GMO labeling group plans to make history with massive grassroots campaign
http://www.examiner.com/article/gmo-labeling-group-plans-to-make-history-with-massive-grassroots-campaign
July 25, 2012
By: Judson Parker
Consumers currently don't know if their food has been genetically modified
Today, the California "Yes on Proposition 37" campaign pledged to make history with an ambitious plan to organize one million Californians who want the right know what's in their food.
The campaign tapped into a deep grassroots passion for knowing what's in our food and created a statewide network of thousands of volunteers who helped quickly qualify the measure for the November ballot. The initiative, which calls for simple labels on foods that have been genetically engineered, collected almost a million signatures in just 10 weeks.
"No other election campaign we know of has mobilized so many voters so quickly with such a huge network of volunteers," said Stacy Malkan, a spokeswoman for Yes on 37. "This is a powerful people's movement. Californians are demanding the right to know what they are eating and feeding their children."
Now the Yes on 37 Campaign has set the ambitious goal of organizing One Million More Californians for the Right to Know what they are feeding their families.
The One Million More drive will feature thousands of volunteers going door to door and reaching out at grocery stores and farmers markets across California. The campaign is also launching aggressive online organizing efforts, inviting voters to show their support at www.CARightToKnow.org and in social networks and online communities. More than 300 bloggers have signed on to promote Yes on 37 and more than 800 organizations-including farmers, businesses, consumer, public health and environmental groups, and labor unions-have endorsed the campaign.
"We will make history when we reach this ambitious goal of One Million More supporters. But we are making history already by standing up to some of America's most powerful corporations to demand the right to know what's in our food," Malkan said.
"Frankly, we don't understand why they oppose telling their American customers what's in their products when they already provide labels indicating that their food products are made through genetic engineering in some 50 countries including all of Europe, Japan, Australia, and even China and Russia."
Proposition 37 simply requires labeling of genetically engineered foods, which are plant or animal products whose DNA has been altered by genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria. It allows this information to be gradually phased in and would cost consumers nothing, while giving them the ability to decide for themselves if they want to eat genetically engineered foods that have never been proven safe for humans.
For more information about the campaign, visit www.CARighttoKnow.org.
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