Cohousing-L Mailing List: petition to label genetically engineered foods

[StephOder2 (StephOder2]

Please take the time to visit this website (or call the phone number) and 
sign the petition. 

Steph
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Mothers for Natural Law, Mothers for Natural Law wrote:

 Please Read and Forward This Message To Everyone You Know.
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 This email has three parts:
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 1.  Signing the Petition to Label Genetically Engineered (GE) Foods
 2.  Info On GE Foods
 3.  Petition Submission And National Summit On The Dangers Of GE Foods -
     Washington Dc June 17.
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 PART 1. PETITION
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 Urgent!  Please Sign the Petition for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically

 Engineered Foods at  http://www.safe-food.org/-campaign/petition.html

  (See =D2Info on GE Foods=D3 part 2 for petition text)
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 AUSTRIA collected 1.2 million signatures in a WEEK!
 This is the UNITED STATES, let's go for 10 million!  We can do this!
 PLEASE forward this message to everyone you know.
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 Ask your customers, employees, friends, neighbors, colleagues or family
 members to sign TODAY!
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 Three ways to sign petition:
 1. On-line:   http://www.safe-food.org/-campaign/petition.html
 2. Phone:  1-877-REAL-FOOD
 3. Hard copy. (print off website <www.safe-food.org or call us for a
 copy)
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 PRT 2.  INFO on Concerns about (GE) Foods around the World:

 Do you eat?
 Do you want to know what's in your food?
 Right now every one of us has been conscripted in the largest food
 experiment of all time--without our knowledge or consent.  It's called
 genetic engineering.
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 ALL OVER THE WORLD, whole countries are fighting to keep genetically
 engineered foods from their borders.  Yet here in the US very few
 Americans know anything  about the issue. The risks from these foods are
 legion.
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1. Estimates state that 60% - 70% of food on our grocery shelves contain
genetically engineered organisms.  The biotech industry intends to
genetically engineer all of the food in the world within 5 - 10 years.=20
GE foods are NOT subjected to proper long-term safety testing before
they hit the market and none of them are labeled. (REF: Congressional
Quarterly, 9/98)

2. Last week, Time Magazine, the New York Times, USA Today, Good Morning
America and most major media outlets across the US carried the news that
Monarch butterflies died unexpectedly from eating milkweed plants that
had been dusted with pollen from genetically engineered Bt corn. This
finding is the most of recent of many unwanted and unintentional effects
from genetically engineered foods.

3.  GE can create unexpected and hard to detect toxins, allergens and
reduced nutritional content in our foods.

4. The British Medical Association is calling for a moratorium on
transgenic plantings.

5. In April, the seven largest grocery chains in six European countries
made a public commitment to go "GE free"--to eliminate genetically
engineered ingredients from their products and stores.

6. The Pope is warning of ethical implications.

7.  1300 UK schools have banned these foods from their cafeterias.

8.  The European Union is demanding segregation and labeling of all GE
imports.

9.  Austria is fighting to be a biotech-free zone.

Petition Text:
Petition to Secure the Mandatory Labeling of All Genetically Engineered
Foods Submitted to the President of the United States, Congress, USDA
and FDA

New substances are being introduced into our foods via a technology
called genetic engineering.  A growing number of scientists and
physicians are voicing concern over the possible health and
environmental risks from these foods.  Current laws and policies do not
require the food industry to label these new genetically engineered
foods. Without labels consumers lose the freedom to choose what they
will eat and feed their families.  This petition upholds the right of
consumers to make informed choices.

We, the undersigned, as citizens of the United States of America,
strongly urge the passage of legislation and policies to mandate the
clear and accurate labeling of all foods derived from, processed with,
containing or consisting of genetically engineered organisms before
they are released into any and all commercial markets.


