Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act : A proposed new federal law would outlaw state-enacted GMO labeling laws.

Consumer alert: GMO labeling to be outlawed by 'Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act' introduced today in Congress

Thursday, April 10, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)

(NaturalNews) A proposed new federal law just introduced by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (a Democrat) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (a Republican) would outlaw state-enacted GMO labeling laws. The new law, ridiculously called the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, is actually an last-ditch, desperate effort by the biotech industry and the GMA to forever bury the truth about GMOs so that consumers don't know they're eating poison.
According to mainstream media reports (1), the bill would require the FDA to mandate GMO labeling only if those foods "are found to be unsafe or materially different from foods produced without biotech ingredients."
Because the FDA and USDA have already decided, against all scientific evidence, that GMOs are "safe" and "not materially different" from other foods, this requirement is nothing but sheer sleight of hand and a pandering to idiocy. In truth, this new bill, if passed into law, would allow food companies to permanently and insidiously hide GMOs in all their products forever, nullifying the numerous state-based GMO labeling laws which are on the verge of passing.
The Environmental Working Group calls this proposed new law the "DARK Act" (Denying Americans the Right to Know), saying:
After two states have passed GE labeling bills and more than 30 others are poised to consider similar labeling bills and ballot initiatives, the food and biotech industry have goat-roped some members of Congress into introducing legislation to block state GE labeling laws.

Push for GMOs run by criminally-minded organizations

GMOs have already been restricted or banned in over 60 countries (2), and Americans are very close to achieving victory in state-based GMO labeling campaigns. The very idea that American consumers might find out they've been eating GMO poisons in most of their favorite foods is so horrifying to the biotech industry (and the processed food front groups) that its enforcers are now seeking this "nuclear option" to legally deceive consumers about GMOs with the complicity of the FDA.

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U.S. bill seeks to block mandatory GMO food labeling by states

By Carey Gillam

April 9 Wed Apr 9, 2014 12:46pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Republican congressman from Kansas introduced legislation on Wednesday that would nullify efforts in multiple states to require labeling of genetically modified foods
The bill, dubbed the "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act" was drafted by U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo from Kansas, and is aimed at overriding bills in roughly two dozen states that would require foods made with genetically engineered crops to be labeled as such.
The bill specifically prohibits any mandatory labeling of foods developed using bioengineering.
"We've got a number of states that are attempting to put together a patchwork quilt of food labeling requirements with respect to genetic modification of foods," said Pompeo. "That makes it enormously difficult to operate a food system. Some of the campaigns in some of these states aren't really to inform consumers but rather aimed at scaring them. What this bill attempts to do is set a standard."
Consumer groups have been arguing for labeling because of questions they have both about the safety for human health and the environmental impacts of genetically modified foods, also called GMOs.
Ballot measures in California in 2012 and last year in Washington state narrowly lost after GMO crop developers, including Monsanto Co., and members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) poured millions into campaigns to defeat the measures.
The companies say the crops are safe and cite many scientific studies back those claims. Pompeo on Wednesday reiterated those claims, stating GMOS are safe and "equally healthy" and no labeling is needed.
"It has to date made food safer and more abundant," said Pompeo. "It has been an enormous boon to all of humanity."
But there are also many scientific studies showing links to human and animal health problems, and many indicating environmental damage related to GMO crops.

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Congress considers blocking GMO food labeling

Published time: April 09, 2014 20:10
Edited time: April 10, 2014 11:01

AFP Photo / Robyn Beck

A new bill introduced in Congress looks to ban states from implementing their own labeling laws when it comes to food containing genetically engineered ingredients.
According to Reuters, US Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) introduced the legislation on Wednesday, which is intended to head off bills in about 24 states that would require companies to inform customers when their food is produced using genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Titled the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” the proposal would forbid states from enacting such proposals.
"We've got a number of states that are attempting to put together a patchwork quilt of food labeling requirements with respect to genetic modification of foods," Pompeo told Reuters. "That makes it enormously difficult to operate a food system. Some of the campaigns in some of these states aren't really to inform consumers but rather aimed at scaring them. What this bill attempts to do is set a standard."
Supporters of GMO labeling argue that modified ingredients pose a threat to human health, and that as a result they should be clearly labeled in the marketplace so that consumers can make informed decisions. In addition to health concerns, they also point to the negative environmental consequences that could arise from widespread GMO use, since millions of acres of farmland and weeds are developing resistances to the pesticides used.
Opponents, however, point to their own studies, showing that GMO crops are safe and therefore do not need to be labeled differently than other products.

