GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Donations
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2003 articles

Biotech giants launch lawsuit against a GM-free Mendocino

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 26 December 2003
Created: 26 December 2003
Last Updated: 22 October 2012
Twitter

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Laura Hamburg/cell phone: 707 621-0906
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

BIOTECH AND AGRI-BUSINESS INDUSTRY GIANTS TARGET A GMO-FREE MENDOCINO

Lobbying group behind lawsuit challenging ballot-pamphlet language on Measure H Court Hearing Wednesday, Dec. 24.

December 22, 2003

California's largest consortium of biotechnology and agri-chemical corporations has launched a lawsuit against the local effort to make Mendocino County the first county in the nation to ban the growing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The group behind the lawsuit -- filed Friday, Dec. 19 -- is the California Plant Health Association (CPHA). It represents some of the biggest names in GMO production and the world's leading producers of herbicides and pesticides including Monsanto Corporation, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer Corporation, Helena Chemical Company and DuPont.

'These are some of the same industry giants, armed with high-powered law firms and vast resources, that have successfully squelched recent grassroots attempts around the nation aimed at resisting the spread of GMO crops and food products,' said Els Cooperrider, a former university scientist and a local owner of the Ukiah Brewing Co. & Restaurant. "This is Mendocino County vs. hundreds of corporations."

Last year, Monsanto Corporation and its biotech allies pumped more than $6 million into a campaign to defeat an Oregon ballot measure to label genetically modified foods.

Now Monsanto and dozens of other agri-business and biotech corporations belonging to the CPHA are targeting Mendocino County. Pest management consultant Peter Chevalier, a member of the industry group and a local pear farmer, is named as the lawsuit plaintiff. Chevalier referred all questions regarding the lawsuit to the Sacramento-based industry lobbying group.

The CPHA umbrella group is suing to prevent key arguments in favor of a local ban on the growing of GMOs from being printed in the Mendocino County election ballot pamphlet. The ballot was scheduled to go to press as early as this week in preparation for the March election on Measure H - the voter-led initiative for a "GMO Free Mendocino."

Named in the lawsuit are Mendocino County Clerk Marsha Wharff and the three County residents who signed on as proponents of the Measure H ballot language: Els Cooperrider, Janie Sheppard, a local attorney and Dr. Ron Epstein, a research professor.

"This is the first salvo in a David and Goliath struggle, in which Measure H - which will benefit the people and the environment of Mendocino County - is under attack by unprincipled multinational corporations that care only for their own profits," Epstein said. "They have no qualms about subverting the democratic process."

A court hearing is scheduled Wednesday, Dec. 24th at 11:15 a.m. in courtroom E of the Mendocino County Court House. The hearing will determine whether the consortium of biotech and agri-business corporations can legally prevent Mendocino County voters from reading the full, proposed ballot language in support of Measure H.

"Regardless of how you feel about GMOs, this is a local issue that should be decided by local people," said Redwood Valley farmer Tim Buckner.  "And not by a national lobbying organization representing the likes of Monsanto and DuPont. If they want to start suing people, then they are going to have to sue all 4,000 residents who signed the initiative and all the people who will vote for this," Buckner said.

If approved by voters, Measure H will prohibit the "propagation, cultivation, raising and growing of genetically modified organisms in Mendocino County." It is not a labeling law. And Measure H does not affect food products found in the aisles of grocery stores or livestock feed.

The initiative has drawn the support of local farmers, physicians such as Dr. Marvin Trotter, and families concerned about the unknown health risks of GMOs.

In addition, some of the County's leading grape growers - both organic and conventional, endorse the measure including Dan Fetzer, Frey Vineyards and Roederer Estates. Among their concerns is the likelihood that the introduction of GMOs will contaminate local crops making them unmarketable in the many countries now rejecting GMOs.

"The decision to ban [the growing of] GMOs in our County will put us on the world map as a place where our representatives are responsible, prudent, wise and truly care for the people," said Hubert Germain-Robin, of Redwood Valley's Germain-Robin, producers of world-renowned brandy and cognac.

This is exactly why the biotech industry wants to preemptively undermine Measure H before it even gets on the ballot, according to its local proponents.

Concerned citizens in Sonoma, Marin, Humboldt, Placer and San Bernardino Counties are already mounting campaigns modeled on Mendocino County's Measure H to ban the growing of GMOs.

  • Prev
  • Next

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design