage everyone to pick up the phone NOW to help stop this horrible pre-emptive measure that prohibits the democratic process and would make it impossible to choose what we eat by labeling our food.
Groups ranging from Label GMOs to Food and Water Watch to Organic Consumers Association to Pesticide Action Network to Center for Food Safety and Environmental Working Group are all working with Just Label It and celebrity Moms like Jessica Alba, Frances Fisher, and Marielle Hemingway. I am delighted to share this piece form Jenna Zimmerman of the Turning Green team in California where I live, and hope you will take action today on behalf of your family!
Many thanks! Lora O'Connor, concerned Mom
#StopTheDARKAct
There is currently a bill on its way to Congress that would prevent GMO-labeling and denies consumers the right to thoroughly know what they are purchasing and eating, three meals a day. “H.R. 1599, dubbed the 'Deny Americans the Right to Know' Act or DARK Act by opponents, would block state laws requiring GMO labeling. Three states have passed such laws and 17 considered similar laws in 2015. The DARK Act would also rob states of the ability to prevent food companies from claiming that GMO foods are “natural.””
The time is now to speak up.
Call your representative today and share these key points: A self dialer is here to make it easy!
For calls, here is a sample script:
“Hi, my name is [NAME]. I am from [District] and I am one of the 9 out of 10 Americans who support GMO labeling. I am calling to ask you to oppose H.R. 1599. This will take away states' and local rights to label and regulate genetically engineered crops. It will harm family farmers and it will undermine local rights of consumers to know what is in our food. Please protect farmers, states' rights and my right to know and OPPOSE H.R. 1599. Thank you.”
We need you to pick up the phone right now: Click here to be automatically connected to your representative and urge him or her to support GMO labeling and vote NO on H.R. 1599!
Still not convinced to call? Please take a look at this blog post -- with videos! -- by teenagers at the Turning Green blog -->
Other ways to help: In addition, you can take action and/or make a donation to Center for Food Safety. This is their latest outreach:
We’re running out of time to save our right to label genetically engineered (GE) foods and ban the growing of GE crops.
Big food and chemical corporations such as Monsanto have hired high-priced lobbyists who are pressuring Congress RIGHT NOW to pass a law that would rescind GE food labeling laws passed in Vermont, Connecticut and Maine and nullify over 135 state and local regulations that restrict the use of GE crops or pesticides.
This law would FOREVER take away our right to choose what we feed our children, farmer’s rights to grow their crop of choice, and our right to protect ourselves and our communities from dangerous chemicals.
We call the bill the Dark Act which stands for Denying Americans the Right to Know (DARK). According to the Dark Act’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), who receives major funding from the Koch Brothers, destroying our democratic rights is just the price we will have to pay to protect the bottom line of Monsanto and other big chemical and food corporations.
This is urgent. We need to Act Now. The DARK Act has just passed through the House Agriculture Committee and will head to the House floor for a vote as early as Thursday!
Here are just a few ways your donation helps win campaigns against dangerous bills like one being considered in Congress right now:
• Full page ads: We’re going to place full-page ads to expose the lies that support the DARK Act in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Roll Call and the Hill, where Members of Congress are sure to see them.
• Face to face meetings: We’ve met in person with 300 Members of Congress and their staff to walk them through the dangers of GMOs and pesticides.
• Grassroots pressure: We’ve channeled over half a million of your emails and calls to your representatives to defeat legislative attempts to ban GE food labeling and to support mandatory, nationwide labeling.
We need to raise $150,000 to take your message to Congress, and the public at large. Thanks to a generous donor’s matching grant, every dollar you give towards our first $50,000 will be doubled! Will you donate right now to support our work and our ad campaign?
Each and every one of our families and communities is at stake. If this dangerous bill becomes law, imagine the hundreds of millions of pounds of additional pesticides, including Roundup and 2,4-D—an element of “Agent Orange”—in your food, water and air. And the Dark Act will have the greatest impact on the health of farm workers who will be in direct contact with these toxic pesticides. This bill would also be economically devastating to organic and non-GE farmers who could lose billions of dollars as their crops are contaminated by unregulated GE varieties.
Center for Food Safety relies on grassroots supporters like you to be able to do our work. Together, we’ve achieved tremendous victories in recent years. But all of that might be tossed out if the DARK Act passes.
Thanks for everything you do,
Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director
Center for Food Safety Action Fund
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