A national campaign to defeat the biotech rider snuck into the Agriculture Appropriations Bill now before Congress has been launched by Just Label It, the national coalition spearheading federal labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food.
“The same chemical companies who just spent $46 million to defeat GE foods labeling in California are now focused on bullying Congress into doing their bidding,” said David Bancroft, Executive Director, Just Label It. “But the seemingly ‘farmer friendly’ rider they slipped into the Agriculture Appropriations Bill is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing and must be eliminated.”
The omnibus 2013 Appropriations Bill contains a biotech rider (section 733) that allows the planting of GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally. It forces the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to grant temporary permits and deregulations of GE crops even if a Federal court rules that USDA hadn’t adequately considered the environmental or economic risks to farmers.
View the original article here: Just Label It Campaign Urges Congress to Dump the Biotech Rider – Sacramento Bee
