-----Original Message----- From: juliana jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 12:03 PM To: juliana jones Subject: FARM BILL ALERT! Importance: High Dear Citizens and Friends of Center for Food Safety, Today is a very important day in Washington DC. The Farm Bill is finally going to the Senate floor, and your Senators are being pressured to act swiftly. The Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, is pushing to quickly pass the Farm Bill, despite amendments and secretive provisions that could severely impact your right to know as a US citizen and an autonomous decision maker. The Farm Bill also contains language that would impact the environment and put food security measures at risk. This email is to alert you that today you can make a difference. Please contact your Senator to oppose the following in order to protect your health and freedom as a US citizen! *Scroll down for tips on reaching your Senators, and for information about unsubscribing to the Center for Food Safety's Actions & Updates service. OPPOSE SA 2606: THE NATIONAL UNIFORMITY FOR FOOD ACT This broad, poorly written amendment would prohibit states from providing critical information to consumers. Under this language, nearly any information used to differentiate one food product from another could be prohibited if that information even implies a health risk. This is a serious loss for both consumers and the environment. What would consumers and states lose? 1. THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE THEIR FISH ARE CAUGHT. More states have become aware of the problems caused by salmon farming, including the spread of diseases and impacts of antibiotic use on both the farmed fish and the greater ecosystem. Surveys in California show that people want to know how fresh their fish are, and how they were caught, because they care about their health and the health of the oceans. Consumers want to know if their fish are farmed or wild and where the fish come from so they can make informed choices about their diet. SA 2606 would prevent labels indicating where and how fish are caught. 2. THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS. The FDA is still floundering about the health impacts of GMOs, despite sufficient evidence of the need for tighter precautionary measures around this technology, still in its developing stages. Because the FDA has not responded to the massive number of public comments demanding labeling and pre-market safety testing, some States have initiated their own policies that could better provide human health and environmental safeguards for their constituents. These citizen protection measures would be nullified under the Hutchinson amendment. 3. THE ABILITY OF STATES TO ACT WHEN THE FDA HAS FAILED TO DO SO. States have the ability to respond more quickly than the Federal Government to the wishes of their citizens. Through S.2606, States would no longer have this ability to regulate food and drugs, despite the wishes of the State legislatures. A growing number of Americans are demanding informative food and drug safety labels. Please contact your Senators today to oppose S.2606! *Scroll down for tips on contacting your Senators. OPPOSE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY ON GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS, SECTION 333 OF S. 1731, THE AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION, AND RURAL ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2001. This provision amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 by adding a "Biotechnology and Agricultural Trade Program." It allows taxpayers' money to be used for establishing a program to force foreign acceptance of agricultural biotechnology and United States agricultural products developed through biotechnology. The provision allocates $16 million a year to promote genetically engineered foods in foreign markets! Click here, http://www.thecampaign.org/s1731.htm, to read Section 333. If Citizens can get enough Senators to agree to oppose Section 333, California Senator Barbara Boxer has agreed to make a motion to eliminate this section! If you receive a response from your Senator, please forward your response to The Campaign, www.thecampaign.org, so we can let Senator Boxer identify the position of other Senators on this issue. TIPS ON TELEPHONING YOUR SENATORS: To find your representative's phone number, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask for your Senator's office. Remember that a staff member, not the member of Congress, often takes telephone calls. Ask to speak with the aide who handles the "Farm Bill" issues. After identifying yourself, tell the aide you would like to leave a brief message, such as: "Please tell Senator (Name) that I oppose (S.___)." You will also want to state reasons for your opposition to the bill. Ask for your Senator's position on the bill. You may also request a written response to your telephone call. *TO UNSUBSCRIBE to the Center for Food Safety's actions and updates, please reply to this email by typing the word, "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE TO YOUR QUICK RESPONSE TO THIS ALERT! Yours very truly, Juliana Jones Project Manager The Center for Food Safety 660 Pennsylvania Ave., SE , Suite 302 Washington, DC 20003 www.centerforfoodsafety.org www.foodsafetynow.org www.gefish.org www.gefoodalert.org ph: 202-547-9359 fax: 202-547-9429 _______________________________________________________ CFS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, with an office in San Francisco, CA. Established in 1997, CFS is a public interest membership food safety and environmental organization that utilizes legal actions, policy initiatives, grassroots organizing, public education and media outreach to curtail genetic engineering and other industrial agricultural production methods that harm aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. We need your support as a member! As a member of CFS, your support will help us monitor government agencies that are regulating our food supply and take legal actions against these agencies to ensure that money and back-room deals don't win out over what is right for the health of our families, communities, and the environment. To Learn more about how a membership to CFS can help our legal, scientific, and grassroots efforts please visit the "Join Us" section on our website, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org. , or call 1-800-600-6664. Center for Food Safety is a member of the GE Food Alert. To find out more about the coalition, visit www.gefoodalert.org.
