Contact

GMO Free Washington Co - Chairs: Les Berenson MD (206) 290 - 0409 INFO@GMOFreeWashington.com

Goldie Caughlan (206) 708 - 4037 Goldiecaughlan@gmail.com

Whats on this page: Revised Feb 5, 2012
1) Stay updated on the GMO Free Washington information (including the bills)
2) Washington State GMO Labeling Bills update
3) Press , TV coverage, articles on the GMO Olympia bills

IMPORTANT: If you want to be included on GMO Free Wa. updates:
follow these 2 links and thanks ahead for passing to others.

A) www.GMOFreeWashington.INFO (get on updates)
Make sure everyone signs up on our GMO Free Washington database for updated information. Many who came to Olympia ARE NOT ON OUR LIST FOR UPDATES.

B) Give people the link to this page www.TinyURL.com/GMOBillWa
with all the updated information on how to support Washington's Labeling bills

YOUR food supply & health is at stake.

Update on Washington State GMO Labeling bills

What a 3 weeks this has been. At the last second we were informed that 2 GMO labeling bills had been introduced by a liberal Democrat in the Senate (Maralyn Chase) and a conservative Republican in the House (Gary Condatta).
GMO Free Washington and many other groups from around the state, U.S.
went into quick action, as the bills were being heard in less than 10 days in Olympia. Part of our team were involved with some of the top thinks tanks in the U.S. i.e. George Kimbrell from the Center of Food Saftey and many others.
The bills were rewritten (many times) and the changes were approved by Sen. Chase and Rep. Condatta who resubmitted the revised bills at the last minute.
One of the states in the leadership of GMO labeling was VT. and we even heard they may adopt our new Wa. State bill, so one good thing was a lot of amazing collective leadership under pressure to create a great GMO labeling bill.

What are implications NATIONALLY if Washington state or another major state passes a GMO labeling bill?

It has been speculated that when a major state passes a bill / initiative, that it's likely GMO ingredients could die overnight like happened in Europe as the companies would not want to label in 1 state and not label in 49 others because of chaos and liability. The companies that market products in the US also produce similar products in Europe and elsewhere BUT WITHOUT GMO INGREDIENTS as they produce what the market demands. This is why our Wa. bill caught national attention.

PLEASE GO TO WWW.JustLabelIT.ORG - sign up to support the CA. initiative.

What you and many others accomplished:

People from all over, wrote emails, letters, phoned the senators and representatives as well as the members of the agricultural committees where these bills were introduced. We heard the level of communication was overwhelming in Olympia and the volumn was 2nd only to the gay marraige bill last week !!

The Organic Consumers Association backed us on so many levels and even provided busses to head to Olympia. We loaded 2 busses and many came for all over the state and we PACKED the rooms for the hearings. People stood up, spoke from their hearts and many even testified for the 1st time. The sheer numbers of people wanting to speak was overwhelming to these committees. THis was good and bad. In the House there were 11 PAGES of people wanting to testify.
Because of this they only gave the core people 1.5 min to really present the data,
we had been strageizing on what to share. It was hard to present my medical testimony on my GMO crops are harmful in only 1.5 minutes).

An AP story (see links below) ended up in >150 newspapers around the world from Australia to Ireland (even Ballard) ! Everyone wrote and called and did it again and again and poured their hearts out, but this time - money talked.
Both chairman of the ag committees Brian Hatfield (Senate) and Brian Blake (House) receive contributions from Monsanto and even with all the people testifying and the volume of calls / emails, decided that these bills didn't even have to come up for a vote in their respective committees after our hearings !!

Good news: We have learned our lessons and we feel we will have a GMO labeling bill in Wa. State within a year. House speaker Frank Chopp is very much in favor of this bill as well as many others have come forward so NEXT go round the bills will be in more favorable environments.

On hindshight these were not the best committees to introduce these bills, as so many of these agricultural members were deep in the back pockets of Monanto and the Wheat Commission.

Check out these reports:

1) One Company That's Possibly Even More In Bed With Our Government Than Wall Street

2) Who's Blocking the Vote on GMO Labels in WA?

Here were several reasons to adopt these bills:

1) Wheat is Wash. states 2nd largest economic sector. Overseas markets have clearly stated they will not take WA. wheat if there is any chance of GE contamination. If the legislature thinks we have a budget problem now,
what will happen if Wa. State loses its wheat crop?

2)This bill is about labeling GMOs in our food supply to allow the people in our state to make more informed decisions about what they are earthing no different than labels like - trans fats, amount of sugar, Kosher etc.

There is essentially no cost to the state to implement these bills.

3) There was a lot of misleading and deceptive information submitted in
both the House and Senate by the opposing side, and such overwhelming support
for the bills to pass out of committee, that a fair hearing should be carried out.
(Ex. The lobbyist for Wheat Growers Association told the committees about a petition that 75% of national wheat farmers has signed supporting GMO wheat.
When you look at the 1 page petition (see below) there is no reference to
GE, GMO, Genetically Modified anything mentioned.
They also didn't poll farmers < 1000 acres leaving out the majority of farms.

Petition

Vote card

Break down of results

4) Many people presenting opposing views stated to confuse the ag committee members that GMO wheat was 10 years away, yet there are 4 experimental plots here in Wa. State and you can imagine how many in other parts of the country.
We know from track records that as soon as a GMO / GE crop is approved, its QUICKLY railroaded down these farmers throats with misconceptions and desception.

See this new example:
There's a new sweetner made approved by Monsanto :

Neotame http://www.neotame.com that is potentialy worse than Aspertame and :

Neotame can be put into foods INCLUDING ORGANIC FOODS without being on the label!

SO - GMO wheat and the riks of contamination and risk to animals eating this wheat and destruction of farmers lands - do we really need to take this risk?

Press , TV coverage, articles on the GMO Olympia bills

To watch video of the hearings (if links above don't work) :
Senate - SB 6298 (1-26-12)
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012011243

House - HB 2637 (start video at 1:09) (1-27-12)
(http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012011254)

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Seattle, WA (KOMO 4 TV): Lawmakers take up issue of genetically-altered foods
Seattle Times,
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017345507_apusfoodandfarmgmolabeling2ndldwritethru.html?syndication=rss
Puget Sound Business Journal -
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2012/01/label-genetically-modified-wheat-some.html

Rest of the press articles

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To watch video of the hearings (if links above don't work) :
Senate - SB 6298 (1-26-12)
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012011243

House - HB 2637 (start video at 1:09) (1-27-12)
(http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012011254)

What GMO information can you share with others who may
need to know more information (see 2 handouts below)

Ask your friends, would they put Monsanto's Roundup herbicide on their food ??
If a food contains beef, chicken, or turkey, or the ingredients -
Soy, Corn, Sugar or Canola and is not labeled Organic or Non - GMO Verified,
THEN 90% of these foods we (our kids, family and friends) are eating
genetically engineered foods that are likely sprayed with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide several times.

Download these two handouts and pass them along):

A) GMO Free Washington handout and references
B) How to Win a GMO Debate - by Jeffrey Smith

Professor Don Huber was interviewed by Dr. Joesph Mercola D.O. for 2 hours.
There is a wealth of background information included.
www.TinyURL.com/MercolaHuber
www.TinyURL.com/MercolaHuber2