[senior citizen]

[QUOTE=Villages PL;875613]The subheading reads: "Online fundraiser is launched to fight expected legal battles."

The law was signed on Thursday but it's expected to be challenged by the food industry. If it's not defeated, it will take effect around mid-2016. And it was all started by an 11 year old girl who started a letter-writing campaign.

The gov., Peter Shumlin, is asking for monetary support on the internet and has set up a new website for that purpose. But in the article, published by the Daily Sun, the website has been edited out.

A lot of good it's going to do to have a website if no one knows the web address.
Shumlin signs landmark GMO labeling law
JOHN HERRICK, VTDigger.org

Posted: 05/09/2014 01:00:00 AM EDT

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed Thursday the nation's first GMO labeling law.

"Vermonters have spoken loud and clear: they want to know what's in their food," Shumlin said, flanked by lawmakers and public health advocates at a festive bill signing on the Statehouse steps.

"We are pro-choice. We are pro-information. Vermont gets it right with this bill," he said.

The law requires food manufacturers selling in Vermont to label products containing genetically modified ingredients starting July 1, 2016.

Most commodity crops sold in the U.S. are genetically engineered to ward off pests and withstand heavy applications of weed-killing herbicides. The majority of processed foods sold in supermarkets contain genetically modified ingredients.

There is no scientific consensus whether genetically modified foods are safe for consumption. But the pro-labeling chorus in Vermont is about consumers' "right to know" what is in their food.

A VTDigger/Castleton Polling Institute poll shows that 79 percent of Vermonters support GMO labeling.

The Vermont Attorney General anticipates defending the state's law in court from the biotechnology industry. This could cost the state $1.5 million to win and than $5 million to lose.

FROM FOX NEWS

Vermont on Thursday became the first U.S. state to mandate labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms as Governor Peter Shumlin signed a law that is widely expected to be challenged in court by some food and agriculture companies.

The law, set to take effect July 1, 2016, would for the first time align at least a small part of the United States with more than 60 other countries that require labeling of genetically engineered foods. And it sets the stage for more than two dozen other states that are currently considering mandatory labeling of such GMO foods.

"Vermonters will have the right to know what's in their food," Shumlin told cheering supporters in a speech on the state House steps. "We are pro-information. Vermont gets it right with this bill."

Shumlin said the state had set up a "food fight fund" to take online donations to help defend the law from litigation expected to be filed by food industry interests to block the law.

Consumer groups and lawmakers supporting such mandatory labeling say there is no scientific consensus on whether or not genetically engineered crops are safe, and consumers should be able to easily distinguish products containing GMOs so they can avoid them if they wish.

The consumer sentiment has pushed a growing number of U.S. food companies to start using non-genetically modified ingredients for their products because of the consumer backlash against GMOs.

But the food and agriculture industries, including the makers of genetically modified corn, soybeans, canola and other crops widely used in packaged foods, are fighting mandatory labeling of GMOs. They say their products are proven safe, and that such labels will imply they are unsafe, confusing consumers and increasing costs for consumers as well as farmers and food companies.

"Scientific bodies and regulatory officials around the world recognize that foods made from genetically modified (GM) crops are as safe as their non-GM counterparts," said Cathleen Enright, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). "GM crops have enabled farmers to produce more on less land with fewer pesticide applications, less water and reduced on-farm fuel use."

BIO, a trade group whose members include Monsanto Co, Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical Co, and other biotech seed companies said food costs for an average household would rise as $400 per year due to mandatory labeling.

BIO and the Grocery Manufacturers Association are backing a proposed federal law that would nullify Vermont's labeling law and any other mandatory labeling of GMOs in the United States.

Both sides of the debate claims science supports their views. Last October, a group of 93 international scientists said there was a lack of empirical and scientific evidence to support what they said were false claims by the biotech industry about a "consensus" on safety. It said more independent research is needed and studies showing safety tend to be funded and backed by the biotech industry.
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The Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts) mentions the Governor asking for donations.


I don't think they've launched the new website yet. I did not see an address.


In signing the legislation, Shumlin asked for support Internet-wide, announcing the launch of a new website to help the state raise funds toward a court battle with agribusiness or biotech industries.


"We are asking people all across America, and all across the great state of Vermont, to go to (the website) and make a donation, so that we can win the Vermont Food Fight Fund fight not only for Vermont, but for America," Shumlin said.