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National mental health and disability advocacy groups joined together to decry Forced Treatment Provision hidden in the patch to Medicare regulations that has nothing to do with Medicare (H. R. 4302)

Mental health advocates strongly disapprove of forced treatment bill

Harold Mandel

Health Examiner

Watch Video Here

What We Believe from the CCHRCCHR/YouTube & MorgueFile/Freephoto

March 29, 2014

There is a little known bill in the works which would force people in crisis into forced psychiatric treatment. Mad in America reported on March 28, 2014 that mental health advocates are urging protest against a forced treatment addition to a new Medicare bill. Many national mental health and disability advocacy groups have joined together to urge people to contact their senators in order to protest a section of a bill which was rushed through the House of Representatives by voice vote this week. This bill, Section 224 of HR4302, is up for a vote in the Senate on Monday.
Raymond Bridge, public policy director of the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery has said: “In its rush to fix a problem with Medicare, the House passed a bill including a highly controversial program, involuntary outpatient commitment, with no debate and no roll call vote.” It appears to Bridge that the Senate may pass a version of the House bill which includes this troublesome provision on Monday. Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D. has commented about this bill, saying: “It would bring America back to the dark ages before de-institutionalization, when people with mental health conditions languished in institutions, sometimes for life.”

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Mental Health Advocates Decry Forced Treatment Provision in "Doc Fix" Bill

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The bill rushed through the House of Representatives by voice vote yesterday to patch Medicare regulations includes a highly controversial provision that has nothing to do with Medicare, and that would subject people in crisis to forced treatment. Studies have shown that such force causes trauma and drives people away from treatment, mental health advocates warned.
Today, an array of national mental health and disability advocacy groups joined together to decry this provision, which they view as a regressive attack on hundreds of thousands of Americans with serious mental health conditions.
"In its rush to fix a problem with Medicare, the House passed a bill including a highly controversial program, involuntary outpatient commitment, with no debate and no roll call vote," said Raymond Bridge, public policy director of the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR), a coalition of 32 statewide organizations and others representing individuals with mental illnesses. "And it seems that the Senate may pass a version of the House bill including this troubling provision on Monday," Bridge added.
The 123-page Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, H.R. 4302, includes a four-year, $60 million grant program (Sec. 224) to expand involuntary outpatient commitment (IOC) – also called Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) – in states that have laws authorizing IOC. The laws allow courts to mandate someone with a serious mental illness to follow a specific treatment plan, usually requiring medication. The facts show that involuntary outpatient commitment is not effective, involves high costs with minimal returns, is not likely to reduce violence, and that there are more effective alternatives.
Assisted Outpatient Treatment is central to the controversial Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 3717), proposed by Rep. Tim Murphy in December 2013.
"This legislation would eliminate initiatives that use evidence-based, voluntary, peer-run services and family supports to help people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses to recover," said Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist and an NCMHR founder. "It would bring America back to the dark ages before de-institutionalization, when people with mental health conditions languished in institutions, sometimes for life."
The provisions of H.R. 3717 would exchange low-cost, community-based services with good outcomes for high-cost yet ineffective interventions, according to the NCMHR; the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), the non-profit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with disabilities; and the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), which advances independent living and the rights of people with disabilities through consumer-driven advocacy.

Read More Here

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• HR 4302 Passes Senate

A New York State school has disavowed a child's right to attend classes on the basis of being unvaccinated. Despite her Physician stating it could kill her.

