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.

Pro-GMO Lobby Forced to Disclose Donors After Lawsuit

Image: www.occupy.com

(cornucopia.org via buzz.naturalnews.com) 

Friday, October 18, the Grocery Manufacturers Association released a list of contributors to the anti-GMO labeling No on 522 campaign after the Washington Attorney General filed suit for violating state election disclosure requirements.

The list was made up of some of the largest food products manufacturers, including many of the most prominent brands in natural and organic food. The following list shows the disclosed companies and the amounts of funding contributed:

Pinnacle Foods Group LLC $120,846The J. M. Smucker Company $241,091Rich Products Corporation $24,049General Mills, Inc. $598,819PepsiCo, Inc. $1,620,899Bunge North America, inc. $94,993Bumble Bee Foods, LLC $36,073Bush Brothers & Company A $16,233

Moody Dunbar, Inc. $1,804Dean Foods Company $120,245Kellogg Company $221,852Nestle USA, Inc. $1,052,743ConAgra Foods $285,281Bimbo Bakeries USA $94,693Welch Foods, Inc. $28,859Knouse Foods Cooperative, Inc. $14,429Bruce Foods Corporation $3,006Abbott Nutrition $127,459Campbell Soup Company $265,140Del Monte Foods Company $86,576Sunny Delight Beverages Company $21,043Shearer's Foods, Inc. $25,251Mondelez Global LLC $144,895Land O'Lakes, Inc. $99,803The Coca-Cola Company $1,047,332The Hillshire Brands Company $97,398The Hershey Company $248,305Hormel Foods Corporation $52,908Clement Pappas & Company, Inc. $21,043McCormick & Company, Inc. $102,208Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. $55,313FlowersFoods, Inc. $141,288Cargill, Inc. $98,601The Clorox Company $12,024Total: $7,222,500.

These are the companies that decided that they don't want their customers to know what is in the products they buy. These companies hid behind a national association to disguise their role in influencing elections and misleading consumers. They deserve to lose at least as much as they contributed to their campaign of misinformation. Please join in spreading consumer awareness about these companies and let everyone know to avoid buying their products, so they realize just how damaging their actions can be and hopefully adopt better practices, with consumer safety in mind, in the future.
Source: cornucopia.org & buzz.naturalnews.com

Seattle thrift store finds 2.5 pounds of marijuana in donation bin

Via komonews.com

"SEATTLE -- Despite the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington, Seattle police want to remind everyone that thrift stores can't resell donated bags of pot. 

The department released a lighthearted press release on Friday to remind the public of the rules after employees at a thrift store in North Seattle found a large bag of marijuana in the donation bin. 

In the release, police say "Donating to thrift shops is a terrific way to give a second life to your well-loved Velcro sneakers, keyboards or flannel zebra jammies," but they say tires, soiled mattresses, laptops and bags of weed are not welcome. 

A thrift store employee called police Thursday afternoon to say he found a garbage bag containing 2.5 pounds of pot in the store's donation bin. 

Police confiscated the marijuana and put it into evidence for destruction."

Image: http://www.komonews.com

This generous donation, likely worth around $10,000, was unfortunately taken by the police. Despite
Washington state's recent legalization of marijuana, there are obviously jurisdiction and enforcement issues which have lead to this waste of a large donation which could have provided for many jobs for months.

Source: komonews.com