March Against Monsanto Flyer - May 2014

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  Get in touch with your local organizer to share flyers for your city's event!

YES On 522 Washington State Replacement Ballot

GMO

Many Washington State voters have reported not receiving their ballots to vote YES ON 522, working to ensure that genetically engineered foods are labeled in the state of Washington. Yes on 522 draws support from farmers, fishing families, health professionals, moms and dads, business owners and consumer advocates who believe that Washington shoppers should have the right to know what is in our food. We are motivated by a very simple principle: people have the right to know what’s in the food they eat and feed their families.

UPDATE via NatrualSociety.com

Monsanto’s massive campaign to defeat your very right to know what’s in your food has been backed by over $22 million in corporate funding from sources like DuPont and Bayer, but the reality is that these corrupt corporate monopolies are fighting just to survive within the world’s food supply.

Perhaps most amazing to me is the fact that just $550 of the $22 million donated to fighting the GMO labeling initiative actually came from Washington citizens. To put that into perspective, that’s around .0025% of the total finances. The rest, actually came from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Dow AgroSciences and Bayer CropScience — the same corporations who are actively dominating the food supply with all forms of genetically modified varieties.
Monsanto right now is backed against a corner like a stray animal, fighting with mass amounts of the almighty dollar in order to survive for just a few moments longer. Even the mainstream media now has been forced to reveal Monsanto’s ugly head in light of the Washington voting initiative.
Overall, it is not time to lose morale in the fight for the reclamation of our food, but instead to voice another rallying cry as the beast that is Monsanto begins to truly show how desperate it really is. 

A “yes” vote on 522 would give Washington shoppers more information about what’s in their food and control over their shopping decisions. Under this initiative, genetically engineered foods to be labeled could include chips, cold cereals, soft drinks, candy, corn and soy. Our food is already labeled with abundant nutritional information including sugar, sodium, whether flavors are natural or artificial and if salmon is wild or farm-raised. Additionally, American companies are already required to label genetically engineered food in 64 other countries. They should provide the same information to American shoppers.

Ballots MUST be post marked November 5, 2013. If you did not receive your ballot in the mail, please use this Replacement Form.

You will be able to access your ballot until 8:00 PM Pacific Time on November 5, 2013.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voting/replacementballot.aspx 

Truth Teller

Monsanto - Stories Of Agent Orange Survival

Agent Orange Survivor's Stories

  

GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) foods are being produced in laboratories by the same chemical companies that mass produced Agent Orange. As contractors for the United States Government, Monsanto was the largest and most deadly producer of Agent Orange. Their chemical potency was one thousand (1,000) times greater in deadliness as compared to the other chemical companies producing Agent Orange during the Vietnam War era. Today, half of Agent Orange’s chemical compound, 2, 4,-D, and other pesticides like roundup, are the chemicals being sprayed on GMO (genetically modified organism) crops, resulting in triple the danger of food that is not organic. Imagine what happens to a body already exposed to Agent Orange, like the countless Vietnam Veterans and their children that we at COVVHA advocate for, when consuming these GMO pesticides and foods. In a nutshell, Agent Orange was, in essence, the chicken before the GMO egg.

March against Monsanto (MAM) was created by Tami Canal, a stay at home mom from a small town in Utah. She was prompted to take action after her family’s ever rising grocery bill to ensure she wasn’t poisoning her family. Instead of staying angry, she channeled her energy into creating a protest to spread awareness of the atrocities being committed by Monsanto and to encourage boycotts. Her main objective is to ensure the health, longevity and fertility of her daughters, things Monsanto and their GMO poison threaten.

(COVVHA) Children Of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance INC. has teamed up with March Against Monsanto and built an Agent Orange Awareness program that will prove to be a long lasting and far reaching campaign within both organizations. On October 12, 2013 COVVHA joined MAM for the second global March Against Monsanto. Several cities that participated in the day’s events hosted guest speakers from COVVHA’s own private membership base to rise up and publicly share their personal experiences about Agent Orange. Their videos are now being provided for the public to watch and will be released over the next few weeks.

This is the story of Agent Orange COVVHA Certified Speaker, Jodi Ausland, Tampa Florida

http://youtu.be/isvGsXzUQks

History Repeats Itself; #MAM Readies For 2nd Global Event!

