This is an excellent opportunity to highlight an
heretofore ignored risk (GE food). Sen. Harkin has
apparently said he would support labeling if he
recieves 10,000 requests to so. In order to hold him
accountable to his pledge (which would by the way, be
a bold move given the current love affair between
government officials and the biotech industry), I
think a coordinated effort to not only encourage
people to write
but also to keep a running count of letters sent would

essential to success. As in fund raisers, letting
people know that we have, say " 7,562 letters" from
Iowans written would have the likely effect of
prompting more folks to participate.
Any volunteers or ideas on how to do this? I'll copy
to Laurel Hopwood and the IOWA TOPICS Listserve to
gather ideas about this also.

Jim Fleming
Chair, Leopold Group
641-693-9000

--- Jack Eastman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ----------
> From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 13:46:24 -0500
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Please contact Sen Harkin and forward!!
>
> Hi friends/ PLEASE FORWARD
> There is need to get 10,000 constituents in Iowa to
> contact Sen. Harkin!
>
> Contact The Honorable Tom  Harkin, U.S. Senate, 731
> Hart Senate Office
> Bld., Wash, DC 20510
> 202-224-3254  or  319-365-4504 (ask for a staff
> person who handles biotech
> issues)
> or least effective, [log in to unmask]
>
> SAMPLE LETTER/PHONE SCRIPT:
> Dear Honorable Tom Harkin,
>
> As my elected representative in Iowa and as the
> Chair of the U.S. Senate
> Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, I
> am requesting the
> following:
>
> Please work for "mandatory" labeling legislation on
> all foods containing or
> produced from genetically engineered material.
>
> As a consumer using individual judgment, I want to
> know what I'm buying.
> As an individual living in a democratic society, I
> want to be able to
> choose what I am eating.
>
> I know that taking genes from one species and
> putting them into another
> isn't "substantially equivalent" to anything else
> which we've ever done
> before.  The biotechnology industry has developed
> corn genetically
> engineered with a bacterial toxin that acts as a
> insecticide. Am I supposed
> to eat that ear of corn and feel confident that
> there's nothing in there
> that's going to harm me?
>
> If I become ill, how will my physician be able to
> connect cause and effect
> without labeling?
> Suppose my physician wants to know the interaction
> between this
> insecticidal toxin and the white cells and
> intestinal flora in inflammatory
> bowel disease?
>
> Consequences from consumption of these novel
> products are unknown. The end
> results may include, but are not limited to: (1)
> harm to the immune system,
> triggering of autoimmune disease, and induction of
> allergic responses; (2)
> further evolution of antibiotic resistance in
> pathogenic germs from the use
> of antibiotic resistance marker genes that are
> commonly used in most GEFs;
> (3) reduction of beneficial phytoestrogen levels.
>
> Please, Senator Harkin, take the lead to require
> mandatory labeling!
>
> Signed,
> XXXXX
>
> (This action alert is sent by Laurel Hopwood, GE
> Committee Chair,  Sierra
> Club
> <[log in to unmask]>)
>
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