Another Crushing Blow For Monsanto - Judge Upholds Genetically Engineered Crop Ban in Jackson County

- By Carolanne Wright - June 3, 2015

In an era where big money is tossed around by biotech and pesticide behemoths like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont and others to defeat laws restricting GMOs, it’s heartening to see grassroots anti-GMO efforts making headway. The latest example involves an American federal court ruling upholding a Jackson County, Oregon ban on genetically engineered crops.

First victory

In 2014, residents of Jackson County voted by a two-to-one margin to ban the growing of genetically modified crops within their district. In the Nation article, “Beating Monsanto in the Food Fight: Oregon Counties Vote to Ban GMO Crops,” we’re given a glimpse into why the ballot measure was such an overwhelming success:

“The voters here have many generations of fruit and vegetable growing, so they’re among the most educated voters. The opposition spent a million dollars and couldn’t convince the people,” explained Chuck Burr , the president of the Southern Oregon Seed Growers Association, which describes the region’s fertile valleys as “the perfect seed growing environment.”

But it wasn’t easy. Supporters of the bill where up against the Titans of biotech, who poured substantial resources into defeating the legislation by flooding media outlets with campaigns claiming if the bill was passed, farmers would be burdened and the county budget would be consumed by enforcement costs. Of particular note is the fact that 95% of the money allotted to crush the legislation came from outside the county. As reported by the The Nation:

“In a county where the most expensive previous campaign on an initiative measure had cost around $100,000, Monsanto alone gave $183,294 to block the proposal. DuPont gave $129,647. Syngenta gave $75,000. Bayer CropScience gave $22,352. Dow AgroSciences $22,352. BASF Plant Science $22,352. And those were just the biggest checks. Groups affiliated with the Farm Bureau, which often aligns with agribusiness interests, sent substantial checks from states around the country. In all, according to media reports, the campaign to block the ban raised close to $1 million.”

In the face of immense financial bullying, local residents of the county did what Americans do best: they organized. Through Grange hall and community meetings, Our Family Farms Coalition, and securing endorsements from local businesses like the Ashland Food Coop, Buttercloud Bakery and Café, Bad Ass Coffee and Daddy’s Donuts & Juices, they were able get the word out to the community at large. They also brought local chapters of the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry — one of the oldest and most esteemed family farm associations in the area — on board. Additionally, the group received help from the Center for Food Safety Fund, Organic Consumers Fund and Consumer Reports. They garnered many small donations from supportive citizens as well. In the end, all their hard work paid off — until a legal firestorm presented itself.

Second round

Two GMO alfalfa growers — with backing from Monsanto — contested the ban, claiming it violated Oregon’s Right to Farm Act. The growers argued they would be forced to remove 300 acres of GM alfalfa and that the legislation essentially condemned their property to public use. The pair is seeking $4.2 million in compensation from Jackson County. And while the farmers argument concerning “right to farm” was dismissed by Federal District Court Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke, the monetary claim is still active.

As always, there’s another side to the debate, one that is conveniently overlooked by pro-GMO minions:

“No farmer should ever have to tear up their crops like myself and others did for fear they had been contaminated by GMO pollen. Family farmers know well that GMO contamination could quickly destroy a family farm, but it was so encouraging to have a federal court support farmers’ right to defend ourselves against GMOs,” said Jackson County farmer Chris Hardy.

Slowly but surely, grass root anti-GMO movements are spreading. Other counties that have passed similar legislation include: Josephine County, OR; Santa Cruz County, CA; Trinity County, CA; Marin County, CA; Mendocino County, CA; Humboldt County, CA; San Juan County, WA; Maui County, HI; Hawaii County, HI; and numerous cities across the U.S.

Hit the biotech industry where it hurts: their pocketbook

If we truly want to defeat corporations that have hijacked the environment, our food supply and health through genetically modified crops, one of the single most effective tactics is to undermine profits by voting with our dollars. Moreover, by educating farmers and the general public about the health and environmental dangers of GMOs, individuals are able to make informed choices about the food they purchase and the crops they raise. This kind of activism is beginning to bear fruit.

