News about the California ballot initiatives to ban growing of genetically
engineered crops.

The good news: the initiative in Marin County won!! The strong showing where
there was well funded opposition from the pro-agribusiness Farm Bureau was
also good news.

Tom

Press Release November 3rd, 2004

Contacts:

Renata Brillinger, Director of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture
(707) 874-1557 x 222  .  [log in to unmask]
Simon Harris, Outreach Coordinator, Californians for GE-Free Agriculture
(415) 561-2523  .  [log in to unmask]


One More California county bans genetically engineered organisms

Defeats of Butte and SLO initiatives will not deter future efforts in other
counties

Residents in four California Counties - Butte, San Luis Obispo, Marin and
Humboldt - went to the polls yesterday to vote on initiatives that ban the
countywide planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops and other
organisms. Marin County successfully passed an initiative with 62% support.

In Humboldt, 35% of voters supported the ban despite the fact that advocates
of the measure withdrew their own support of the initiative several weeks
ago after discovering legal problems with the language, indicating the
likelihood that legislation will pass there in the future. In both San Luis
Obispo and Butte, the measures failed to garner majority support, but
gathered 41% and 40% of the vote despite being significantly outspent by
agribusiness opponents such as the Farm Bureau.

In Mendocino County, the first county to pass a ban in March 2004, the
biotechnology industry lobbying organization CropLife spent over  $600,000
in a failed attempt to influence the election outcome, six times more than
local supporters. The industry changed its tactics after Mendocino, and
opposition in Butte and San Luis Obispo funneled through the Farm Bureau and
other voices of corporate agribusiness, outspending local supporters 4 or 5
to 1.

Over the past year California has become an epicenter in the global struggle
to stop the use of GE in agriculture.  In March 2004, voters in Mendocino
approved a measure to become the first county in the United States to ban GE
crops. In August, the Trinity County Board of Supervisors voted to become
the second. Many other counties, including Sonoma, Alameda, and Santa
Barbara, are organizing to pass similar measures.  Arcata is likely to
become the first US city to ban GE crops when the city council votes at a
November 3rd meeting.

"We are not the least bit deterred by the losses in San Luis Obispo, Butte
and Humboldt counties," stated GE-Free Sonoma Campaign Director Dave Henson.
Sonoma County is gathering signatures to qualify for a June 2005 ballot.
"This relatively young grassroots movement of family farmers and citizens is
just starting to gain momentum."

"Genetic engineering corporations have foisted these crops on farmers and
consumers without sufficient testing, regulation, or the ability to prevent
contamination" said Renata Brillinger, Director of Californians for GE-Free
Agriculture. "This movement of county bans signals the need to pause in the
headlong rush towards genetic engineering, and to engage in a statewide
democratic debate about the future of this technology in California."




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