1.Hundreds rally in Washington to demand GMO labeling
2.At DC rally, West Marin's Straus pushes for GMO food labeling
3.The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes!

NOTE: See http://www.right2knowmarch.org/ for photos and more. See also the anti-GM World Food Day events across the USA at http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/wfd-rally-map.cfm

The new report 'The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes' – a global citizens report on GM's false promises, failed tech, is available for download here http://t.co/rKSjblud
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1.Hundreds rally in Washington to demand GMO labeling
Xinhua, 16 October 2010 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-10/17/c_131195957.htm

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of people from around the United States rallied in front of the White House on Sunday, urging the government to require compulsory labeling of food made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

"Most Americans agree they have a right to know what is in the food they put in their own and their children's bodies, but current federal policy favors the pesticide industry and hides the facts," said Katherine DiMatteo of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements.

"It's time to reset U.S. policy on GMOs," added DiMatteo, who serves as a coordinator of the event.

GMOs have caused a lot of issues, but "the government is not doing everything that they should be doing to contain these issues," Kim Mendoza, a demonstrator from Washington D.C., told Xinhua.

The rally marked the end of a 16-day, 504-km march from the United Nations in New York City to the White House in Washington D.C., which DiMatteo said was "an unprecedented effort to win genuine transparency on genetically engineered foods."

The United States is the world's largest commercial grower of GMO crops, and more than 70 percent of its processed food contain genetically engineered or biotech ingredients.

Labeling of genetically modified food, whose safety remains controversial, is voluntary in the United States. In most cases, food producers use the labels to declare that the product is not genetically-modified.
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2.At DC rally, West Marin's Straus pushes for food labeling
Rob Rogers
Marin Independent Journal, 16 October 2011#
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_19127327

West Marin dairyman Albert Straus made his plea for labeling of genetically modified foods before a crowd of hundreds of people in Washington, D.C. on Sunday.

With the White House as his backdrop, Straus, whose Straus Creamery is one of the sponsors of the "Just Label It" campaign, called for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require the identification of genetically-engineered foods.

"Consumers need to be aware. It's an issue of organic integrity," said Straus, who noted that the lack of labeling made it impossible for shoppers to be sure that the food they purchased was organic even when labeled as such.

"If people don't have confidence in that label, then they won't buy it," said Straus, whose speech at Washington'sLafayette Park followed a two-day march from New York City to D.C. as part of the Right2Know Rally. "So we're putting our efforts into getting the public aware. And we're supporting labeling initiatives, both federally and in California."

As an organic farmer, Straus is required to follow strict regulations in maintaining his dairy herd, without hormones, antibiotics or pesticides. Even visitors to his Marshall farm are required to wash their hands and feet before interacting with his cows.

Yet the lack of required labeling makes it difficult for Straus to tell whether the corn he feeds his cattle has been genetically altered.

"I started testing (in 2006) and found genetically-modified organisms in corn that had been certified organic," Straus said.

The support of Straus, a pioneer in organic agriculture, for labeling of genetically modified foods is "unimaginably important," said Mindee Jessery, grocery manager at Good Earth Foods in Fairfax.

The natural foods store took part in "Non-GMO Project Give-Back Day" Sunday, with 5 percent of the store's sales benefiting a national effort to promote labeling of genetically-engineered foods.

Jessery noted that products that carry the "Non-GMO Project" seal – like those made by Straus Creamery – have gone through a verification program that guarantees a minimum level of genetically-modified material. Yet because of the lack of labeling requirements, she said, even stores like Good Earth and Whole Foods cannot guarantee that the products they sell are 100 percent free of genetically-altered foods.

"People want to have the expectation that there aren't GMOs in their food," Jessery said. "What I've found by talking to people (in the store) today is that they understand that by looking for the (Non-GMO Project) seal, they can latch on to this campaign at the shopping level, and vote with their dollars to support the non-GMO issue."

Although makers of genetically-engineered foods have argued that their products are safe, Straus believes consumers ought to have the right to know what they're eating. He noted that the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Chinaall require labeling of genetically-modified foods.

"The argument that there is no health risk is not valid at all," Straus said. "There's been no peer-reviewed research, other than by the dairy industry. So these products are untested, and the public becomes the guinea pigs."
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3.The GE Emperor Has No Clothes!
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
PANNA, 14 October 2011
http://www.panna.org/blog/ge-emperor-has-no-clothes

On October 13, I joined fellow food democracy activists from around California at a press conference on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall. We were there to welcome the release of a new Global Citizens' Report on transgenic crops, aptly entitled The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes.

As World Food Day approaches (Sunday, October 16), what better way to honor and support small-scale and family farmers around the world than by publicizing the report’s message: genetically engineered crops have utterly failed to deliver, it’s time to cut our losses, save our seeds, defend our rights and Occupy the Food System.

This much is clear: after 25 years of research, 14 years of commercialization and millions of dollars in public funding, genetically engineered (GE) crops have failed to deliver on promises again and again. GE crops neither increase yield nor provide nutritional benefits. No drought or salt-tolerant crops have yet been commercially developed; GE crops won’t feed the world and – unlike agroecological approaches – GE technology can’t help farmers in the U.S. or anywhere adapt to the complex and shifting challenges of global climate, water, energy and biodiversity crises. (For a great primer/infographic on GE, see here.)

Even Howard Buffet (Warren’s son) acknowledged as much at this week’s World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines. Buffet spoke of the need for a biological-based, sustainable soil management plan, and urged Africans not to sacrifice crop biodiversity in order to imitate U.S. monocultural industrial farming methods. While some of his other statements indicate that he has a woefully deficient appreciation of African farmers’ rich knowledge and capacities, his comments created quite a stir at this typically pro-Green Revolution venue.

With mountains of scientific and empirical evidence from the field, it is therefore even more insulting and outrageous that the U.S. State Department continues to applaud the naked GE emperor and push transgenic biotechnology so aggressively throughout the developing world, as revealed in these leaked cables. Offensive, but not so surprising; with former Crop Life pesticide lobbyist, Islam Siddiqui, firmly ensconced as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the U.S. trade office, we can expect more of the same.

Back out on the streets of San Francisco, people are gathering this Saturday for an Occupy San Francisco march and rally. Part of what makes the emerging food movement and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations so simultaneously main street and radical is that their diagnosis of our shared problem hinges on fairness. It’s not fair that a few mega-corporations are making record profits at the expense of the health and livelihoods of ordinary people here in the U.S. and the world over. This is why farmers from India to Iowa are demanding food democracy, in which ordinary people take charge of establishing the food and agricultural systems we need to build up resilient farms and strong communities. This is why many of us from San Francisco to Seattle to New York  will be making the gap between the 1% and the 99% and the connection between food and democracy explicit as we continue to Occupy the Food System.