Hillary Clinton Loses Voters to Bernie Sanders Over Her Pro-GMO Stance

[Catherina]

Hillary Clinton Loses Voters to Bernie Sanders Over Her Pro-GMO Stance

Christopher Delamo
August 17, 2015
Food, Health, Politics

...

“I was surprised, because these women were really pushing for Hillary until they found out about the Monsanto connections, and they dropped her like a hot potato”, says James Berge, the Chairman of the Democratic Party in Worth County, Iowa.



Furthermore, not only are scores of Democrat voters fleeing Mrs. Clinton, but they’re running to the Bernie Sanders camp instead.

This shouldn’t be surprising given the fact that Bernie, as a Senator in Vermont, was one of the first major politicians to push for a GMO labeling bill. Unsurprisingly, Vermont was also the first state in the country to push for it.



Hillary Clinton has publicly defended GMOs, saying, “‘Genetically modified’ sound frankenstienish. ‘Drought resistant’ sounds really like something you’d want. There’s a big gap between the facts and what the perceptions are.”

Maybe if Hillary, or her focus group polling experts, had been more in tune with the growing March Against Monsanto movement, they would have advised her to take a more skeptical stance on GMOs.

http://www.iquestioneverything.net/2157/hillary-clinton-loses-voters-to-bernie-sanders-over-her-pro-gmo-stance/

Related thread by KamaAina : Iowa Democrats flee Hillary Clinton over GMO support, Monsanto ties

[artislife]

1. Just one more reason to love her....wink.

[progressoid]

2. Here's one area where Bernie and I part ways.

I have no love for Monsanto, but the fear mongering about GMOs is lame.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. They're doing it to patent things like corn....

Harvesting seeds is useless as they produce nothing or deformed plants. You have to buy their seeds every time.

Those seeds are the only ones you can get in parts of the Third World because of Trade Laws written by Monsanto and then add laws prohibiting individual states from providing labels identifying products to make it impossible to avoid them and you have the perfect SCAM.

Europe has banned them,...but then,...exploitation is a "bad" thing over there.

[progressoid]

9. Which has nothing to do with labeling.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. Sure it is. Labeling and letting the public decide is what it's all about....

For people who don't want to feed their child a strand of DNA from a jellyfish in their corn flakes.

The promises of the biotech industry haven't panned out. They talk about the promise of a bright future and feeding the world but the yields are the same.

The main reason people should oppose them is the way they play dishonest political games on anyone who opposes their greed. They ask, "Why would you oppose ending world hunger?" as they hold up a picture of a starving child. To which they should be asked, "How can you exploit the poor and hungry in the name of greed?"

[progressoid]

20. Aw, what the hell, put the label on it.

Most Americans don't even know what riboflavin is. Letting them know that their pork chop came from a pig that ate soy beans with a CP4 EPSPS protein won't matter.

We started labeling foods for trans fats nearly a decade ago. And that didn't seem to make a dent in our health.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. I read they're moving to ban trans fat.

[DirtyHippyBastard]

5. The danger of GMO's

isn't the plants themselves. The danger is in the round-up that these GMO plants are resistant to is being over used, and turning up in food products.

[progressoid]

11. Then label them herbicide free.

Although, that wouldn't go over well with non-gmo farmers. Most of them still use herbicides. Many of them are more toxic than glyphosate.

[DirtyHippyBastard]

22. Non-GMO farmers do not spray herbicide directly on their crops. GMO farms do. eom

[progressoid]

23. Sure they do. -- Sharpen, Select, paraquat, Bicep, Prefix

In the meantime, Miller has found that 2.5 quarts of Bicep, 2 quarts of glyphosate, 1 quart of Princep and 1 pint of 2,4-D per acre controls weeds well in his non-GMO corn.

On non-GMO soybeans last year he applied 1.5 pints of Dual, 5 ounces of Sencor, 2 quarts of glyphosate and 1 pint of Super HC per acre.

His fertilizer dealer recommended he use DuPont’s Envive in replacement of Sencor for control on broadleaves this year, so he held the rate down to the lowest recommendation to avoid getting into a carryover issue with his cover crops.

Miller recommends no-tillers considering non-GMO crops seek out experts who can recommend herbicides used before glyphosate came along.
- See more at: http://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/493-fighting-weeds-boosting-profits-with-non-gmos#sthash.dAR5IC33.dpuf

[Trajan]

28. Tell us true ..

Do you own a farm?

Do you have a business arrangement with Monsanto that results in your receiving money from Monsanto for any reason?

