A Grassroots Battle Over Biotech FarmingBy Robert Mullins, NewsDesk.org
Local initiatives target genetic engineering
When voters in the Northern California county of Mendocino passed an initiative this spring banning the cultivation of genetically engineered crops, there were celebrations 3,000 miles away in Vermont.
That same day, March 2, nine town councils in Vermont passed resolutions calling for a state moratorium on genetically engineered farming, bringing to 79 the number of townships there that have taken such a stand.
“We were thrilled in Vermont after the Mendocino County vote passed the same day as our town vote. This is a huge boost for our campaign,” said Amy Shollenberger, an organizer of GE-Free Vermont, an advocacy group opposed to genetically engineered crops.
On the heels of these successes, and buoyed by widespread disapproval of genetically modified foods in Europe, municipalities around the U.S. are presenting their own versions of the ban to voters this November.
But activists may be trying to close the barn door after the horses have already fled. Many food crops worldwide are already being grown with genetically modified seed, and the agribusiness lobby, perhaps caught off guard by the Mendocino vote, is refocusing its well-funded lobbying machine.
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