Hello MAM supporters and participants!!

In mere hours, MAM events will start in New Zealand and revolve around the world as we embark on the second March Against Monsanto. This cause has truly united the world! Over 400 cities in 57 countries will take place as we, the citizens of the world, say NO to poison! 3 million people will stand up for the food supply, the environment, and our planet's sustainability. Join an event near you and be a part of this moment in time: http://bit.ly/Oct12MAM  This will go down in history books and we would like to thank YOU for supporting a cause that is very much one of the most important of our lifetimes. We would like to express our deep gratitude for all at the national level. MAM has an awesome team that has spent countless hours working hard to make these events an international victory!! We would also like to give a very special thank you to all of our local organizers, whose hard work and selfless dedication has been instrumental in the global success of MAM.

We would like to give a very special thank you to Dr. Vandana Shiva and the Fortnight of Action For Seed & Food Freedom. Dr. Shiva has worked tirelessly for seed sovereignty and food freedom and it an honor to have her speaking at MAM London.

This time, MAM has teamed up with the Children of Vietnam Veterans Heath Alliance. Agent Orange, a deadly toxin manufactured by Monsanto, has destroyed the lives of millions. MAM has teamed up COVVHA to allow the survivors of this horror a platform to tell their stories. Never before will so many Children of Vietnam Veterans be speaking out at the same time, on the same day, about how Agent Orange has affected their health, and the health of their families.

As we set the course of history in motion, please keep in mind that the third March Against Monsanto is already planned for May 24, 2014. Get this information out there so we can all start building our events for Spring. Start promoting while you have an intrigued audience. Contact www.facebook.com/monstanto to set up an event for 5/24/14.

Please be mindful that MAM is a peaceful movement and there will be kids and the elderly in attendance. Have a good, safe time tomorrow!! Take lots of pictures that you can submit to the MAM facebook page.

The world will be watching tomorrow as we take a stand. We will not stand for poison. We will not stand for cronyism. And we thank you for standing up for what is right and marching against Monsanto.

"Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do."
-Orison Swett Marden

Please forward this email to all of your contact, friends and family and please share and retweet the posts below

Please Retweeet this:

March Against Monsanto - October 12th Worldwide. Find your local event http://t.co/JBt6dVbc6t #MAM #O12 @MarchAgainstM
— MarchAgainstMonsanto (@MarchAgainstM) October 11, 2013

The Countdown Begins! Less than a Month Away!

With only 1 more month to go until the Big, 2nd-Global Day of Action against Monsanto, activists are hard at work, preparing for thousands to converge on Monsanto's Global Headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.  It is anticipated that more than 3.5 Million people will take part in this Global Day of Action in more than 600 Cities World-wide on Saturday, October 12, 2013!

This will be the biggest single event, ever to take place, opposing a Biotech Company.

But, we need your help! 

• Please share the promo video: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gae8u4OWD4Q)
• share the website (www.March-Against-Monsanto.com)
• share the Main Event: "O12: Meet Us in St. Louis - March On Monsanto's HQ" (https://www.facebook.com/events/1405239749694606/)
• share your local event and make sure to invite ALL of your friends. Find your local event here: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page.html
• and share information you know regarding Monsanto

Inform people about GMO's.  Most people don't know that they eat them or what they even are.  Inform people about Monsanto's horrible business practices and ethics.  And most of all, inform people that we need them to join with us, and tell Monsanto we have had enough!

We deserve to know what's in our food, and we do not approve of their practices of patenting seeds, stealing farms, their monopolization of the food supply and more.

Also, their are 2 funds set-up at this time to raise money for: (1) the event in St. Louis and (2) To advertise the Promo Video, which in return, advertises the main event, the event as a whole, and puts out a Global Call to Action.  If you have the ability to donate to either of these campaigns, either donate to:

• the video campaign (2) at: http://www.gofundme.com/47jvc0
• the Main Event (1): http://www.gofundme.com/46cj4s 

Any funds and help you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated!

It is time to spread the word, that in 1 month from today, we will March Against Monsanto.  See you in St. Louis or out on the streets!

GMO foes blast Scientific American editorial decrying labeling laws

 

DAVID KNOWLES
New York Daily News, September 6 2013

The editors of Scientific American wrote a strongly worded rebuke of GMO labeling laws in its most recent issue.

