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For Immediate Release
July, 22 2015, 08:45am EDT
Contact:
Abigail Seiler, 202-547-9359, pr@centerforfoodsafety.org
Farmers Oppose DARK Act, Support Mandatory GE Food Labeling
Proponents of H.R. 1599, which would preempt states and local authorities from labeling or regulation GE foods, have attempted to argue that all farmers support the legislation and oppose mandatory labeling on genetically engineered (GE) foods. This is not the case. As exemplified by yesterday's statement from the National Farmers Union (NFU), the second largest farmers union in the country, a wide range of farmers support mandatory labeling and oppose Representative Mike Pompeo's (R-KS) anti-labeling bill.
WASHINGTON
Proponents of H.R. 1599, which would preempt states and local authorities from labeling or regulation GE foods, have attempted to argue that all farmers support the legislation and oppose mandatory labeling on genetically engineered (GE) foods. This is not the case. As exemplified by yesterday's statement from the National Farmers Union (NFU), the second largest farmers union in the country, a wide range of farmers support mandatory labeling and oppose Representative Mike Pompeo's (R-KS) anti-labeling bill.
The following farm groups have voiced their opposition to H.R. 1599, often referred to as the "Denying Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act," as have hundreds of individual farms and farmers scattered across the country.
Farm groups opposed to H.R. 1599:
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
CATA (The Farmworker Support Committee)
Des Moines County Farmers and Neighbors for Optimal Health
Ecological Farming Association
Family Farm & Crop Advisory Business
Family Farm Defenders
Farm Aid
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Farms Not Arms
Farmworker Association of Florida
Farmworker Self-Help
Friends of Family Farmers
Iowa Farmers Union
Iowa Organic Association
National Family Farm Coalition
National Farmers Union
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Northeast Organic Farming Association - Interstate Council
Northeast Organic Farming Association of Mass., Inc.
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York
Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT)
Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
Ohio Farmers Union
Oregonians for Safe Farms and Families
Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association
Our Family Farms Coalition
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union
Rural Advancement Foundation International
In May, over 300 farmer, consumer and environmental groups opposed the bill in a letter to Members of Congress.
Center for Food Safety's mission is to empower people, support farmers, and protect the earth from the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture. Through groundbreaking legal, scientific, and grassroots action, we protect and promote your right to safe food and the environment. CFS's successful legal cases collectively represent a landmark body of case law on food and agricultural issues.
(202) 547-9359LATEST NEWS
Pacific Islands Push ICC to Recognize Ecocide as International Crime
"This is a moment of generational change, one that is needed to safeguard our environment and signal to coming generations that the world is truly serious about doing so," said one legal expert on ecocide.
Sep 10, 2024
Campaigners against ecocide, the destruction of nature, applauded what one leader called a "key moment" in the fight to protect the natural world and communities that are most vulnerable to climate damage on Monday as three Pacific island nations proposed that the International Criminal Court formally recognize the crime.
Vanuatu, which first made a similar proposal in 2019, was joined by Samoa and Fiji in submitting the proposal to the ICC, which was established in 2002 to prosecute cases regarding genocide and crimes against humanity.
"Vanuatu considers it imperative that the international community takes this conversation seriously, and we warmly invite all member states to engage," said Ralph Regenvanu, special envoy for climate change and environment for Vanuatu, in a statement. "Legal recognition of severe and widespread environmental harm holds significant potential to ensure justice and, crucially, to deter further destruction."
The recognition of environmental and ecosystem destruction as a crime could allow the court to prosecute individuals accused of ecocide, such executives of pollution-causing companies whose activities are linked to planetary heating and the sea-level rise and intense storms small island nations increasingly face and officials of governments that continue to emit high levels of greenhouse gases.
Philippe Sands, a law professor at University College London and co-chair of an expert panel on the legal definition of ecocide, said that as drafted, the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, "cannot adequately address environmental harms" and must be changed to reflect "a growing recognition that severe environmental destruction deserves the same legal accountability as other grave international crimes that focus on the human."
"People clearly understand that the most severe forms of environmental destruction harm all of us, and that there is real deterrent potential in creating personal criminal liability for top decision-makers."
