Emerson Rensink
(ANTIMEDIA) On May 8, Vermont became the first state to pass a law requiring genetically-modified (GM) foods to be labeled. Monsanto, along with the biggest food lobby in the world, responded by filing suit, claiming the new law violates the companies’ right to free speech. Image credit
In a statement, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) complained: “Act 120 imposes burdensome new speech requirements — and restrictions — that will affect, by Vermont’s count, eight out of every ten foods at the grocery store.” They went on to assert that the sole authority in the country over food safety and labeling requirements is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Falko Schilling, consumer protection advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, opined: “The people of Vermont have said loud and clear they have a right to know what is in their food… so putting labels on is a reasonable and prudent thing so people can decide for themselves.”
In an email from the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), National Director Ronnie Cummins praised the new law, stating: “After years of good old-fashioned work, and playing by the rules, the grassroots labeling movement achieved its first real victory this year, when Vermont passed the first no-strings-attached law requiring mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).”
Following the news of the lawsuit, Cummins blasted Monsanto and the GMA in an official press release, calling the suit “a desperate attempt to protect corporate shareholder profits at the expense of consumers’ rights and health.”
He added: “More than 60 other countries have either banned GMOs, or require mandatory labeling of foods that contain them. Consumers in the U.S. have every reasonable right to the same information that consumers in other countries have about foods and ingredients that have not been subjected to independent, pre-market safety testing.”
Before Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin even signed Act 120 into law, Monsanto and its usual cohort the GMA threatened to challenge the bill in court. They made good on their threat just a little over a month later.
Big Ag’s move to sue isn’t news to those who’ve been paying attention. In fact, $1.5 million was earmarked in the bill to pay for the imminent legal defense. That may not be enough, however, to go against the big guns at Monsanto and GMA, who spent $22 million alone in the fight against a GMO-labeling initiative that failed in Washington state last year.
The same anti-labeling lobby defeated a similar ballot initiative in California in 2012, despite big name endorsements and donations.
Vermont is the first state to successfully get past the hurdle of simply enacting a law to require labeling. Its fate in court will likely set the precedent for other similar laws in other states.
Currently, 29 states have bills in the works, and Oregon is gearing up for a GMO-labeling initiative that will appear on the ballot this November.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Please feel free to re-publish any information from this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to the original source.
Emerson Rensink is an Olympia-trans*planted activist, organizer and citizen journalist. He helped organize the global March Against Monsanto in May 2013. In addition to writing for The Anti-Media, Emerson’s work can be found at Center for a Stateless Society. In his free time, Emerson likes to watch depressing documentaries and find funny, pointless things on the Internet.
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June 16, 2014
Tell Vermont to stand there ground and
June 16, 2014
I would take it one step further, as the right to know what's in your food does not violate free speech (or lack of it by not saying what it is) by labeling every ingredient in that GMO, for example if they use fish crossed with a carrot, crossed with bat guano and whatever they use as an insecticide -the bacterial genes needed to produce Bt toxins and introduce them into plants to deter bugs and the end result looks like a tomato. Just because it looks like a duck walks like a duck and quacks like a duck does not make it a duck anymore but a mad scientist's witches brew.
June 16, 2014
oh, I almost forgot, eye of newt, and toe of frog.
June 16, 2014
That was nearly dangerous!
June 16, 2014
WHAT?! How is hiding information from consumers and violating free speech laws an exercise of free speech? (Having Scanners moment here.)
June 16, 2014
Since when are companies granted any constitutional rights?
June 16, 2014
http://money.howstuffworks.com/corporation-person.htm
June 16, 2014
Hmm, I don't see Monsanto's name anywhere on the court case.
June 17, 2014
I live in Vermont. We are standing our ground.
June 17, 2014
Freedom of speech is granted to THE PEOPLE!!! Since when does a company have freedoms over the people?