Prevent Disease.com

September 20, 2013 by DAVE MIHALOVIC

Child Kicked Out of School For Not Vaccinating Despite Doctor's Advice That Vaccines Could Kill Her

A New York State school has terminated the rights of a child to attend classes solely on the basis of being unvaccinated. This despite the advice of her Physician who stated that it could kill her. A devout Catholic mom has now filed a lawsuit against the State government. Read her story:

Mary is almost six and a half years old, and she enjoys going to school, dancing, singing, swimming, and playing with her sister and friends. Today I looked at her beautiful face smiling while she was playing with her dolls, and I can’t believe how far we have come since the day she was born and how blessed I am to call her mine. At first glance, you wouldn’t know the battles that she has been through.
When Mary was born I didn’t know what ingredients were put into vaccinations, just like most parents. I was brainwashed into thinking that I must vaccinate my child since this is what U.S. social norms say that we as parents are supposed to do for our children. So Mary was vaccinated like every other typical newborn in this country. After each vaccination, she would have a negative reaction. At that point, the medical professionals did not know what was wrong with her, but looking back now we know that it was two DTaP vaccines that she received on July 9th, 2007 and August 13th, 2007.
She ended up being completely overwhelmed with thrush and intestinal yeast toxins after it had nowhere else to go in her tiny, little less-than-five-pound body. Mucus was leaking out of her eyes, vagina, and her rear end was red like it was put over a flame of fire. My daughter was not absorbing her nutrients, and she wasn’t growing. On the way home from a vaccination appointment, when she received her Comvax immunizations on August 29th, 2007, Mary was crying and nothing would console her. Her same symptoms came back that she experienced from her DTaP vaccinations. The combination of yeast and negative organisms ended up causing a double ear infection as well.
The doctor had prescribed her a compounded suppository antibiotic because that is the protocol for healing an ear infection in NY State, but, in Mary’s case, it was a disaster and caused more damage to her immune system -- just like every other unnatural substance that was given to her. We administered the medicine to her at home as instructed, but less than twenty seconds later Mary went into anaphylactic shock. She started vomiting, convulsing, water was pouring out of her rectum, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Everything was happening so quickly, I couldn’t reach the phone to call 911. My first reaction was to cry out to the Lord, “In the name of Jesus, save my baby!” All of a sudden, the vomiting stopped and the color came back into her face. Her eyes were looking at us, she was breathing normally and a peace and calmness came over her. The only one who could save us and rescue Mary so swiftly during that crisis was Our Heavenly Father, and that is just one of the many miracles that my family has experienced through the Lord, Jesus Christ.
After years of testing and treating her, we now know that she has an overactive immune system. Due to Mary’s overactive immune system, she cannot tolerate any preservatives or artificial ingredients. Mary has a severe gluten sensitivity and is allergic to casein, etc. She is on an all-natural diet, and on a strict regimen to help support and strengthen her gastrointestinal tract and immune system. Dyes, preservatives, and unnatural substances all make her violently sick. She is brave and remains strong through her struggles because of her faith in God and the positive people that are put in our path. We are all very proud of her.
In 2010 we applied for a religious exemption from vaccinations and were guaranteed by the director of the school that everything was set and she would be able to attend school because of her religious exemption. In 2012, Mary’s health took a turn for the worse and, after being hospitalized, our family doctor told me that Mary qualified for a medical exemption. He said that vaccination would compromise her immune system and stated that “It is my medical opinion that Mary Check cannot tolerate any insults, in even the slightest amounts, to her immune system without putting her at risk for anaphalaxis, which include, vaccines, medications, and certain foods.” Still with the religious exemption in place, I didn’t think it was necessary to apply for a medical exemption as well, just yet, since I was told that the religious exemption was acceptable. When Mary entered kindergarten, I spoke with the principal of the elementary school and told her about my medical and religious exemptions, so she could get to know Mary’s situation. I told the principal that I would be using Mary’s religious exemption, but I also gave her my medical exemption application to put on file as well, because I was new to the public school system and didn’t know what they needed. I trusted the school system and they failed me. In October, that medical exemption application that I did not want to be filed was mysteriously handed into the Board of Health. In fact, I did not even apply for a medical exemption. The medical exemption application resulted from a clerical error. I was told that I would be able to proceed with a religious exemption, but, when I went to the school to address the situation, it was too late.
I was denied within 24 hours of application. Even though this medical exemption was not meant to go through at this point in time, Mary was denied her medical rights and she was kicked out of school. I was accused of trying to skirt around my denied medical exemption by applying for a religious exemption; the fact that I applied for a religious exemption in 2010 was completely ignored. I had to go to federal court to prove that my religious exemption was legitimate and to sue the Board of Education. My daughter’s medical issues are what made me pick up my Bible and read it every day and drew me closer to my beliefs that God made the body perfect and pure, and I don’t want to put any impurities into her body based on my deepest truths, which comes from the word of the Lord.
While I believe that doctors are here to help heal the sick and I value their place on this earth, I do not have blind faith in medical professionals. They are human beings, and we are told by the Lord that we are not to put our complete faith in anyone else but Him. I respect my pediatrician’s advice, but, ultimately, I have to base my informed decisions on my own research, my faith, and my instincts as a parent. I get a diagnosis from the doctor and it does not go ignored. We work together on treating Mary to suit her needs. I have researched what poisons are put into these vaccinations, and I do not believe that it is God’s will to put them into our bodies. Immunizations contain unnatural substances that are injected into the bloodstream.
Winning this case will set new case law, but I am completely financially depleted in my battle, and I need your help in this fight for freedom. Mary represents the many children in the United States in need of legal representation to protect their health and safety. In supporting Mary’s choice, you are supporting parents’ and doctors’ rights to choose what is in the best interest of their children and patients. Whether or not you are pro-vaccination or pro-vaccination choice, this cause deals with the right of a parent to choose or refuse what vaccinations are given to their children. All parents should have the right to choose what kind of medical treatment their children should receive, and, if a person has religious beliefs contrary to a medical treatment, our constitutional right to the free exercise of religion should be protected and not subject to the review of one person, as it is in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
What touched me so close to my heart is when Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) said, “We as parents, who know and love our children better than anyone else, we by U.S. law and a larger moral imperative, are the guardians of our children until they are old enough to make life and death decisions for themselves. We are responsible for their welfare, and we are the ones who bear the grief and the burden when they are injured or die from any cause. We are their voice and, by all that is right in this great country and in the moral universe, we should be allowed to make a rational, informed, voluntary decision about which diseases and which vaccines we are willing to risk their lives for without fearing retribution from employees of the state.” Argue with us. Educate us. Persuade us. But don’t track us down and force us to violate our moral conscience and beliefs, or criticize our doctors’ professional opinion in the medical approach they choose to take, putting the best interest of their patients first.