PART 3. NATIONAL SUMMIT on the Hazards=20
of Genetically Engineered Foods

Submitting the Consumer Right to Know petition to=20
the President, Congress, USDA, FDA, and EPA
Thursday, June 17
Capitol Hilton Hotel, 16th & K Streets, NW, Washington, D.C.
9 AM to 12 Noon

You are cordially invited to attend this national summit of eminent=20
scientists and physicians, public policy experts, business and industy=20
leaders, farmers, religious and spiritual leaders, and consumers to
discuss the urgent need to safeguard our food supply from the hazards of=20
genetic
engineering.=20

- Panelists -

Science, Health, and Environment

Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Urban and Environmental
Policy, Tufts University

Richard Strohman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Molecular and Cell Biology,
University of California at Berkeley

Rama Dwivedi, Ph.D., Associate Director, Targeted Mutagenesis Facility,=20
Children's Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University Medical School

John Hagelin, Ph.D., Director, Institute of Science, Technology, and
Public=20
Policy; Presidential Candidate, Natural Law Party; Conference Moderator

Ronald David, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, D.C. General Hospital,
Washington, D.C.

Gary Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Clinical Neurophysiology, North
Shore University Hospital, New York University School of Medicine=20

Agriculture, Economics, and Trade

Bill Wadsworth, Technical Manager, Iceland Frozen Foods, Plc, United
Kingdom; Former Chairman, Food Legislation Committee, British Retail=20
Consortium;
1999 Corporate Conscience Award Winner, Council on Economic Priorities

The Hon. Marie Rabideau, New Hampshire State Legislature; Sponsor of
House Bill 291 that would ban "Terminator Technology" from New Hampshire

Patrick McVeigh, Executive Vice President, Trillium Asset Management=20
(formerly Franklin Research and Development)

Steve Suppan, Ph.D., Director of Research,=20
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Frederick Kirschenman, Ph.D., Owner, Kirschenman Family Farms; Member,=20
National Organic Standards Board; Former member, USDA National
Sustainable
Agriculture Advisory Council

Margaret Wittenberg, Vice President, Governmental and Public Affairs,
Whole=20
Foods Market, Inc.; Member, USDA/EPA Tolerance Reassessment Advisory
Committee

Susan Haeger, President, Citizens For Health

Laura Ticciati, Executive Director, Mothers for Natural Law; National=20
Coordinator, "Consumer Right to Know Campaign;" Conference Host

Ethics and Religion

Steve Druker, President, Alliance for Bio-Integrity

Reverend Dr. Donald Conroy, Roman Catholic Priest; President, North
American Coalition on Religion and Ecology

Rabbi Alan Green, Association of Jewish Renewal Rabbis

Reverend DeWitt Williams, Director of Health Ministries of North
America, Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Reservations and information: 1-877-732-5366
Sponsored by Mothers for Natural Law of the Natural Law Party
Participation by panel members does not necessarily imply support for
the Natural Law Party.

Natural Law Party - Blair House Suite 525 - 8201 16th Street - Silver
Spring, MD 20910

Please call, fax, email your federal Senators & Representatives and urge
them to come to hear the concerns of these American leaders and to
receive the petitions on behalf of the people of their state. INSERT HOT
LINK GLO  Thursday June 17  Capitol Hilton Hotel, 16th & K  Streets, NW,
Washington, D. C. 9am to 12 noon. They will come if they know their
constituants are concerned about the issue.
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White House phone#  202-456-1414
Congress - Senate and House phone# 202-225- 3121

SIGNATURES WILL BE USED ONLY FOR PURPOSES OF THIS PETITION AND NOT FOR
OTHER MAILINGS.

For more information contact:
Mothers for Natural Law of the Natural Law Party of the USA
P.O. Box 1177 - Fairfield, Iowa  52556 =20
Phone 515-472-2809 - Fax 515-472-2683 =20
E-mail:  mothers [at] safe-food.org =20
Internet:  www.safe-food.org


PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TODAY TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. =20

THANKS SO MUCH.