June 17, 2014
I'm waiting for someone rich enough to sue Monsanto for contaminating non-gm and organic farms, and be prosecuted for knowingly harming consumers and hiding it. How is anything they do legal
June 17, 2014
i doubt that will happen http://www.globalresearch.ca/monsanto-protection-act-signed-by-obama-gmo-bill-written-by-monsanto-signed-into-law/5329388 The Monsanto Protection Act, essentially both written by and benefiting Monsanto Corporation, has been signed into law by United States President Barack Obama. The infamous Monsanto Corporation will benefit greatly and directly from the bill, as it essentially gives companies that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds immunity to the federal courts, among other things.
June 17, 2014
That is incorrect
June 17, 2014
Hiding what information?
June 17, 2014
It doesn't. You are making it up.
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns Everyone in the "know" already knows you are a Monsanto Troll! Get a life!
June 17, 2014
I don't care about your name calling.
You are pushing misinformation.
If you were being honest, you would be more intellectually honest than insults.
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns Talk to the hand.
June 17, 2014
http://www.biofortified.org/genera/studies-for-genera/independent-funding/
June 17, 2014
What information is being withheld? All the nutritional information and ingredients are listed. Processes like genetic modification (or artificial selection or radioactive mutagenesis for conventional and organic crops) are not things to be listed, as they are neither an ingredient nor a nutritional fact.
June 17, 2014
Monsanto has nothing to do with this case, they're not even listed in the lawsuit. It is the farmers that are suing, because this law interferes with their ability to grow and sell what they want, not to mention implies a false statement of health information with the labeling. There is no other process that is mandatory to be labeled and this shouldn't be either.
June 17, 2014
FWIW, Vermont already had a mandatory label for rbST milk struck down by the courts in 1994. This case would appear to be very similar. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/how-not-to-label-biotech-foods
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns Doesn't matter whether they are better, equal or worse, the very ideal of patented seed is a severe threat to humanity, not to mention the past problems and millions of deaths from mono-culture: http://www.globalresearch.ca/gmo-and-the-corporate-patenting-of-living-organisms-monsantos-patents-on-life/5324781
June 17, 2014
Free seed is a growing trend: http://www.city.kawarthalakes.on.ca/news/kawartha-lakes-seed-lending-library-information-sessions-scheduled
June 17, 2014
Seed patenting is not new.
The sky is not falling.
There are important things you could be fighting for instead of fighting for the starvation of the 3rd world.
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns This is what you want? I just drove out to my Country home to take these picks just for you: https://www.facebook.com/HIMPrinceCoreyoftheLakeUE/media_set?set=a.787690344598366.1073741833.100000722221012&type=3&uploaded=4
June 17, 2014
…and that 3rd World starvation psyops is a load of crap, it has been proven that the yields are either the same or organic has been higher yields, my family has also gained higher yields the conventional way and are laughing all the way to the bank.
June 17, 2014
Corey, there's way too much scientific illiteracy there to wade through. It's a convoluted strawman.
There's nothing illegal or insidious going on. If there were, you would have better than 4 out of context shots that prove land doesn't just stay unused. The owners lease it out.
Big deal.
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns It's dead!
June 17, 2014
You bring death and the only thing that can productively be grown is weeds or patented seed.
June 17, 2014
Let me show you a pick of what you did to Lake Erie: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=522342311133172&set=pb.100000722221012.-2207520000.1403021086.&type=3&theater
June 17, 2014
Here is your mutated GMO corn: https://www.facebook.com/HIMPrinceCoreyoftheLakeUE/media_set?set=a.138902389477168.17175.100000722221012&type=3
June 17, 2014
..and my pics of the black mold at the end of the season from the GMO corn has been deleted by the looks of it as I cannot find it anymore, many albums of mine are now missing. But that mold came from those pods and eventually into my kitchen weekly compost downwind in the City.
June 17, 2014
The following year, 2012 they grew beans and no black mold on them nor in my kitchen. It came from your corn and i kept record of it.
June 17, 2014
Now, like I said, talk to the hand, I will not be responding anymore as the facts speak for themselves. GMO is the worst thing to ever happen in all of human History, and generations from now will be suffering as a result.
