FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Over 100,000 Demand Obama Veto the DARK Act on White House Petition
Unionville, CT, July 26, 2016 – Today, GMO Free USA and a national coalition of nonprofits surpassed 100,000 signatures on a Whitehouse.gov petition demanding that President Obama veto Bill S.764, also known as the DARK Act. The petition reached the signature count in a little over two weeks, making the petition one of the fastest to have reached its goal in the history of the Whitehouse.gov petition site. Crossing the 100,000 threshold requires a response from the White House.
The “Veto the DARK Act (S.764)” petition was created by Stephanie Anderson, candidate for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 23rd District, and has strong support from nonprofits in the food movement, including GMO Free USA, Organic Consumers Association, the Cornucopia Institute and Center for Food Safety. Notable individuals such as former Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Reverend Jesse Jackson are also calling on Obama to veto the discriminatory and loophole-ridden bill.
As a presidential candidate in 2007, Obama promised to label GMOs: “Here’s what I’ll do as president… We’ll let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified, because Americans should know what they’re buying.” Yet, eight years later, agrichemical industry and Big Food allies in the Senate and House of Representatives have passed legislation to preempt Vermont’s GMO labeling law, forbid states from passing GMO labeling laws in the future, and to let the corporations sidestep the kind of disclosure that an overwhelming majority of Americans have been demanding.
GMO Free USA is calling on concerned citizens to call the White House to demand that President Obama veto what is, essentially, a sham GMO labeling bill: 202-456-1414 and 202-456-1111. The petition is still open and anyone who hasn’t signed on is encouraged to do so here: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/veto-dark-act-s764
GMO Free USA is a national 501c3 nonprofit that educates consumers and other stakeholders about the potential hazards of GMOs. GMO Free USA advocates for the application of the Precautionary Principle and the removal of GMOs from the food supply until they are proven safe. www.gmofreeusa.org Press may contact Diana Reeves at 347.921.1466 or info@gmofreeusa.org
END
###