Just curious ... thanks ...

[progressoid]

34. Nope.

My grandfather was a farmer. My father was a science teacher. My mother was an art teacher. I'm a photographer.

[Alittleliberal]

33. That's not true.

I work in the Organic Gardening industry. Commercial Organic farms spray some nasty shit on their plants that is OMRI certified. THe label shouldn't be contains GMOs because that is a useless piece of information. The label we need is grown using profit above all else corporate farming practices.

[TBF]

6. They've been splicing seeds a long time

I recall that from the old seed catalogues. But if none of what Monsanto is doing is dangerous why the refusal to label? In Europe people are allowed to know what they are buying.

[progressoid]

8. Why?

Because it's anti-intellectual and anti-science fear mongering.

[TBF]

13. Bullshit - people have a right to know

what they are putting in their bodies. I am not anti-intellectual or anti-science - I have a masters degree (and my bachelors is from UW-Madison in a science field). Your claim that people don't have a right to ask is anti-intellectual and fascist. What are you so afraid of? If they are safe why so secretive? Although it goes right along with Hillary's support for Monsanto. Wonder how much they are donating to her campaign ...

Well here's a clue from July: Clinton's bundlers include some familiar names: Jerry Crawford, an outside lobbyist to Monsanto and Iowa kingmaker, put together another $35,000 or so. Tony Podesta, a mega-lobbyist who co-founded the Podesta Group and is the brother of Clinton's campaign chair John, bundled almost $75,000. (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-17/lobbyists-for-monsanto-exxon-mobile-raise-money-for-hillary-clinton)


"Much of the World Already Requires Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods
64 countries with over 40% of the world’s population already label genetically engineered foods, including the entire European Union. China labels genetically engineered foods. The same companies that fight GMO labeling in the US reformulate or label GMOs in the foods they sell overseas. Why do they afford non-citizens transparency when they've spent over $100M to keep us from knowing what's in our food here in the US?"

http://www.labelgmos.org/the_science_genetically_modified_foods_gmo

[azmom]

15. Yep. In the pocket of big ag.

The system is corrupted and it touches all aspects of our lives.

[progressoid]

18. And what would the label tell you?

If you bought a bag of corn chips or a can of beans with a sticker that said "No GMOs", what nutritional information could you get from that?
Or if your block of cheese said, "contains genetically engineered ingredients" what wold that tell you?
As a graduate of the sciences, you would know that it tells the consumer nothing about what is going into their bodies.

But if you want science, here are 2000+ global studies affirming the safety of GM foods.

Monsanto's horrid business practices, and Hillary's corporate cronyism notwithstanding, GMOs aren't evil.

[sabrina 1]

29. That's NONSENSE and I'm surprised to see ANY support for depriving the American people of RIGHTS

regardless of ANYTHING ELSE, in favor of allowing a horrible Corporation like Monsanto, DICTATE TO US the American people, what rights we have or don't have.

It's unbelievable! I want my food LABELED and I won't buy unlabeled food especially produce. We grow our own now, because I do not believe a word that comes from anywhere near Monsanto.

They are being banned in countries all over the world. They should NOT be in control of the world's FOOD SUPPLY.

It's an outrage that corporations like that, on the run now in other parts of the world should have so much influence in THIS COUNTRY.

[Catherina]

37. I'll pass on your belief that it's "anti-science mongering"

as a polite disagreement right now but there are other issues involved with Monsanto too, such as the way they back every imperial adventure to expand their control of the world's food supply and enslave millions of farmers worldwide for the profit of a few.

Their business model alone, their dishonesty, the environmental damage they've caused, especially in poorer countries but in the US also, all the lives Monsanto has ruined surely justify tossing them into the dungheap.

Monsanto told us all its saccharin, aspartame, Round-UP and its toxic PCB were safe too. PCB's, which were finally banned by the U.S. Congress in 1979, are still, several decades later, a direct factor in the increased rates of Autism.

So yeah I want it labelled. As do millions worldwide who don't trust Monsanto after their worse than dismal record.

[glinda]

40. Traditional splicing and cross breeding is different from GMO.

[merrily]

7. You don't need to agree with him about everything. I don't.

Though I do agree about labeling. I have this silly theory that I have a right to know what I am buying, especially when I am buying it to put into my body.

[progressoid]

12. That's just the problem.

The label wouldn't tell you what you are putting in your body. The label wouldn't provide any meaningful nutritional or safety data about the food you are eating.