On October 10th, 2013 Support Mary’s Rights will be hosting a fundraising dinner and dance at Li Greci’s Staaten to help not only raise money to support the Mary’s legal efforts in her fight against the New York Board of Education and the Supreme Court but also to raise awareness about the vaccinations parents and doctors are forced to give to their children and patients, regardless of the ingredients or harmful affects they may cause.
Support Mary’s Rights would appreciate your charitable contribution. A monetary donation or donated gift certificates or items to raffle off would truly help this very unique and special cause. I need my voice to be heard for myself and other families who are suffering from similar experiences where the government is trying to tell us what we mandatorily have to put into our bodies. Our faith as parents leads us to take physical, spiritual, and mental responsibility and make decision for the health and well being of our children. The government is trying to take away these rights as parents. Come to our fundraiser and share your stories with us. We would love to hear them and to support you as well! Buy a table and support us at: http://www.supportmarysrights.com/events.html
In return for your generosity Support Mary’s Rights will be printing the names of each business involved in our Support Mary’s Rights program booklet. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. We hope you consider making a donation/ contribution. If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to contact me or visit our website at www.supportmarysrights.com. Or call 917-554-1988
~ Dina Check
Sources:
thinkingmomsrevolution.com
supportmarysrights.com

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Exclusive: The agricultural revolution - UK pushes Europe to embrace GM crops

Environment Secretary will urge EU to relax restrictions on crop licensing

Tom Bawden Oliver Wright

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Genetically modified maize in Shropshire