In early January 2015, Monsanto reported a sharp decline in first quarter earnings, down 34% to $243 million for net profit. Total sales fell by 8%. Corn is the biggest breadwinner for the company, and yet sales of the seed fell by 12% compared to last year. The company claims the losses are due to reduced demand in South American countries for GM corn seed, as well as shrinking genetically modified cotton seed purchases in Australia.

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About the author:

Carolanne Wright enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, she has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years.

Dr. Benjamin Carson's Amazing Speech

The Evil Men Who Own and Run the U.S. Government - Revealed

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These men are warmongering, murderous, evil, ruthless, criminal, greedy and vicious individuals who will stop at nothing to gain complete control of the world.

They are now taking steps to control and if necessary to shut down the Internet. We, the people must come together and boycott all elections and convene constitutional convention to start over.

Pediatrician concedes vaccine debate to vaccine rights attorney.!

- By Alan Phillips, J.D. - April 20, 2015

A live radio debate over whether or not vaccines should be mandated was scheduled to air on The Fairness Doctrine with Jennifer Sullivan of WMNF Radio in Tampa, Florida, on April 8, 2015. Both parties -- Pediatrician and Mt. Sinai Assistant Professor of Global Health Professor Dr. Annie Sparrow, and U.S. Vaccine Rights Attorney Alan Phillips (this article's author) -- confirmed weeks in advance, but late in the day before the debate, Dr. Sparrow cancelled. The debate took place anyway, with Ms. Sullivan taking Dr. Sparrow's place by reading pro-vaccine articles from Dr. Sparrow and Hastings Law School Professor Dorit Reiss. You can hear an online archive of the debate, here: (Sound.WMNF.org -- the debate show starts about 3 1/2 minutes in). You decide for yourself, but I heard only vague, unsupported assertions from the pro-vaccine side that were soundly refuted by my clear, referenced facts...

Meanwhile, Dr. Sparrow's cancellation email stated, in reference to her debate opponent:

He is not a doctor, is not a responsible participant in this incredibly important issue, and I prefer not to elevate him by giving him credence or legitimacy on air. This is unfair to the audience. I cannot participate in such a debate.

First, we must identify Dr. Sparrow's cancellation for what it truly was: a classic information-control technique based on this principle commonly used by those who do not have the facts on their side:

Disparage your opponent to avoid the facts.

This is not an original comment on Dr. Sparrow's part, it's the classic reason that vaccine proponents always give for not debating vaccines, regardless of who the opponent is -- they don't want to "dignify" the opposing side. Dr. Sparrow apparently missed the memo prohibiting doctors from openly debating vaccines, and so she initially agreed to debate. In doing so, Dr. Sparrow committed the ultimate pro-vaccine faux pas -- she naively agreed to a vaccine debate, and then had to come up with a reason to withdraw when, apparently, one of her peers informed her that they are not allowed to debate vaccines. It doesn't matter what the opponent's credentials are, pro-vaccine doctors will never engage in a fair and open debate, for two simple reasons: 1) They can't win, and 2) medical science has yet to come up with an effective treatment for the more severe cases of kicked-butt-itis. The pro-vaccine position is not about truth; it's about maintaining a false pretense of public health to further covert agendas that have nothing to do with public health, and you don't further those agendas by debating vaccines.

Let's move on to Dr. Sparrow's specific accusations: Actually, I am a doctor. OK, I'm a juris doctor (lawyer), but my independent vaccine research has been used in medical schools in three countries (Italy, UK and U.S.), was translated and published in several European countries as well as in Russia and China and was published in two homeopathic journals in India. But more importantly, the debate topic ("Should Vaccines Be Mandated?") is primarily a legal question. Legislators decide who has to get a vaccine and when, and who gets to refuse and how; and a complete understanding of the interpretation and application of laws falls squarely within the scope of legal expertise, not medical. The real question, then, is whether or not Dr. Sparrow, who has no training or expertise in law whatsoever, was qualified to participate in this debate.