In the growing battle over GMO foods, science is being used as a weapon.

GMO labeling activists are decrying an editorial in Scientific American that takes aim at labeling laws for genetically engineered foods as “unscientific.”

In its Sept. 6 issue, the editors of Scientific American came out against the labeling laws that are currently being considered in 20 U.S. states, and have recently been passed by the legislatures of Connecticut and Maine, because they would give consumers the false impression that GMO’s are unsafe.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tested all the GMOs on the market to determine whether they are toxic or allergenic,” the editorial states. “They are not.”

Stacy Malkan, the former director for Yes on 37, the campaign to pass California’s failed ballot initiative to mandate foods containing GMO ingredients, scoffs at that claim.

“The editorial is sloppy and unscientific,” Malkan told the Daily News. “Saying the FDA has tested all the GMOs on the market is patently false. Each individual company is responsible for testing its own products, and they then decide if they want to voluntarily report it to FDA. But they aren't required to test or report.”

A second contested point in the editorial is the contention that requiring labeling of GMO ingredients will result in higher food prices because genetically engineered seeds can produce higher yields and require less pesticide.

“Private research firm Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants estimated that Prop 37 would have raised an average California family's yearly food bill by as much as $400,” the editorial states.

Malkan calls the study, which was conducted during the heated debate over Proposition 37, “useless,” and notes that it became an industry rallying cry despite being overturned by later studies conducted by the University of California at Davis.

“Let’s get the facts straight,” Malkan said. “Scientific American got seduced into using this bogus report.”

Stacie Orell, the campaign director for GMO Free N.Y., a group pushing to pass a bill in the New York Legislature to mandate labels for genetically engineered foods, felt a similar sense of disbelief when reading the editorial.

Specifically, she noted the inclusion of a passage about the benefits of golden rice, a GMO crop that targets vitamin A deficiency that often leads to blindness in the developing world.

“While I’m not against the idea of golden rice, its benefits in practice remain unkonwn,” Orell said. “These are theoretical ideas that the bio-tech industry often uses to green-wash the issue.”

Public health lawyer Michele Simon agrees that the Scientific American piece had a familiar ring to it.

“It reads like the biotech industry handed Scientific American its talking points,” Simon said in an email.

One of the main claims in the editorial does mirror ones made by GMO seed producer Monsanto—that requiring labels could potentially kill the market for genetically engineered foods in a country where 70% of processed foods already contain them, resulting in less variety and higher costs.

“Many people argue for GMO labels in the name of increased consumer choice,” the editorial states. “On the contrary, such labels have limited people's options. In 1997, a time of growing opposition to GMOs in Europe, the E.U. began to require them. By 1999, to avoid labels that might drive customers away, most major European retailers had removed genetically modified ingredients from products bearing their brand. Major food producers such as Nestlé followed suit. Today it is virtually impossible to find GMOs in European supermarkets.”

To Simon’s ears, assuming the same result in the U.S. is just one more faulty conclusion.

“The European experience would not translate the same way here,” Simon said. “Americans don't reject GMOs, all this would change is labels.”

Originally published in the New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/gmo-foes-blast-scientific-american-editorial-article-1.1448232

Ten things the mainstream media didn't tell you about the Seralini GMO corn study

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News, September 5 2013

It has been almost a year now since French researcher and scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini published his groundbreaking study on the deleterious effects of eating Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) corn, and there are still millions of people out there who are confused about its controversial findings.

To help sort things out, here are ten facts about the study that you probably heard nothing about from the mainstream media:

1) Seralini's study was a chronic toxicity study, not a cancer study.

Not long after being published, Seralini's study was maliciously ripped apart by "skeptics", the media, and many industry-backed institutions that claimed it was a badly-designed cancer study. But the truth is that Seralini's study was actually a chronic toxicity study, and one that met or exceeded all accepted scientific standards.

2) No other long-term studies have ever been conducted on NK603 GM corn.

The chorus of whining that ensued about how Seralini's study allegedly contradicted all other similar studies is also invalid, as no other similar studies have ever been conducted -- Seralini's study is the only long-term study involving Monsanto's NK603 GM corn that has ever been conducted.

3) There was nothing wrong with the types of rats Seralini used.