Britain is to push the European Union to relax restrictions on the licensing of genetically modified crops for human consumption amid growing scientific evidence that they are safe, and surveys showing they are supported by farmers. The Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, is expected to use a speech next week to outline the start of a new government approach to GM to ensure Britain “is not left behind” in agricultural science.
The move comes as 61 per cent of UK farmers now say they would like to grow GM crops after a disastrous 12-month cycle of poor weather that is expected significantly to reduce harvest yields. Senior government officials said that ministers are increasingly concerned that the potential moral and ethical benefits of GM are being ignored by costly and bureaucratic licensing regulations.
With one-twelfth of global arable land under GM cultivation they have privately warned that Britain faces being left behind in an important technology that has the potential to improve crop yields, help the UK’s agricultural industry and provide benefits to human health through vitamin fortification.
Government sources added that GM also had applications beyond food including the potential to combat diseases such as ash dieback and in developing new medicines.
“The point about GM is not simply about food production,” they said. “There are wider potential environmental and economic benefits to the technology both in the UK and internationally.
“What we want to do is start a dialogue within Europe on GM based upon the science.”
Ministers are hopeful of building support in Brussels for a change of heart on GM, with Germany seen as a key swing voter. However, any attempts to relax the rules could face opposition from countries such as Poland which in April became the eighth EU member state to ban the cultivation of GM crops.
Mr Paterson is said to believe that Britain should take the lead in moving the debate on from the knee-jerk reaction against GM for much of the last decade.
Read Full Article Here

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North Dakota – Herdshare Bill Signed into Law

Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

by Pete Kennedy, Esq. on June 7, 2013

Herdshares in ND now referred to as “Shared Animal Ownership” A victory for grassroots efforts! See Action Alert NDDA prohibited from restricting herdshares

On April 29 herdshares become officially legal in North Dakota when Governor Jack Dalrymple signed Senate Bill 2072 into law. SB 2072 provides that “it is not a violation [of law] to transfer or obtain raw milk under a shared animal ownership agreement.”
Shared animal ownership is defined in the bill as “any contractual arrangement under which an individual:

a. Acquires an ownership interest in a milk-producing animal;b. Agrees to pay another for, reimburse another for, or otherwise accept financial responsibility for the care and boarding of the milk-producing animal at the dairy farm; and
c. Is entitled to receive a proportionate share of the animal’s raw milk production as a condition of the contractual arrangement.

The original version of SB 2072 did not contain a provision on herdshares; the bill only amended the state dairy code to adopt the latest revision of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), which governs the production and sale of pasteurized milk in the U.S.


Read Full Article Here



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Rapid City Journal

Raw milk backers say proposed rules too burdensome

June 07, 2013 6:00 am  •  Bob Mercer Legislative correspondent

PIERRE | A public hearing Thursday served as the latest battleground over regulation of raw milk in South Dakota.
The state Department of Agriculture has proposed nine pages of rules regarding bottled raw milk for human consumption.
More than a dozen residents who believe in what they call the natural benefits of drinking raw milk showed up to oppose the regulations, as did several farmers who produce it.
There are five licensed raw milk producers in South Dakota.
Gena Parkhurst of Rapid City, who described herself as a raw milk consumer, said the proposed rules would prohibit consumption of bottled or packaged raw milk produced by anyone without the necessary state permit, whether or not the milk was free or for sale.
"They cannot offer it to their neighbor; they cannot offer it to their family; they cannot give it away to an informed consumer," said Parkhurst, a volunteer coordinator for Dakota Rural Action in the Black Hills.
She also claimed that testing for tuberculosis and brucellosis was “unnecessary.”
That’s different than the view of state veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven, who spoke in support of the rules. He said raw milk can spread diseases such as tuberculosis.
The state Department of Health tracks illnesses linked to raw milk, while the Legislature allows its sales.
Mellette County raw milk producer Leland Schoon said the proposed requirement of disease testing would be “burdensome and cost-prohibitive” for him since his cows are in a multi-purpose pasture.

Read Full Article Here

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