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Monsanto Threatens to Sue Vermont if Legislators Pass a Bill Requiring GMO Food to Be Labeled
Last edited Fri Apr 6, 2012, 02:06 AM - Edit history (1)
What it really comes down to this: Elected officials are abandoning the public interest and public will in the face of corporate intimidation.
April 4, 2012 |
The worlds most hated corporation is at it again, this time in Vermont.
Despite overwhelming public support and support from a clear majority of Vermonts Agriculture Committee, Vermont legislators are dragging their feet on a proposed GMO labeling bill. Why? Because Monsanto has threatened to sue the state if the bill passes.
The popular legislative bill requiring mandatory labels on genetically engineered food (H-722) is languishing in the Vermont House Agriculture Committee, with only four weeks left until the legislature adjourns for the year. Despite thousands of emails and calls from constituents who overwhelmingly support mandatory labeling, despite the fact that a majority (6 to 5) of Agriculture Committee members support passage of the measure, Vermont legislators are holding up the labeling bill and refusing to take a vote.
Instead, theyre calling for more public hearings on April 12, in the apparent hope that they can run out the clock until the legislative session ends in early May.
What happened to the formerly staunch legislative champions of Vermonts right to know bill? They lost their nerve and abandoned their principles after Monsanto representative recently threatened a public official that the biotech giant would sue Vermont if they dared to pass the bill. Several legislators have rather unconvincingly argued that the Vermont public has a low appetite for any bills, even very popular bills like this one, that might end up in court. Others expressed concern about Vermont being the first state to pass a mandatory GMO labeling bill and then having to go it alone against Monsanto in court.
http://www.alternet.org/food/154855/monsanto_threatens_to_sue_vermont_if_legislators_pass_a_bill_requiring_gmo_food_to_be_labeled?
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Monsanto Threatens to Sue Vermont if Legislators Pass a Bill Requiring GMO Food to Be Labeled (Original Post)
MindMover
Apr 2012
OP
lunasun
(21,646 posts)1. well if the lawsuit made it to the SCOTUS we all know who would win
Kagan already has a track record of supporting them & GMO I believe
let alone the usual suspects on the court
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)2. the republican justices...
will knock this down. They are all about state's rights, until the states start to exercise them.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)3. Bring it. nt
roody
(10,849 posts)4. California voters will pass
GMO labeling in Nov.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)5. everyone can help CA start the ball rolling