The fundamental vaccine questions are, of course, ultimately medical: "Are vaccines safe? Are they effective? Are they necessary?" But the vaccine controversy has a substantial legal component. For example, the Federal Court of Claims lists 140 attorneys in the U.S. who handle vaccine injury and death cases. Medical doctors may testify as expert witnesses in these cases, but the cases are managed by attorneys and adjudicated by Special Masters (judges). Next, vaccines are required by law in all 50 states and U.S. territories, and by the federal government for military members, immigrants and some federal employees; exemptions and waivers are available in all 50 states and U.S. territories, in federal statutes, and in federal EEOC, DOD, and USCIS regulations for employees, military members and immigrants, respectively. A complete understanding of the proper interpretation and application of these laws requires formal legal training and expertise. What is the correct exemption procedure in each instance? Which laws are unconstitutional and why? Who does or doesn't qualify for any given exemption and why? These are all purely legal questions that require formal legal training and expertise to address fully. So, if either debate participant was not competent to engage in the discussion, it was Dr. Sparrow.

More important than Dr. Sparrow's lack of legal training, however, is the practical reality that the fundamental issue of the vaccine controversy is political, the underlying corruption of our political system by the pharmaceutical industry. While some aspects of the corruption involve medical and legal details, an understanding of the basics requires neither legal nor medical expertise. Many well-informed lay people with no medical or legal credentials could debate Dr. Sparrow into the ground with one hand tied behind their backs. Indeed, the very fact that Dr. Sparrow initially agreed to debate the matter on the pro-vaccine side reveals that she has no understanding of this most fundamental aspect of the issue. (Or perhaps her cancellation reveals that she understands it all too well?)

Dr. Sparrow hoped, of course, that her cancellation would prevent the debate from happening, to avoid personal embarrassment followed by reprimand from her peers, and to prevent vaccine truths from being spotlighted. But in this instance, the technique backfired. The debate went forward anyway, not only "elevating" me personally, but also exposing the dark side of vaccines. The truth is, pro-vaccine advocates will NEVER participate in a fair and open debate, because that would risk exposing the truth about vaccines to a wider, mainstream audience, and that is not what the ruling pharmaceutical elites want.

When the facts are not on your side, you can't control public perception in an open debate. You control public perception by ensuring that your communications are always one-sided, and by presenting them in forums that do not allow for rebuttal. And whenever your unsupported propaganda is challenged, you discredit the other side to avoid having to address the facts. We should not respond to these emotional attacks defensively, though, as that may actually reinforce the attacker's position. Instead, we should respond by calmly pointing out the technique being used: Emotional attack to cover up the lack of any real information. We can defeat emotional attacks by calling the pro-vaccine trolls out on what their attacks truly are:

Shameless attempts to substitute a psychological control technique for real information.

This is what Dr. Sparrow's cancellation statement was, pure and simple, and it speaks volumes about who she really is. Engaging in an honest, open vaccine debate would risk weakening the pharmaceutical industry's control of public perception, exposing the false vaccine paradigm. Perhaps it was unprofessional of me to agree to debate Dr. Sparrow, since she is arguably not qualified to debate the issue of vaccine mandates. But truth is more important. And in this instance, the truth prevailed.

Thank you, Jennifer Sullivan and WMNF, for The Fairness Doctrine radio series of open debates, shows of which are consistent with the fundamental American tradition of "free speech," a tradition that pro-vaccine advocates fear and unethically avoid.

Attorney Phillips' primary debate argument with referenced citations:

VaccineRights.com.[PDF]

Archive of The Fairness Doctrine, April 8, 2015, "Should Vaccines Be Mandated?" debate:

Sound.WMNF.org (the debate show starts about 3 1/2 minutes in).

Alan Phillips, J.D., is the nation's leading Vaccine Rights Attorney. He advises clients, attorneys, legislators and legislative committees throughout the U.S. concerning vaccines required for newborns, students, employees, military members, immigrants, parents in custody disputes, etc. For more information, see www.vaccinerights.com.

About the author:
Alan Phillips, Vaccine Rights Attorney
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 1-828-575-2622
Vaccine Rights (www.vaccinerights.com)