June 17, 2014
But before I go, one last comment. There is no limit to what monsatan can do, they can sue every farmer, every State, every Country, they can sell food for 5 cents for 7 years and bankrupt every farmer, then, after 7 yrs of losses, charge a million dollars for a potato, it's called in no uncertain terms, food nazi's. A dangerous dictatorship, Nestle' wants to be water nazi's and Monsanto wants to be food nazi's. plain and simple.
June 17, 2014
Taylor Johns Actually, corporations are now treated as "people". Recent law passed to ensure that. That is why the lawsuit is even happening to begin with, if it wasn't the case, their would not BE a lawsuit.
June 17, 2014
Their
June 17, 2014
Because it's not. These people just don't care about reality.
June 17, 2014
1. Monsanto is not named in the suit. It's completely made up.
2. Corporations as people is not applicable to this case. Just mentioning 9-11 doesn't mean it's appropriate.
June 17, 2014
Who is "you"?
I live in California. I've never seen strawman swamp.
June 17, 2014
Monsanto is NOT suing Vermont. Monsanto already labels all its products. Big AG is not suing Vermont. An association of retailers who sell foods in Vermont is suing Vermont because of the stupidity of the Anti-Monsanto luddites. Here is a link to the text of the lawsuit so that you can actually see who is suing Vermont: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scribd.com%2Fdoc%2F229432405%2FPDF-Lawsuit-vs-Vermont-GMO-law&h=pAQEUSfpj I, personally, think that all producers of "organic" and/or "natural" foods and herbs in Vermont should have to label their products with their contents so that the people of Vermont know what they are eating. Because an apple just isn't an apple unless you know what's in it.
June 17, 2014
Also, if you looked up the suit, Monsanto is not mentioned.
November 3, 2014
Botanie Soap
CItations needed.
November 4, 2014
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/09/16/monsanto-big-ag-fighting-back-anti-gmo-activism/
You idiot. Those associations ARE monsanto! They are also a few other companies. Learn what an association is geez…
December 1, 2014
if you throw a gmo tomato at a Monsanto lawyer is it assault with a deadly weapon?
December 1, 2014
I actually had a cousin who defended Monsanto I bit my tongue till it bled
December 17, 2014
The state of Vermont has the right to to force GMO labeling or even ban GMO's. Every state has that right. In most matters states rights over rule federal decisions. Its part of our system of checks and balances. Why would it go to court?
January 16, 2015
Help me understand this. The push to label foods that contain or may contain GMO's is rooted in the Consumers right to know what is in their food. So this will directly have an effect on a Consumer's decision to purchase said Food product. However, by definition isn't Organic Food, which is so outrageously expensive, GMO free anyway. Buy USDA Organic if you are so health concerned. Waste of money and the labeling will do nothing! The same people pushing for labeling laws are cursing you with their left hand while reaching out for their McDonald's order with their right! SMH!
March 20, 2015
eh. it might change a few peoples mind if they become aware of it. but hey even thats only one or two people it still helped some one
April 17, 2015
Taylor Johns forgive me for making a comment a year later, but Hobby Lobby is proof that corporations are people…when the owner can force their religious viewpoint on you.
Sure, they could quit the job, but in an economy where job security is unstable, it might not be wise.
April 24, 2015
These companies are all owned BY MONSANTO they are subsidiaries of that company. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grocery_Manufacturers_Association
Do Just a little research and open your narrow minds. Ask yourself why would these corporations not want GMO labeling, why can a consumer not have a choice of what they are buying and ingesting?
April 24, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su0om5L4Bhg
April 24, 2015
Ohhh, that's right, Monsanto also owns the government and the court system.. I keep forgetting that.