Another popular criticism involves the Sprague-Dawley (SD) variety of rat used by Seralini in his study. This same variety has been used by Monsanto on many occasions in its 90-day "safety" studies on GMOs.

4) SD rats and humans are almost equally prone to developing cancer.

Contrary to what you may have heard, SD rats are not inherently more prone to cancer than humans, and in fact have almost an equal risk with humans. This makes them a perfect choice for a long-term safety study on GMOs, vindicating Seralini in his use of them.

5) Seralini's study far more in-depth than any "safety" study ever conducted by Monsanto.

It is hypocritical for the mainstream scientific community to criticize Seralini's study methodologies, especially considering the fact that they were far more rigorous than those used by Monsanto to gain GMO approval. Seralini's sample sizes, testing protocols and other methods all exceed those routinely used by the biotechnology industry.

6) Rejecting Seralini's study means rejecting all industry-backed safety studies.

Logically speaking, there is no way to reject Seralini's findings about the dangers of GM corn without also rejecting the findings of industry-backed studies that claim GM corn is safe. Using the same arguments of the vested scientists and media outlets that have attacked Seralini, the bulk of published data on GMOs is thus false, which means GMOs have no place on the consumer market.

7) Seralini's study proves industry studies to be fraudulent.

The only one of its kind conducted for longer than 90 days, Seralini's study also shows that the dangers of GMOs, which are often denied, are actually real. They just show up past the time threshold used in all industry-backed studies -- the first tumors appeared no earlier than four months into Seralini's study.

8) Toxicity observed in Monsanto studies confirmed by Seralini's study.

Though it often goes unreported, Monsanto's own GMO safety studies have observed toxicity from exposure and consumption. But this toxicity is routinely written off as being "not biologically meaningful." But Seralini's study confirms that, if Monsanto's studies were performed for longer than 90 days, these same markers of toxicity would develop into the diseases observed by Seralini.

9) Governments do not require the types of long-term studies conducted by Seralini.

The reason why Seralini's study was accused of being out in left field is that no other similar long term studies are ever conducted, due to the fact that governments around the world simply don't require them. If they did, the world would have a much different understanding about the alleged safety of GMOs.

10) Even short-term studies have observed toxicity from GMOs.

Despite a lack of proper long-term safety testing, a number of independent, short-term laboratory and farm studies have, indeed, observed toxicity due to GMO exposure. Any claim to the contrary is simply a lie, and Seralini's study helps affirm this other research.

To learn more, visit:
http://gmoseralini.org
Originally published at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/041930_GMO_rat_study_GM_corn_Seralini.html

Genetic engineering: The world's greatest scam?

Genetic engineering is a threat to food security, especially in a changing climate. The introduction of genetically manipulated organisms by choice or by accident grossly undermines sustainable agriculture and in so doing, severely limits the choice of food we can eat.

March Against Monsanto - October 12th Flyer

Why Do We March?

On May 24, 2014 activists around the world will unite to March Against Monsanto.

Why do we march?

• Research studies have shown that Monsanto’s genetically-modified foods can lead to serious health conditions such as the development of cancer tumors, infertility and birth defects.

• In the United States, the FDA, the agency tasked with ensuring food safety for the population, is steered by ex-Monsanto executives, and we feel that’s a questionable conflict of interests and explains the lack of government-led research on the long-term effects of GM products.

• Recently, the U.S. Congress and president collectively passed the nicknamed “Monsanto Protection Act” that, among other things, bans courts from halting the sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified seeds.

• For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate subsidies and political favoritism. Organic and small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.

• Monsanto's GM seeds are harmful to the environment; for example, scientists have indicated they have contributed to Colony Collapse Disorder among the world's bee population.

What are solutions we advocate?

• Voting with your dollar by buying organic and boycotting Monsanto-owned companies that use GMOs in their products.

• Labeling of GMOs so that consumers can make those informed decisions easier.

• Repealing relevant provisions of the US's "Monsanto Protection Act."

• Calling for further scientific research on the health effects of GMOs.

• Holding Monsanto executives and Monsanto-supporting politicians accountable through direct communication, grassroots journalism, social media, etc.

• Continuing to inform the public about Monsanto's secrets.

• Taking to the streets to show the world and Monsanto that we won't take these injustices quietly.

We will not stand for cronyism. We will not stand for poison. That’s why we March Against Monsanto.