SB – 1381 Help Get GMOs Labeled in California

Senator Noreen Evans (D) introduced  SB – 1381 last month, a bill that bill be voted on by our state legislators to get GMOs labeled in California. So far two states, Connecticut and Maine will require labeling of GMO foods BUT their laws will not go in to effect not until a few more states pass similar laws.

Last November  Prop 37 lost (because Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association dropped millions of dollars in to false advertising campaigns to scare voters).  SB – 1381 is supposed to be a “cleaner version” of that initiative. Prop 37 would have prevented food manufacturers from calling any processed foods “natural” even if they didn’t contain GMOs. Sen. Evans bill does not address the word natural and requires plaintiffs to give a sixty day notice before taking legal action. Plaintiffs would only be allowed to recoup attorney fees and costs.

I called the senator’s office to find out the status of the bill and spoke to her consultant, Nora Lynn, who told me that it has been referred to committee. She also said, “This is really unusual. Bills go to committees for review and that is normal procedure but this bill has to go through three committees. This never happened before.”

The committees that will discuss the bill are:

  • Policy Committee
  • Ag Committee
  • Judiciary Committee

Which committee do you guess will have the most problems with the labeling GMOs bill? If you guessed the Ag Committee, you win! The counties with the most votes against Prop 37 were counties with the most agriculture.

But wait, do not despair. Lynn told me that we (all of us who live in the great state of California) can do our part to make sure this bill passes.  The first thing is to go to Sen. Evans website. (You will have to copy/paste to get there  from here, due to technical difficulties on my end).

http://sd02.senate.ca.gov/

When you get to her  main webpage, click on the graphic that looks like the picture below.

You will go to another page that tells you more what this bill entails and what you can do to get involved.  Be sure to read about the electronic town hall meeting this coming Tuesday.

You can submit your questions or comments and watch online as Sen. Evans responds in real-time during the question-and-answer session of the town hall. Visit http://sd02.senate.ca.gov/Townhall to submit your questions before or during the online town hall.

And call or email your state representatives; tell them to support SB- 1381 and tell them to label GMOs!


About Inge

Cancer survivor. Healthy organic food coach. Public speaker. If you have a story you want told, contact me at iscott.orangejuiceblog@gmail.com/