“There is a manifest gap in the statute of the ICC, and ecocide is now firmly on the agenda, a vital and necessary moment for an effective international law," said Sands. "This is a moment of generational change, one that is needed to safeguard our environment and signal to coming generations that the world is truly serious about doing so."
Sands told The Guardian that he is "100% certain" that ecocide will ultimately be recognized as an international crime, but with the matter tabled for a full discussion by the ICC at a later date, a long deliberation process is expected.
The Pacific nations introduced the proposal at the ICC days after the Global Commons Survey, conducted by Ipsos UK, found that 72% of people in G20 countries believe ecocide should be recognized as a crime.
Jojo Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, said last week that "widespread civil society demand" has driven the European Union to recognize "conduct comparable to ecocide" as a "qualified" offense, and Belgium to adopt ecocide as a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and fines as high as $1.8 million.
"We're seeing significant policy shifts in favor of ecocide legislation at the domestic, regional, and international levels," said Mehta. "People clearly understand that the most severe forms of environmental destruction harm all of us, and that there is real deterrent potential in creating personal criminal liability for top decision-makers. Damage prevention is always the best policy, which is precisely what ecocide law is about."
Some of the world's biggest polluters, including the United States, China, and Russia, are not member states of the ICC, and could challenge the court's jurisdiction if accused of ecocide—but Mehta said Monday that "by establishing legal consequences, we create a guardrail that compels decision-makers to prioritize safety for people and planet, fundamentally altering how they approach their obligations."
"We also create a route to justice for the worst harms," she said, "whether they occur in times of conflict or in times of peace."
Regenvanu said Vanuatu has prioritized the recognition of ecocide as a crime after suffering significant climate damage for years, with the government already having relocated six towns due to irreversible sea level rise.
"Environmental and climate loss and damage in Vanuatu is devastating our island economy, submerging our territory, and threatening livelihoods. This tragedy is not unique to Vanuatu but is shared by many small island nations that, despite bearing the least responsibility for the crisis, suffer most from its impacts," said Regenvanu. "We urge ICC member states to take note of the very substantial civil society support for this initiative around the world as it moves forward in this crucial discussion."
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Tlaib Says US Has Sent a Message: 'Israel Can Kill Americans and Get Away With It'
"Dear Americans, if you are killed by the Israeli government, our country won't care," the Michigan Democrat lamented. "No one will be held accountable."
Sep 10, 2024
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Monday that the Biden administration has effectively communicated to the world that the Israeli military "can kill Americans and get away with it," a comment that came hours before the Israel Defense Forces predictably concluded that its killing of a U.S. citizen in the occupied West Bank was accidental.
"Dear Americans, if you are killed by the Israeli government, our country won't care," Tlaib (D-Mich.) wrote in response to remarks from U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel, who deferred to the Israeli military's internal investigation when asked about the killing of 26-year-old Turkish American citizen and human rights activist Aysenur Eygi last week at a protest in the illegally occupied West Bank.
"No one will be held accountable," Tlaib added. "It doesn't matter who you are, Israel can kill Americans and get away with it."
.@iclalturan: Eyewitnesses say she was killed by Israeli sniper, autopsy says she was shot in the head…do you have any doubt
Patel: I appreciate all you’re sharing but our partners Israel are conducting a process
Rabia: Her family wants an independent investigation, would you… pic.twitter.com/5EqxXpYKSQ
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) September 9, 2024
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a statement following its inquiry into the killing of Eygi last week that it is "highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire" which was aimed not at her but at another demonstrator, whom Israel characterized as a "key instigator" of a "riot."
"Israel has sent a request to carry out an autopsy," the IDF said.
Ghassan Daghlas, the governor of the West Bank city Nablus, saidSaturday that an autopsy conducted at a nearby university "confirmed that Eygi was killed by an Israeli occupation sniper's bullet to her head." Eyewitnesses have also said Eygi was deliberately shot in the head, pushing back on the IDF's narrative.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in response to the IDF's findings that "no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest" and declared that "Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes in their rules of engagement."
