Repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
The Monsanto Protection Act is an outrageous and dangerous giveaway that forces approval of genetically modified foods ahead of our safety.?Now we have an opportunity to stop it. Senator Merkley has proposed an amendment to the Senate Farm Bill that would repeal the Monsanto Protection Act ? but it will take serious grassroots pressure to even make sure the amendment comes up for a vote. Cynically dubbed the “Farmer Assurance Provision,” 
this provision allows Monsanto and other companies to ignore existing food safety rules, and continue selling genetically modified?seeds even if a court has blocked them from doing so.? Even worse is how this shameful giveaway became law. It was inserted?anonymously?and?without review or debate?into the must-pass budget bill to avoid government shutdown in March. CNN said that “the law passed without most of Congress even knowing about it.”Jon Stewart put it a different way: “The laws of the most powerful nation on earth are written with the same level of accountability as internet comments.”Our system of ensuring the safety of genetically modified foods is already insufficient, and wrought with industry influence. The FDA and USDA routinely approve foods without sufficient review, and often rely on shoddy industry-generated studies to determine the safety of GMO foods. Now our legislators have an opportunity to undo this appalling act of putting special interests like Monsanto ahead of our health and the safety of our food.?Urge the Senate to take action now.
Tell the EPA You Want Lower, Not Higher, Limits on Monsanto’s Roundup!
defies sound science and undermines public health. ?According to a study published in the journal Entropy in April 2013, glyphosate is related to debilitating diseases like gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, autism, Parkinson?s and Alzheimer?s.?Beyond Pesticides has assembled extensive documentation of past research linking glyphosate to increased cancer risk, neurotoxicity and birth defects, as well as eye, skin, respiratory irritation, lung congestion, increased breathing rate, damage to the pancreas, kidney and testes. Glyphosate also endangers the environment, destroys soil and plants, and is linked to a host of health hazards. The EPA?s decision to increase the allowed residue limits of glyphosate is out of date, dangerous to the health of people and the environment and scientifically unsupportable. ?Tell the EPA you want lower, not higher, limits on Monsanto?s glyphosate and Roundup!? Please sign the petition and pass it on to everyone you know. This is so important!!USDA violates the Organic Foods Production Act
It is clear that transparency at the USDA?s National Organic Program is needed, and this is why. We are surprised to see that the recent behavior of their board, despite being out in the open, is not in line with what consumers want to see from those in charge of this country’s organic standards. The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the citizen panel charged by Congress to determine which synthetics are allowed in organic food production, voted to prohibit the use of carrageenan in organic infant formula, to prohibit the use of synthetic microcrystalline cellulose as a food ingredient, and 
set a deadline for reviewing synthetic and potentially harmful ingredients in previously approved pesticide formulations. By law, the USDA cannot allow a synthetic material in organics unless it has been approved by the NOSB. But the agency seems completely uninterested in following the law governing organics, the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. The USDA?s proposed rule, released on May 3, disregards the NOSB?s decisions entirely on these three important topics. Please send a comment to the USDA?let them know that they are acting outside their legal authority and that we will not stand by quietly while they protect corporate interests rather than the health of consumers and the environment.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING COMMENT
To submit your comment electronically:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=AMS-NOP-11-0003-0029
Docket Number: AMS?NOP?11?0003
For the required field ?Organization Name,? please enter ?Citizen.?
The deadline for submitting comments is Monday, June 3.
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