Dear friends and members of the Center for Food Safety,
United Methodist Women all over the country have been working hard to ask Congress and the nation's leaders to support food testing and labeling. Last year at Schools of Mission, they wrote to the FDA asking for the testing of genetically engineered food. They have filed numerous stockholder resolutions asking for the labeling of products containing genetically engineered products. They wanted the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement to meet food safety standards. Why? Genetically engineered food:
Our responsibility to act in the name of Christ and mandate from the General Conference of The United Methodist Church requires us to speak out on this issue. "The onus should be on the producers and users of any suspected toxic substance to prove that it is, in fact, both safe and necessary, even if it is already in commerce," say our Social Principles.
Here is the result of one effort of United Methodist Women in regards to food safety. The Center for Food Safety is one organization with whom we have been working to make a difference. GREAT JOB, United Methodist Women! Keep at it!
Dear friends and members of the Center for Food Safety,
Thank you for those who helped support our most recent campaign on the Kucinich/DeFazio amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill H.R. 2330! Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D, Ohio) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) introduced this important amendment as the first attempt to prohibit FDA funds for approving genetically engineered (GE) fish, providing a one-year moratorium on the first GE animal ever placed on the market. A one-year moratorium would give Congress extra time to ensue that GE fish are appropriately regulated, and would provide further research on the risks that GE fish pose to human health and the environment.
The Outcome of the Amendment Vote on July 11th, 2001:
The Kucinich/DeFazio amendment to delay FDA approval of GE fish in our nation's waters provided the opportunity to create a "test" vote on GE foods. With the support from commercial fisherman, scientists, consumer and environmental organizations, many Congressmen/women were committed to voting "yes" on this amendment. Though the amendment was defeated 279-145, the short campaign was our most rewarding lobbying effort, which galvanized many more Congress people in favor of the GE food initiatives at the Center for Food Safety. 145 votes for the Kucinich/DeFazio amendment (including 13 Republicans and 2 independents) signifies the LARGEST vote in favor of a moratorium on any genetically modified organism. Also, this amendment gained 87 additional votes from the number of cosponsors on the Kucinich/GE labeling legislation that was introduced in the 106th Session of the US House of Representatives.
To find out how your Congressman/woman voted on the Kucinich/DeFazio, please visit our website, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org. This site also provides further background information about the amendment, the congressional record, and more.
In response to our latest effort on this crucial amendment, we HIGHLY encourage you to write your Representatives thanking them if they voted in favor of the amendment. It is also very important to write to your Representatives if they voted against the amendment. Your voice as their constituent counts the most! To identify and/or contact your Congressman/woman, visit: http://www.house.gov/writerep/. Also, please visit our campaign website, http://www.foodsafetynow.org, where you have the opportunity to direct your important opinion about the market approval of GE fish, directly to the FDA.
It is not too late to take action on this critical food safety and environmental issue.
Please make your voice heard today!
For more information about GE fish, please visit http://www.gefish.org, or call 1-800-600-6664.
The Center for Food Safety is a non-profit organization at the forefront of numerous grassroots campaigns and legal challenges promoting sustainable agriculture, fighting for strong organic food standards, and protecting consumers and the environment from the hazards of genetically engineered foods, pesticide contamination, and mad cow disease.
Juliana Jones
Grassroots Coordinator
The Center for Food Safety
660 Pennsylvania Ave., SE , Suite 302
Washington, DC 20003
www.centerforfoodsafety.org
www.foodsafetynow.org
ph: 202-547-9359
fax: 202-547-9429
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