[Pastiche423]

25. Please provide proof of your

statement, something that has not been published any frankenfood companies.

For me, the labeling would tell me who NOT to give money to.

I do not want to give one fucking penny to Monsanto or any of its ilk.

[sabrina 1]

30. If the label tells me that this is a GMO PRODUCT, that's all I need to know. I will

then make a different choice of food.

I've seen Monsanto's talking points in their effort to deny the American people the right to have their food labeled and I wish they just stop, because over 90% of Americans don't care what Monsanto has to say, they WANT their food labeled, and this is a democracy where what the PEOPLE want NOT what some Corporation whose interests are ONLY profits, want is what matters.

Label the food, like every other democratic country and even some non-democratic nations, are doing because that is what the people want.

[99th_Monkey]

24. What are you talking about, "fear mongering"? I'm confused

you mean it's fear mongering to want GMO labeling ?

or to care about GMO's at all?

or for a candidate to talk about it?

help me out pls.

[Hydra]

10. This is Hillary's main problem

In a nutshell- she supports the wrong people, because it's profitable.

[TBF]

14. Here's an article from July -

Lobbyists for Monsanto, ExxonMobil Raise Money for Hillary Clinton

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-17/lobbyists-for-monsanto-exxon-mobile-raise-money-for-hillary-clinton

And now she loves GMOs. And anyone who asks questions is "anti-intellectual" and "anti-science". Typical.

[azmom]

16. That's the problem with many of

Our elected officials. We need public funded elections badly.

[Zorra]

19. Good news in many ways! nt

[Catherina]

39. Agreed- in many ways. Los malditos dictadores jamas podrán destruir alucha de los pueblos

No llores, hija mia
Yo, no perdí las esperanzas
Que los malditos dictadores jamas podrán destruir
La lucha de los pueblos que no pueden olvidar
A sus desaparecidos

[Maedhros]

26. Has Bernie actually taken a position on GMO foods?

I am not aware that he has.

Count me down as "not too worried about the health effects, but very worried about Monsanto's drive to control the world seed market."

[sabrina 1]

31. Bernie has said he supports the labeling of food. He has also said he doesn't know

enough about the science of GMOs so won't go into that, but that the food SHOULD be labeled.

He is right to not try to talk about something he doesn't have enough knowledge or understanding of, but he knows that WE have a right to know what we are eathing.

[Maedhros]

32. In the 90's I canvassed for toxic chemical right-to-know laws

on the basis that if toxic chemicals were being used in a community, the community has the right to be made aware of that fact.

I don't see a huge problem with labeling GMO foods, any more than labeling country of origin. I do admit that it's not one of my top issues, but I generally support any effort to give more information to the public.

[glinda]

41. I read somewhere where he is against GMO/Monsanto.

[sabrina 1]

27. It's amazing to me that she hasn't dropped those connections long ago considering that

over 90% of the American public WANTS their food labeled.

They are either so completely out of touch with the American people or they thought they were so in control by now, that it doesn't matter.

I've definitely seen that attitude here on DU where a few people act as if the RIGHTS of the American people don't matter at all.

This is just one of the many issues that once people begin learning about Bernie V Hillary, is going to sink her campaign and that of anyone who is on that Corporate page.

They still haven't caught on to the most important issue of this campaign, the corrosive, corrupting effects of MONEY on our entire system.

[L0oniX]

35. ...and her XL pipe line stance ...and her TPP stance.

[artislife]

36. This is the OP I posted in the GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027091039

READ the warnings. It is graphic, though it is beautifully shot in a documentary way. The words are in Spanish, but basically it is talking about Monsanto and Agritoxins and what it has done to the rivers which then becomes the drinking water.

[Catherina]

38. Thank you. I'll watch and bookmark it

Everyday I see the toxic effects of Monsanto greed where I live now in Guatemala.

The US Government tried to pull a very fast one last year and had their cronies here sneak in, literally in the middle of the night, an undiscussed Monsanto bill while they thought everyone was busy watching the World Cup. Thankfully the people, especially the farmers, were paying attention and thousands descended on the capital forcing the government to backtrack on its *deal* with the US government for CAFTA.


In Sololá, hundreds of campesinos mobilized to oppose the “Monsanto Law,” which would have opened Guatemala to the privatization of seed. (WNV/Jeff Abbott)

From In Guatemala, indigenous communities prevail against Monsanto

[glinda]

42. Isn't it in India or somewhere where farmers are killing themselves due to GMO crops and poor yields