GMO Labeling Defeated in Washington by Monsanto Funny Money

Natural Cures Not Medicine

Image: rt.com

GMO labeling, once again, was defeated not by informed voters, but by millions of dollars worth of negative ads bought and paid for by Monsanto & company.

via Liberty Beat:

"In a closely fought battle, voters in Washington state have decided not to label Genetically Modified Foods. Initiative 522 appears to have lost by a margin of 45% in favor of labeling and 55% against. In early September, polls showed support for labeling to be ahead by 45%, that number quickly dwindled after a $22 million advertising campaign against the measure was launched by General Mills, Nestle, PepsiCo, Monsanto, DuPont and others."

This win for GMA, the lobbying arm of 'Big Food', comes despite a lawsuit filed over the GMA's suspected illegal political finance activities and money laundering. Acording to seattlepi.com:

"The attorney general went to court on Wednesday, saying the association gathered and spent more than $7 million in the campaign, shielding its donors and violating public disclosure laws."

The GMA is well known for it's political activities which are aimed at countering grass-roots food rights initiatives such as Washington's I-522 and California's Prop 37; where they contributed a large part of the $40+ million raised to defeat GMO labeling.

Monsanto, one of GMA's largest contributing members($4.8 million to defeat I 522 alone), has had a long history of both anti-science and anti-health stances: claiming that scientists across the globe who question GMO safety are simply conspiracy theorists for thinking Monsanto's claims that pesticides are actually good for the soil and that pesticide exposure is not bad for you, are questionable claims.

Other top donors which contributed to the false propaganda campaign, according to firedoglake.com, were:

"General Mills, Inc. ($598,819), PepsiCo, Inc.($1,620,899), Kellogg Company ($221,852), Nestlé USA, Inc. ($1,052,743) and ConAgra Foods ($285,281)"

The GMA, 'Big Food' and the bio-giants may have won the battle for now, but the war is far from over. Many activists are likely to double their efforts after being beaten by corporate cash and political corruption, just as we saw the March Against Monsanto movement gain momentum from Prop 37's corporately funded defeat, this is only the beginning in the fight for our right to know if it's GMO.