May 2006 | Hightower Lowdown
Stealing Local Democratic Authority
By Jim Hightower
Have you been pre-empted yet? You probably don’t know it, but chances are that your state legislature either already has passed or is considering laws to steal an important level of local authority from you and the other folks in your city, town, or county. The present focus of this pre-emption power grab is on local governments around the country that have been responding (as they should) to the corporate effort to contaminate our food supply with genetically modified organisms.
These GMOs literally alter the DNA of the food we put in our family’s mouths, including transferring animal genes into fruits and veggies. There has been no longterm testing of the human and environmental impacts of these Frankenfoods, yet the federal government has meekly let Monsanto and a few other purveyors of genetically-manipulated seeds to put this stuff into our food supply — without even having to label the foodstuffs as having GMOs in them.
Consumers, farmers, environmentalists, and other sane people don’t want the Monsantos to use us as their guinea pigs, so they have already gotten more than 100 local governments to ban GMO crops within their area. This has infuriated the corporate powers, who have spent tons of money to defeat these local bans … but lost. So, for the last couple of years, they’ve been sneaking off to state legislatures to pass laws, often with no debate, that take away our local control over this health issue.
To date, 14 states have stripped this democratic decision-making power from local people — and corporate lobbyists are moving to take it away from local governments everywhere.
No matter how you feel about GMOs in your food, this orchestrated corporate power grab is stealing the fundamental right of our communities to protect our families’ health and shape our own future. To learn what’s happening in your state, call Environmental Commons: 707-884-5002.
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush, from Viking Press. For more information, visit jimhightower.com.
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