1."Yes on 37" now endorsed by California Democratic Party
2.Fighting GMO Labeling in California Is Food Lobby's "Highest Priority"
3.Who's supporting "No on 37" 

NOTE: Don't forget to check out our videos on GM labeling: http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/37-labeling

Find out what Bill Maher, Barack Obama, Robyn O'Brien and Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, have had to say about it.
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1."Yes on 37" now endorsed by California Democratic Party
Anne Sewell    
Digital Journal, July 30 2012
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/329691

Anaheim – In another win for the "Yes on 37" Right to Know campaign, the California Democratic Party agrees that we have the right to know if our food is genetically engineered.

Digital Journal reported on July 25 that the "Yes on 37" Right to Know campaign was organizing one million more voters.

Good news followed on July 27, when the campaign received three major endorsements, with the support of the 2.1 million member strong California Labor Legislation, and two high ranking leaders in their respective legislative bodies, namely Senator Barbara Boxer and State Senator Mark Leno. U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters also signed up in support of the campaign.

On July 29, yet another great endorsement was achieved, that of the California Democratic Party, who voted to endorse Prop 37. The party agrees with the overwhelming majority of Americans who want the right to know if their food contains genetically engineered ingredients.

After Saturday's endorsement by the Resolutions Board, who voted almost unanimously to support the measure, the Executive Board adopted it on Sunday without debate.

Despite opponents to the proposition, who had almost a dozen lobbyists at the meeting, party leaders chose to be on the right side of history. They enthusiastically joined with the people's movement, calling for more transparency in our food system, in order for families and individuals to be able to make informed choices as to the food they put on their plates.

Christine Pelosi, Chair of the State Democratic Party Women's Caucus and Honorary Co-Chair of the Yes on Prop 37 Leadership Council announced:

"As a mom, I believe all families have the right to know what's in the food we feed our kids. As a friend of labor, I trust farm workers and public health providers who support labeling genetically engineered foods. That's why I'm proud to join the grassroots movement supporting Yes on 37."

Steve Smith, Communications Director for the California Labor Federation, said:

"Working people deserve the right to know what is in the food we are feeding our families. Prop 37 is a commonsense measure that ensures our families are able to make educated choices about the food we purchase. We're proud to join with millions of Californians in supporting the right to know what's in our food.”

Polls have shown nearly unanimous support across the political spectrum for labeling of genetically engineered foods. Nine out of ten voters in the U.S. and California back labeling according to recent polls (see Mellman 2012, CBS 2012 and Zogby 2012).
This means that the majority of Americans affiliated with both major political parties, across all demographics, want genetically engineered foods to be labeled.

Currently the U.S. stands virtually alone, as one of the few industrialized countries that does not label genetically engineered food products. At least 49 other countries including all of Europe, Japan, China and Russia provide information to purchasers of food items.

Ana Mascareñas, Policy and Communications Director with Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA, said:
"We advise people to exercise and make informed decisions about the foods they eat, yet Californians are left in the dark about genetically engineered foods. There are no long-term health studies on these foods. We have a right to know what we're feeding our families."

The Yes on 37 Right to Know initiative has been endorsed, to date, by over 1,000 community leaders. 

These leaders include a broad range of consumer, farm, environmental, and health advocates, including: the Consumer Federation of America, the United Farm Workers, California Certified Organic Farmers, Public Citizen, Organic Consumers Association, the California League of Conservation Voters, the Center for Food Safety, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco and the Sierra Club.

To view the full list of endorsers and for more information about the campaign, please visit www.CARighttoKnow.org.
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2.Fighting GMO Labeling in California Is Food Lobby's "Highest Priority"
Michele Simon, Public Health Lawyer
Huffington Post, 30 July 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/fighting-gmo-labeling-in-_b_1719898.html

*Grocery Manufacturers Association Long-time Obstructionist of Public Health

In case you had any doubt that California's Prop 37 – which would require labeling of food containing genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) – is a significant threat to industry, a top food lobby has now made it perfectly clear.

In a recent speech to the American Soybean Association (most soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified), Grocery Manufacturers Association President Pamela Bailey said that defeating the initiative "is the single-highest priority for GMA this year."

You may not know the Grocery Manufacturer's Association, but its members represent the nation's largest food makers – those with the most at stake in the battle over GMO labeling; for example, soft drink and snack giant PepsiCo, cereal makers Kellogg and General Mills, and of course, biotech behemoth Monsanto.

According to state filing reports, so far GMA has spent $375,000 on its efforts to oppose the labeling measure, with its members adding additional out-of-state lobbying power in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Never mind polling demonstrating that a whopping 90 percent of Californians think they deserve the right to know what they are eating. GMA also won't bother to mention the more than 40 other nations (including the European Union, Brazil, and China) that already require food makers to disclose GMOs.

Big Food Lobbying to Undermine Health

This is hardly the first time the nation's most powerful trade association of food manufacturers has marshaled its resources to oppose common sense food and nutrition policy – at both the national and state levels.

As I documented in my book, "Appetite for Profit", for years GMA flexed its lobbying muscle in state legislatures all over the country fighting bills that were simply trying to remove junk food and soda from school vending machines.

Big Food lobbyists have also banded together to vociferously fight any attempt to restrict out of control junk food marketing to children on TV and other media.

For example, in 2005, GMA was a founding member of the Alliance for American Advertising, whose stated purpose was to defend the food industry's alleged First Amendment right to advertise to children and to promote voluntary self-regulation as an alternative to government action.

More recently, the Grocery Manufacturers Association was among leading trade groups and corporations opposing the federal government's attempt to improve industry's own voluntary guidelines for food marketing to children. As this Reuters special report from April explains, GMA's chief lobbyist visited the White House last July along with several top food industry representatives (including from Nestle, Kellogg, and General Mills) to scuttle an effort by four federal agencies that would have protected children from predatory junk food marketing.

But Food Makers Love Labels Don't They?

It seems rather ironic that the same food makers taking advantage of every inch of food packaging space to convince shoppers to purchase its products would object so strongly to labeling for something they claim is not harmful.

Indeed in recent years, the federal government , in recognizing that food companies' so-called "front of package" labeling is so out of control that it commissioned not one but two Institute of Medicine reports to make recommendations to fix the problem and un-confuse consumers.

Unwilling to tolerate government intervention designed to help Americans, the Grocery Manufacturers Association has been aggressively promoting its own new nutrition labeling scheme it calls "Facts Up Front." But as Food Politics author Marion Nestle has explained, this is an obvious end-run around the feds. Here is how the food industry describes its own voluntary program:

Facts Up Front is a nutrient-based labeling system that summarizes important information from the Nutrition Facts Panel in a simple and easy-to-use format on the front of food and beverage packages. 

Translation: We are repeating information already required on the back of the package, now placing it in a format we like better on the front.

See how that works? The food industry is always in charge. That's why the nation's largest packaged food lobby and its members are shaking in its boots over 90 percent of Californians wanting to see GMO labeling on food.

And no wonder, because as GMA President Bailey correctly warned her audience: "If California wins, you need to be worried the campaign will come to your state."

Very worried.
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3.Curious about which corporations don't want you to know if you're eating GM food? 

Campaign finance details for 'No on 37' here
http://t.co/d6KrCOxF

Note that the Council for Biotechnology Information is a major donor. CBI is a biotech industry front group whose members – the 'leading biotechnology companies and trade associations' – include Monsanto.