April 24, 2015
Politicians Paid By Monsanto
House of Representatives:
Total paid by Monsanto to Democrats: $72,000
Total paid by Monsanto to Republicans: $190,500
Barrow, John (D-GA) $2,500
Bishop, Sanford (D-GA) $5,000
Boehner, John (R-OH) $10,000
Braley, Bruce (D-IA) $5,000
Camp, Dave (R-MI) $5,000
Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $10,000
Clay, William L Jr (D-MO) $10,000
Cleaver, Emanuel (D-MO) $5,000
Conaway, Mike (R-TX) $2,000
Courtney, Joe (D-CT) $4,500
Crawford, Rick (R-AR) $2,500
Fincher, Steve (R-TN) $8,000
Gardner, Cory (R-CO) $7,500
Goodlatte, Bob (R-VA) $4,500
Graves, Sam (R-MO) $5,000
Griffin, Tim (R-AR) $1,000
Guthrie, Brett (R-KY) $1,000
Hanabusa, Colleen (D-HI)$5,000
Hannemann, Mufi (D-HI) $1,000
Hartzler, Vicky (R-MO) $3,000
Holden, Tim (D-PA) $1,000
Huelskamp, Tim (R-KS) $2,500
Hultgren, Randy (R-IL) $2,500
Jenkins, Lynn (R-KS) $2,500
Johnson, Timothy (R-IL) $3,000
King, Steven A (R-IA) $2,500
Kingston, Jack (R-GA) $7,000
Kinzinger, Adam (R-IL) $3,500
Kissell, Larry (D-NC) $5,000
Labrador, Raul (R-ID) $2,000
LaMalfa, Doug (R-CA) $1,000
Landry, Jeff (R-LA) $1,000
Latham, Tom (R-IA) $10,000
Loebsack, David (D-IA) $5,000
Long, Billy (R-MO) $2,500
Lucas, Frank D (R-OK) $10,000
Luetkemeyer, Blaine (R-MO)$5,000
Lungren, Dan (R-CA) $1,000
McIntyre, Mike (D-NC) $1,000
Neugebauer, Randy (R-TX)$1,000
Noem, Kristi (R-SD) $1,000
Nunes, Devin (R-CA) $3,500
Owens, Bill (D-NY) $2,000
Peterson, Collin (D-MN) $10,000
Rogers, Hal (R-KY) $7,500
Rokita, Todd (R-IN) $5,000
Roskam, Peter (R-IL) $1,000
Schilling, Bobby (R-IL) $3,000
Schock, Aaron (R-IL) $5,000
Shimkus, John M (R-IL) $5,000
Simpson, Mike (R-ID) $10,000
Smith, Adrian (R-NE) $5,000
Stutzman, Marlin (R-IN) $5,000
Thompson, Bennie G (D-MS) $10,000
Thompson, Glenn (R-PA) $1,000
Upton, Fred (R-MI) $5,000
Valadao, David (R-CA) $2,500
Wagner, Ann L (R-MO) $10,000
Walden, Greg (R-OR) $1,000
Walorski, Jackie (R-IN) $2,500
Womack, Steve (R-AR) $1,000
April 24, 2015
Senate
Total paid by Monsanto to Democrats: $37,500
Total paid by Monsanto to Republicans: $85,000
Akin, Todd (R-MO) $3,500
Baucus, Max (D-MT) $1,000
Berg, Rick (R-ND) $10,000
Blunt, Roy (R-MO) $10,000
Boozman, John (R-AR) $5,000
Casey, Bob (D-PA) $2,500
Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA) $5,000
Fischer, Deb (R-NE) $5,000
Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY) $1,000
Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) $2,000
Hirono, Mazie K (D-HI) $1,000
Johanns, Mike (R-NE) $1,000
Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN) $5,000
Landrieu, Mary L (D-LA) $1,000
McCaskill, Claire (D-MO) $5,000
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $10,000
Moran, Jerry (R-KS) $2,500
Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $13,000
Rehberg, Denny (R-MT) $2,000
Risch, James E (R-ID) $3,500
Roberts, Pat (R-KS) $9,000
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI) $8,000
Thompson, Tommy G (R-WI) $5,000
Wicker, Roger (R-MS) $1,000
Wilson, Heather A (R-NM) $2,500
April 24, 2015
boring…..don't really care. That's what happens when you comment on a post that's over 10 months old.