Call Your Reps! Vote on LD1650 Today - Protect Maine Farmers

[Food for Maine's Future]

TAKE ACTION NOW!
PROTECT MAINE FARMERS

TAKE ACTION: VOTE POSSIBLE TODAY! LEAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOUR STATE REP and REP 1-800-423-2900 SEN [phone].

The vote in the house on LD1650 may happen this afternoon! Please take a moment and leave a message for your elected officials at the Statehouse. Please leave your name and address in the message and ask for a response and urge them to support LD 1650 with Rep Pratt's reporting amendment included.. The reporting requirement is an important addition to the bill that promotes informed decision making.

TAKE ACTION: Please Call Today and Leave a Message for Your State Representative at 1-800-423-2900 Today and Urge Your Rep to Support the Minority Report on LD1650!


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Don't be bullied by Biotech's threats!!! Support informed policy making!!! Support a reporting requirement as part of LD1650!!!


After a year of negotiations, compromises and hard work, the Agriculture Committee has finally voted An Act to Amend the Laws Concerning Genetically Engineered Plant and Seeds out of Committee and to the Floor of the House of Representatives. It will probably be voted on early next week, so take action now and tell your legislators to support the minority report.

After a year of negotiations, compromises and hard work, the Agriculture Committee has finally voted An Act to Amend the Laws Concerning Genetically Engineered Plant and Seeds out of Committee and to the Floor of the House of Representatives. It will probably be voted on early next week, so take action now and tell your legislators to support the amended version that including reporting..

The final version of the bill does some important things to protect Maine farmers, but still doesn't go far enough to provide our policymakers with all the information they need to make good decisions that effect the future of agriculture in Maine. The amendment would add a measure to the bill that would require manufacturers of genetically engineered seed to submit an annual report to the Maine Department of Agriculture giving the total number of potential acres that could be planted in each type of genetically engineered crop. This would allow the Department of Agriculture to track the use of genetically engineered crops, see trends in their use, and be alerted to new crops coming into the state.

This seems like a simple thing: one number, once a year, to allow policymakers to make better informed decisions. Why wouldn't policymakers want this information? Why wouldn't policymakers want to make informed decisions? The biotechnology industry, along with many industrial agriculture sectors in the state are afraid that if the state requires seed manufacturers to report that total annual sales, the companies will pull their products from the state. Using this argument, they effectively removed the reporting requirement from the bill at the last minute. But we can put it back!!! Contact your legislators now and tell them a reporting requirement is not too much to ask.

Paradoxically, this argument about the burden for the company and the threat of their abandonment of the state was used when the Board of Pesticide Control was making regulations for Bt corn. Now that those regulations are in place, do we see the industry withdrawing from the state? No!! On the contrary, Monsanto has just submitted a new application to the BPC to register two additional Bt corn products. Are they threatened by the weak regulations put in place? NO!!! Should we let this threat prevent us from getting appropriate information for our policy decisions to be based on? NO!!! Tell your legislators to support the amended versino. Lets make informed decisions. Lets pass a reporting requirement.

What would LD 1650 do?
o It will bring Maine's definitions of genetic engineering up to date with international law.
o It will establish the right of Maine farmers to be heard in a court located in Maine if they are sued by a seed manufacturer for patent violation as long as they don't have a current contract with that company.
o It prevents farmers from being sued for patent violation if they have only a minimal presence of engineered genetic material in their crops, or if they didn't intend for it to be there.
o It directs the Maine Department of Agriculture to establish Best Management Practices for the use of Genetically Engineered Crops.

What would the Amendment do?
o The amendment would add to the above a reporting requirement for the seed manufacturers to submit annual total potential acreage of all genetically engineered crops. These totals would be public information, but the individual numbers that the companies submit would be confidential.