Oct. 18, 2012

Turning Point in the Food Fight of Our Lives: We Need Your Help More than Ever!

The most recent voter poll on the November 6 Proposition 37 California ballot initiative to label Genetically Engineered foods and ban the marketing of GE-tainted foods as “natural” is out. And the news is discouraging. After enjoying a 26-point lead for the past six months, our side has dropped 19 points in the polls.

How did we lose so much support so fast?

If you live in California, you know why. Flip on your TV – at home, at the gym, in the airport – and there they are. Ad after ad, spewing lies about higher costs for consumers, rampant lawsuits clogging the courts, "confusing" labels, poor farmers and grocers facing "nightmares of paperwork." Monsanto, Big Ag, and the rest of the pesticide and junk-food manufacturers began flooding the California airwaves on October 1 with one million dollars a day in deceptive TV and radio ads – and they will relentlessly pound the airwaves right up until midnight November 6.

We’re still ahead in the polls 48% to 40%.  And we’re holding onto a comfortable lead among those who don’t watch TV. But those who do watch TV – including many who were on our side until the opposition unleashed a barrage of  non-stop industry propaganda and lies – are getting confused.

With only a few million dollars in our own campaign war chest, we’re no match for Monsanto’s $36 million ad blitz.

So, how do we overcome Monsanto and Food Inc.'s onslaught of deceptive advertising? We do what the grassroots knows how to do best – we fight back on the ground with our message about the people vs. the corporations, the truth about our health vs. their obscene profits. We expose their lies by talking to voters in supermarket parking lots, on the phone, and by making sure voters get out to the polls to vote YES on 37.

Here’s how you can help. If you live in California, we desperately need you to hand out leaflets at grocery stores over the next three weeks – we need to mobilize thousands more of you today! Sign up here.

If you live outside California, please volunteer for our national phone bank to call millions of California voters. It’s easy. You can get quick, easy online training and sign up for one or more shifts here – and it won’t cost you a dime in phone charges.

And of course, we need to raise as much more money as possible, to be able to keep the campaign running. If you haven’t donated yet, please consider a donation today. If you have, please consider an additional donation. To help OCA and OCF continue to financially support the Prop 37 campaign, donate here.

The decisive moment has arrived. Everything we’ve worked for in the past 15 years is on the line. We desperately need your money, your volunteer time, or both. Thank you!

Did They Really Say That? Debunking the NO on 37 Lies

You’ve gotta hand it to Monsanto and the rest of Biotech and Big Food gang. Since October 1, they’ve been pounding the California airwaves with boldface lies and twisted truths, construed to confuse.

Take the dog food vs. steak bit. Why does a can of dog food require a GMO label, when your t-bone steak doesn’t? Well... dog food in a can or a bag is a processed food, which may contain soy, corn or other additives – some or all of which may be genetically modified. Under Prop 37, it gets a label.

That t-bone? Maybe the cow ate genetically modified corn.  But the cow itself was not genetically modified. If you eat cereal that contains genetically modified corn, that doesn’t mean YOU are genetically modified, does it? Now, a piece of genetically engineered salmon - where the fish itself was genetically altered? Under prop 37, that gets a label, too.

The dog food vs. steak argument is nonsense – intended to confuse and detract from the real issue: the right to know what’s in your (or your dog’s) food.

For more about the NO on 37 lies – and why they’re bunk – read the article here.

Support the OCA and OCF

You Can Still Make a Difference!

As the election draws closer, we’re all feeling it: our favorite candidates are all asking for money to help them win on November 6. Good candidates deserve our support... but all candidates come and go. Food is here forever.

If you really want to make a difference in your life, and the lives of future generations, please consider making a much-needed donation to our campaign to support Proposition 37, the California Right to Know GMO labeling initiative.

There is nothing more basic than food safety – and no bigger threat to food safety than the invisible attack on our food by the biotech industry. You can’t avoid hazardous food ingredients if you don’t know where they are.

It’s getting down to the wire. We still need your help. Please consider a donation today, and please reach out to all your friends and family who may not yet be aware of the importance of this historical battle for the right to know what’s in our food. Thank you!

DONATE TO THE ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION (tax-deductible, and helps  support our public education work against GMOs and chemical food, and our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and sustainable farming)

DONATE TO THE ORGANIC CONSUMERS FUND (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in California and other states)

Hats Off to the YES on 37 Million Dollar Donors – and You!

The NO on 37 campaign is leading the money-raising race, but we have plenty of heroes on our side – including two groups and one individual that have contributed $1 million or more to the California Right to Know GMO labeling fight.

Topping the list of donors who support your right to know what’s in your food is Mercola.com Health Resources, the world’s leading natural health website. Mercola has donated $1.115 million. Also in the million-dollar donor club is Kent Whealy, co-Founder of Seed Savers Exchange, who has contributed one million dollars.

And of course, the Organic Consumers Fund has donated more than a million dollars ($1,020,000.00) so far, thanks to you and the 20,000 other organic consumers who have pitched in to keep the campaign on track.

In stark contrast to the NO campaign’s list of funders – heavy hitters in the pesticide and junk food industries – donations to the YES on 37 campaign have come from concerned individuals and natural health and organic food retailers, in addition to Mercola, the OCF, and Kent Whealy.

Among the many other companies that have donated so far to the YES on 37 campaign are Dr. Bronner’s, Lundberg Family Farms, Nature’s Path, Eden Foods, Organic Valley, Nutiva, Great Foods of America and others, including small natural health stores and food co-ops. Hats off to all these great companies – they deserve our support!

See all the YES on 37 (and NO on 37) donors here.

Video of the Week

Oh Baby! What Are They Putting in Your Food?

What's worse than feeding mutant corn to unsuspecting rats? Feeding it to unsuspecting humans. Watch the video, make a donation, claim your perk! Every dollar donated will be matched by Entrepreneur and Prop 37 supporter, Ali Partovi. Partovi will use the money to run Facebook ads that will reach every single voter in California twice. Please help them hit their goal of $50,000 so they can earn a matching $50,000.

Watch the video here.

Little Bytes

 

Essential Reading for the Week

Moment of Truth: Is the 'Food Movement' for Real - or Just Talk?

What Will You Do for the Revolution? Prop 37, D-Day for the Food Movement

German Chemical and Biotech Giants Join Anti-Labeling GM Food Fight in California

Excess Cancers and Deaths with GM Feed: the Stats Stand Up

Some GMO Cheerleaders Also Deny Climate Change

Message From Our Sponsors

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ronniecummins@organicconsumers.org