Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA): the new Koch Industries

When it comes to corporate juggernauts, the Grocery Manufacturers Association is right up there with the fossil fuel industry, the banking cartel and “defense” contractors.  Or maybe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would be a better comparison.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce does intense lobbying and bribing on behalf of its corporate members.  And when they make political “donations,” nobody knows which company provided the funding.  All we know is, the money was contributed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This is called money laundering.  And this is exactly what the Grocery Manufacturers Association does.  When the Grocery Manufacturers Association bribes politicians and purchases elections, nobody knows which members of the Food Syndicate provided the funding.  Was it Safeway?  Tyson Foods?  Pepsi?  Burger King?  Nope, it was the Grocery Manufacturers Association.  That's all you need to know.  Move along.

I hadn't even heard of the Grocery Manufacturers Association — what an innocuous-sounding name — until last Fall when they spent tens of millions of dollars convincing Washington voters that they didn't really want this cumbersome new law that would have required all GMO foods to be labeled.  Washington voters had originally thought they wanted this GMO-labeling law, but after a relentless ad campaign, they realized what an expensive intrusive law this would be; and the initiative got voted down.  (This exact same sequence happened earlier in California.)

The State of Washington has strict campaign disclosure laws, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association had to pay a fine for not revealing the specific companies that had financed their campaign.  Plus they ultimately had to disclose these companies' identities anyway.  The Grocery Manufacturers Association reacted the way all good corporate citizens react when they've violated a law:  They're suing to have Washington's campaign disclosure laws overturned.

And at the national level, the Grocery Manufacturers Association is bribing Congress to pass a federal law that would prevent states from passing any GMO-labeling laws in the future.  Washington and California were too close for comfort.  One of these years, a state's voters might actually be smart enough to vote for a GMO-labeling initiative no matter how many jillions of dollars Monsanto and the GMA have spent to brainwash the voters.  Can't let this happen.  Thank God the Grocery Manufacturers Association is nipping this little problem in the bud.

Seventy-Three U.S. Senators Went Down on Monsanto

Yesterday the U.S. Senate defeated a farm bill amendment which would have allowed states to require the labeling of genetically modified foods.  Again, this amendment didn’t require GMO foods (genetically modified organisms) to be labeled; it simply left the matter up to individual state legislatures.

What happened to that “local autonomy” and “states’ rights” that conservatives are always blubbering about?

And why the fuck are we still arguing about food labels???  In 2012???  Since at least the 1970s we’ve been checking the ingredients labels to see what we’re buying.  Hello?!?!?!

This is just as retarded as dragging those 1960s birth control arguments out of mothballs and into the 21st century, just so rightwing demagogues can keep their inbred Biblehumping “base” all fired up.

Forty-nine countries require all GMO foods to be labeled.  The U.S. is going backwards.  Again.

The defeated amendment had been introduced by Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by Barbara Boxer and Mark Begich.

Over 3,000 food ingredients are currently required to be listed on the label.  What are Monsanto and other GMO companies afraid of?  They claim their GMO products are the greatest invention ever, but they don’t want you to know when you’re buying it?!?

Organizations that are concerned about the possible hazards of GMO foods include:  Union of Concerned Scientists, Center for Food Safety, American Public Health Association, Public Citizen, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National Cooperative Grocers Association.

The U.S. Senate stabbed 300 million Americans in the back when they voted — 73 to 26 — to prohibit GMO labeling.  Seventy-three U.S. senators should all have big signs pointing to their mouths that say “Monsanto’s dick goes here.”