Monsanto Throws $2.89 Million More Toward Stopping GE Food Labeling

Food Integrity Campaign
Sarah Damian

We're less than two months away from the November election – when California's Proposition 37 could become the country's first law mandating the labeling of genetically engineered (GE). But the law won’t happen if Monsanto or other Big Ag companies have anything to say about it.

According to the $2.89 million last Friday to defeat Proposition 37, making the GE crop producer's contributions against the labeling measure total $7.1 million.

From the campaign press release:

Other major pesticide companies also just made major additional contributions to defeat Proposition 37, including DuPont ($874,800), Dow AgroSciences ($815,200), Bayer CropScience ($381,600), BASF Plant Science ($357,700) and Syngenta ($178,700).

“Monsanto wants to buy this election so they can keep hiding what’s really in our food,” said Gary Ruskin, campaign manager of the Yes on Proposition 37 campaign. “They are on the losing side of history. Californians want the right to know what’s in our food, and we will win it.”

The “Big 6” pesticide firms (Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Dow, BASF and Syngenta) have contributed $19 million of the $32 million that the No on 37 campaign has raised.

There are at least 40 food and pesticide companies that have contributed significantly to the "No on 37" campaign – companies with products containing GE crops/ingredients and that apparently prefer their customers to remain uninformed about what exactly they're eating.

The same hackneyed reasoning for opposing GE labeling showed up again in a recent Los Angeles Times story:

Opponents say the label would unnecessarily dampen further [GE crop] development that is intended to feed a growing global population dependent on the U.S., the largest exporter of corn and soybean.

FIC has blogged repeatedly on why promoting GE food as the answer to the world's hunger problems is a misleading PR tactic. For more updates on Monsanto (a.k.a. frequent violator of food integrity), follow the FIC blog here.

Sarah Damian is New Media Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leadingwhistleblower protection and advocacy organization.



Help Us Transmit This Story

  Add to Your Blogger Account   Put it On Facebook   Tweet this post   Print it from your printer   Email and a collection of other outlets   Try even more services