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USA – GM BAN NOT SUPPORTED
Voters Reject Sonoma Ban on Genetically Modified Crops
- Associated Press, Nov. 09, 2005 http://www.mercurynews.com/
via AgBioView from www.agbioworld.org : Nov. 9, 2005
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Sonoma County voters rejected a proposed ban on planting or cultivating genetically altered crops. With 100 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, Measure M lost 56 to 44 percent in one of the county's most expensive ballot fights ever.
Supporters and opponents of the proposed 10-year ban spent a combined $850,000. Only three counties in the nation - all in California - currently ban genetically altered crops. Lex McCorvey, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, which opposed the measure, said the margin of victory was a "strong show of support for local agriculture."
Opponents of the ban argued that most packaged foods in the United States have some genetically modified component, and a ban could hurt the local economy. "To place our local farmers and ranchers at a competitive disadvantage to their peers in our state would have been devastating," McCorvey said.
Sonoma County joined Humboldt, Butte and San Luis Obispo counties, which also voted down similar biotechnology bans in November 2004.
"Regardless of the outcome, we think it's a tremendous victory because of the grassroots support in the community," said Daniel Solnit, campaign coordinator for GE-Free Sonoma County. "This fight's going to continue, and I believe this country will be GMO-free within a decade."
Mendocino County voters in March 2004 were the first in the nation to enact such a ban, overwhelmingly approving the measure despite a well-funded counter campaign from the biotechnology industry.
Voters in Marin County, a mostly suburban region just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, followed suit later that year, enacting their own ban on genetically modified crops. The Board of Supervisors in tiny Trinity County also passed a similar ban.
Anti-biotechnology crusaders, who point to the health risks of eating genetically altered foods, have lobbied for outright bans in Hawaii and Vermont, but California remains the only state in the nation where voters have enacted such bans. McCorvey said he hoped Tuesday's victory would "send a strong message" to other counties that similar bans should be blocked elsewhere in the state.
The bans are largely symbolic because few - if any - genetically engineered crops were grown in those counties. The same is true for Sonoma County, where the winemaking grape is king. No genetically engineered grapes are commercially available.
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