Revival Of An Old Idea: Labeling GMOs In Retail Food

Update (February 18, 2016): Initiative has been assigned a number, recently, so it's Initiative No. 1456.  Need 570 volunteers to get 570 signatures each!  To see initiative, go to Secretary of State's site.  Write, today!  Thank you!

As the sponsor of the last anti-GMO petition, Initiative 1338 of the year 2014, I am happy to announce a new effort this year.  Although, I was very disappointed that some natural supporters of the general anti-GMO effort bailed out on me in '14 or never helped at all. This year, however, I think I can get some of them and the general public to get behind this latest proposal.  It's going to take some work, not only by me, but hundreds of volunteers.  There are very few differences between what will be the new initiative, that hasn't been assigned a number yet, and 1338; mainly an updated date for commencement of the law.  Also, 1338 mandated that the word "natural" and variations of it cannot be used as advertisement for retail genetically engineered food.

Remember, 1338 was not the same as the more renowned initiative that made the ballot in 2013, the latter which had big money behind it, but failed nonetheless.  There were significant differences between these two.  For instance, 1338 allowed the option of disclosure (labeling of GMOs) on the nutrition facts label instead of more conspicuously on packages that the 2013 initiative mandated.

I will need 570 volunteers to get 570 signatures on the petition by June 30th.  It's that simple, so if you can be one of those 570, please write me as soon as possible.  Put GMO labeling volunteer in the subject heading, please.  Thank you.

Mark Greene, chairman of the Respect for Mother Nature of Washington Committee

[Originally published on FW Politics on 1/31/16; updated and revised on 2/21/16.]

Washington Environmental Party Calls for Labeling of GMO Food Volunteers

No sense in downplaying it, because the right to know about GMOs in retail-sold food is important, but secondary to what our labeling campaigns are really about, because what they're really about is letting the nation know that GMOs are a growing poisonous aspect of today's agricultural landscape, and what little scientific research has been done regarding GMOs has shown that they are a threat to the environment, a toxin to animals' bodies, and thus a menace to human bodies, not to mention to the entire natural world that depends on natural food for its survival.  Letting a handful of corporations dictate virtually the nation's entire food policy and twisting the natural order for their own monetary gain is repulsive, and hardly gains the attention that it deserves in the mainstream news media and in the halls of government.  Though, it gets amazingly little attention, this is no small matter, because a relative handful of people, who could care less about the ecology of the world, being the lords of all things agriculture is mad when you consider the consequences of a GMO nation or planet.

We needed volunteers yesterday to get ready for the 2015 labeling initiative, but we certainly need you, today.  Volunteers will need to get at least 500 signatures on the next GMO labeling petition between February 1, 2015 and July 1, 2015.  If not YOU, then who?  Please, sign up today by writing poc_senator@yahoo.com.

The Washington Environmental Party, a.k.a., the Party of Commons, and the Respect for Mother Nature of Washington Committee

Originally published on Northern Pacific Report on 11/8/14 under the title "Anti-GMO (Pro-Labeling) Volunteers Wanted for New Washington Initiative."

WA Initiative 1338: GMO Labeling

Update (2/8/14):  GMO Labeling opponents have appealed the Attorney General's ballot title & summary for Initiative 1338 to Thurston County Superior Court, and these opponents are trying to craft misleading wording for the initiative that would practically ensure its defeat at the polls.  The Party of Commons supports the Attorney General's wording.  The petition is ready to be sent out the moment the decision is rendered by the court, just write for your sheet to keep as a master copy to make copies for signatures that you gather.  This is hardly going to break your wallet -- 500 signatures would be about $10.

State of Washington: After the defeat of the GMO Labeling Initiative 522, Washington should try again to get some kind of initiative to label genetically engineered or modified food, and the Party of Commons will lend a hand to that effort by sponsoring an Initiative to the People (522 was not ours), but this time, it will be a compromise effort to strike a balance between the two polar opposites in the debate.  This initiative is not the same as the 2013 effort by a different sponsor.

On the general front, Initiative 1338 is looking for 200 Field Representatives to get 500 signatures apiece, 400 Delegates to get 300 signatures apiece, and 800 Circulators to get 150 signatures apiece.  No experience needed.  Just choose whichever of the three categories would best fit your schedule.  All volunteers will need to commit to getting their particular quota amount between whenever you're reading this and June 30, 2014 .  This is a popular idea, so the signatures will be easy to get.  We also need general volunteers who can get as many signatures as they want or can, so there's no specific number for that.

To get your name in as a potential volunteer petitioner for this new GMO labeling campaign,  write to poc_senator@yahoo.com  (write "GMOlabeling volunteer" in the subject line, please).  Please, be patient regarding a response, we typically won't reply on the same day (due to schedule and time limitations), and possibly not even the next; so it could take 2 - 3 days.   It doesn't matter from where in Washington you are from. 

We'll need all volunteers from all over the State of Washington lined up through the months of February, March, and April.  Please, send e-mail today: poc_senator@yahoo.com.  This shouldn't be that hard to get on the ballot, but only if YOU step up.  You can also see send mail through our I-1338 site: http://www.brandnewelections.us.

We also need money to print petitions and other initiative costs, which are very costly.  Please, contribute by sending a check or money order to C.M. Greene, RMNCW treasurer, P.O. Box 612, Bellevue, WA 98009.  RMNCW means Respect for Mother Nature Committee of Washington.  No internet system for payments, now, nor maybe ever; please, send money the old-fashioned way for expediency right now.  RMNCW has filed with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. 

Prologue

The Party of Commons introduces our newest blog, today, which is about Mother Nature and how she needs to be respected in this world of GMOs, nuclear armament and energy menaces, and troubling forms of biotechnology.  Meanwhile, corruption rules in Washington, D.C., as the White House and Congress bows to the Monsanto albatross and the anti-green energy lobbyists.   This blog will help to inform you about what is going on with issues regarding Mother Nature around America, and how we can best counteract the environmental dilemmas that confront humanity everywhere.