Your congressman has until the end of this week - 48 hours - to sign this letter and join their colleagues in asking Secretary Tom Vilsack to maintain the ban on Monsanto's genetically-modified (GMO) Roundup Ready™ alfalfa. Your voice, and theirs, is important now. Send this letter to them today asking them to do what they can to protect organics, farmers and the environment from this potential disaster. It just takes a moment.
Here is the letter that we will email to your senator/representative today telling them that you support them in signing the "Dear Colleague" letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Dear [Decision Maker],
As you may know, Senator Leahy and Representative DeFazio are
circulating a
Congressional sign-on letter in the House and Senate asking USDA to
maintain
the ban on Genetically Engineered (GE) Alfalfa.
Monsanto wants to sell its genetically modified (GMO/GE) alfalfa and wants
the
USDA to approve its permit application, but consumers, farmers, dairies,
and
food companies don't want GMO/GE alfalfa plants and seeds released into the
environment. USDA's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) admits
that if
GE alfalfa is approved:
* GMO/GE Contamination of non-GMO and organic alfalfa crops will occur
* GMO/GE contamination will economically impact small and family farmers
* Foreign export markets will be at risk due to rejection of GMO/GE
contaminated
products
* Farmers will be forced to use more toxic herbicides to remove old
stands of
alfalfa
Yet, USDA has decided that these impacts are insignificant and have
dismissed
the concerns of farmers and consumers in our state.
As a consumer and a constituent, I urge you to sign on to the Leahy /
DeFazio
Dear Colleague Letter as soon as possible (You can view the letter here:
http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/GMO/May2010CongressLetter.pdf).
Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.