Holli Thompson

The Monsanto Protection Act- Time to fight back

Dear friends,

I seldom get political on my blog, but I’ve decided that this issue is too important and needed to be shared.

The media has grabbed hold of this issue, including Jon Stewart at the Daily Show, the NY Times, and The Huffington Post.   If you don’t have the facts, please read the following post and get involved. 

This is a copy of an email received today from the organization Food Democracy Now.

………………………………………………

Build the movement to stop the Monsanto Protection Act – It’s time to fight back!

With the passage of the Monsanto Protection Act into law, the American people have finally learned the naked truth about how corporations like Monsanto work quietly behind closed doors in our nation’s capital.

Since then, Congress and the White House have been experiencing backlash as the American people are waking up to the corruption and backroom deals that steal our democracy. Despite this recent victory, Monsanto has never been more vulnerable and we can’t afford to let up on this important issue.

So far, Food Democracy Now! has turned in more than 250,000 signatures from all 50 states to Congress and the White House. The number has since grown to more than 300,000 Americans who have signed a letter to Obama expressing their outrage over Monsanto’s shady backroom deal hidden in the recent budget bill.

Because of you, Food Democracy Now! was able to shine a bright light on the collusion between members of Congress and the biotech industry.

Chip in to help to grow the movement to stop Monsanto. With your help, we can continue to organize across the country to fight back against Monsanto. Every dollar counts!

The corporate takeover of America will not be televised, but if you eat and care about the food that you’re feeding your family, you will learn about it here first at Food Democracy Now! and we’ll make sure that you have a chance to do something about it.

Because of you taking action, the story of the Monsanto Protection Act was covered virtually everywhere: in the New York Times, NPR, CNN, Huffington Post, Fox News, Al Jazeera, Food Safety News, UK Guardian, Le Monde and even made the opening with Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show!

For the past 20 years Monsanto has engaged in shady backroom deals in Washington DC, always writing the rules in their favor and the mainstream press has ignored it, but this time we caught them red handed.

Sure, some people think it’s impossible that we can take on an industry as powerful as Monsanto and the biotech giants, but at Food Democracy Now! we know we don’t have a choice. We can’t allow them to continue to erode our democratic rights or eventually we won’t have any.

Today we need your help to build a movement of a million people and more to stop Monsanto so we can create a better future for farmers, the environment and you. We’re close to our goal, but we need your help today! Every dollar counts!

The good news, with your help we’ve already caught the attention of Washington DC and the biotech industry.

As a result of all the backlash, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee was forced to apologize for allowing Section 735, the Monsanto Protection Act, to be slipped into the short-term spending bill (HR 933). Mikulski says she doesn’t support the Monsanto Protection Act, nor wants it to be a part of legislation in the future, but somehow included the corporate giveaway because of the previous chair’s agreement. This sounds fishy, but her apology is a sign of how much grief she’s gotten since the bill became law and how powerful we’ve become as a movement.

At the same time, Monsanto has been forced to issue a lame statement on their blog about the Monsanto Protection Act, which claims that the use of the Monsanto Protection Act somehow “falsely labeled” the provision, which seems strange since Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) from their home state claims to have “worked” with Monsanto to write the provision.

Right now Monsanto and the biotech industry are working desperately to change the story about how they’ve corrupted the democratic process and hide the truth about GMOs and we need your help to stop them.

Chip in whatever you can afford today, whether it’s $5 or $50. Every bit brings us all closer to our goal of a food system that nourishes families and farms, not robs them.

Over the past five years, because of small contributions made by people like you Food Democracy Now! has been able to create a Movement of People, by the People and for the People to protect our food supply. The work is more important today, we can’t let up now – please contribute today.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

~  Edmund Burke