Russia joins more than 30 other countries that have banned the import of GE crops. Also despite the harms of GE crops, giant biotech is pouring thousands of dollars to defeat GMO labeling in the state of Oregon.
The giant agribusinesses have so far donated $455,000 to Good Neighbor Farmers in Jackson County in order to defeat GMO initiative labeling in Oregon. In the last few years, giant biotech has spent more than $67 million in California and Washington to kill GMO labeling.
GE crops are planted on 12% of the world’s farm land in 28 different countries. In EU only two GMO varieties have been licensed for commercial harvesting and GMO foods are accordingly labeled. However, in US, there are more than 96 GMO varieties and so far only few states including Hawaii, Alaska, Connecticut and Maine have been able to pass GMO labeling bill.
Recently even Russia and China have banned the import of GE foods. In fact, US farmers have lost more than $427 million in sales after China rejected the imports of US corn. Russia has also imposed a ban on GE products saying that its nation has enough space and resources to produce organic and sustainable foods.
“Moscow has no reason to encourage the production of genetically modified products or import them into the country”, said the country’s Prime Minister Medvedev. “If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic foods.”
Recently, the Russian parliament suggested a norm set for the maximum allowable content of transgenic foods for Russian manufacturers that produce foods with GE ingredients. When the percentage of GMO exceeds 0.9%, the producer must label its products accordingly and warn the consumers.
More than 30 countries have banned GMO crops, but powerful biotech and chemical lobby including GMA (Grocery Manufacturing Association) have introduced a dark and devious legislation through Congress that would kill states GMO labeling efforts:
The biotech and chemical companies are shoving ‘Agent Orange Corn’ down our throats while countries like China and Russia have banned the imports of GE products.
Not only biotech is hiding their toxins in our food supply, they recently have introduced a new bill to Congress in order to outlaw GMO labeling. The bill is introduced by US Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and is meant to forbid states from mandating GMO labeling. Find out how Koch Industries and Monsanto have teamed up to kill ‘Your Right to Know’: http://seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/us-congress-koch-backed-congressman-mike-pompeo-consider-blocking-gmo-food-labeling-china-drops-us-corn-import.php
While 90% of Americans want their foods labeled, the biotech and chemical companies spend thousands of dollars to keep the public in dark.
Here is the list of biotech & chemical companies fighting against Measure 15-119 ballot campaign in Jackson County:
- Monsanto: $183,294
- DuPont Pioneer: $129,647
- Syngenta: $75,000
- Bayer: $22,353
- BASF: $22,353
- Dow AgroSciences: $22,353
“This is a staggering amount of money for a local ordinance,” said Center for Food Safety senior attorney George Kimbrell. “For every vote they might get, Monsanto and its pals could afford to take each voter out for a fancy steak dinner.”
"It goes to prove just how much money is coming from outside of our county," says Elise Higley, the director of Our Family Farms Coalition. "The general reaction is that people are really angry that outsiders are pouring this much money into a county measure."
Despite the biotech assessment about GMO safety, countless numbers of independent studies have linked GMOs to a wide range of diseases and even a recent USDA report admits that GMOs could cause major environmental disaster: http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/gmos-are-fundamentally-flawed-radically-different-than-non-gmo-foods-usda-admits-gmos-could-cause-major-environmental-risks.php
Sources:
http://rt.com/news/russia-import-gmo-products-621/
http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-county-ban-gmo-997/