Blinken, who recently signed off on a $20 billion sale of U.S. weaponry to Israel, did not specify the changes the U.S. wants to see, nor did he suggest there would be any consequences if the Israeli government refuses to implement them.
The United States' top diplomat also did not say the Biden administration would launch its own investigation of Eygi's killing.
Over the weekend, as Common Dreamsreported, Eygi's family said in a statement that an internal Israeli probe was "not adequate" and called on the Biden administration to "order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a U.S. citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties."
Eygi is at least the third U.S. citizen Israeli forces have killed in the West Bank since the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Since then, Israeli forces and violent far-right settlers have operated with near-total impunity in the occupied Palestinian territories, killing tens of thousands of people in Gaza and hundreds in the West Bank, including one child every two days.
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, said Monday that "the Biden Administration should be launching its own investigation into the killing of an American citizen."
"Instead," he added, "it's deflecting and deferring to Israel to hold its own soldiers and settlers accountable, which Israel has repeatedly failed to do."
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'Unbearable and Horrific Massacre': IDF Kills Dozens in Tent City Bombing
"The far-right genocidal Israeli government continues to use its one-ton Biden bombs to massacre Palestinians as if they were sheep for the slaughter," said one advocacy group.
Sep 10, 2024
The Israeli military bombed Gaza's overcrowded tent city of al-Mawasi early Tuesday morning in its latest attack on a supposed "safe zone," killing dozens of people and intensifying anger at the countries enabling the assault—principally the United States.
Video footage from the scene shows rescue workers transporting wounded people to barely functioning nearby hospitals as others desperately searched for bodies buried under sand.
The Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hamas militants and used "precise munitions" in an effort to mitigate civilian harm, but observers said the massive craters left by the attack were consistent with 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs supplied in large numbers by the United States. The Biden administration has transported thousands of the bombs to Israel since the October 7 Hamas-led attack.
Maha Hussaini, strategy director at the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said in the wake of Tuesday's attack that "in an overcrowded camp where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are scattered in makeshift tents, even the smallest bomb can cause immense damage and numerous casualties."
"Now, imagine the devastation when the Israeli occupation army uses three U.S.-made MK-84 bombs on them," Hussaini added.
Horrifying scenes from the israeli massacre of displaced Palestinian families in Mawasi, west Khan Younis: who in God’s name bombs tents pic.twitter.com/1sBEG7vUb9
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) September 10, 2024
A spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense said the Israeli attack destroyed dozens of tents, killed at least 40 people, and wounded over 60 more.
"Entire families disappeared... under the sand, in deep holes," the official said. Reutersnoted that "tents in the surrounding area had been completely incinerated, leaving only their metal frames dusted with ghostly ash in a wasteland littered with debris."
The Israel Defense Forces said its target was a "command center" that Hamas purportedly established in the designated humanitarian zone, which Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked. Hamas denied its fighters were in the area and said the Israeli bombing killed mostly women and children.
The Associated Pressreported that one of its camera operators "saw three large craters at the scene, where first responders and displaced people were sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands by the light of mobile phones."
"They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg," the outlet reported. "Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of three hospitals to receive casualties, said around two dozen bodies were brought in from the strike. An Associated Press cameraman saw 10 bodies in the hospital's morgue, including two children and three women."
U.S.-based advocacy groups said the attack was the latest example of the Biden administration's complicity in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 people and sparked mass starvation.
"The U.S. continues sending the Israeli government the bombs and warplanes it uses to slaughter Palestinians," said Jewish Voice for Peace Action. "Now, another unbearable and horrific massacre of forcibly displaced Palestinians who were sheltering in a tent encampment. STOP ARMING ISRAEL."
Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement that "the far-right genocidal Israeli government continues to use its one-ton Biden bombs to massacre Palestinians as if they were sheep for the slaughter, not human beings deserving life and freedom."
"The continued military and financial support for Israel's genocide by President Biden will live in the memories of the survivors of these massacres and in the hearts of their loved ones for generations to come," said Awad. "If the Biden administration does not radically change course now by forcing a cease-fire on Netanyahu, it will be clear that it does not seem to have a shred of humanity left and that no crime will stop it from enabling the Gaza genocide."
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