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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2004 MONSANTO, DOW AND DUPONT DUMP MORE THAN $300K INTO SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST MEASURE H Opposition Shatters Record For Most Money Ever Spent In the History of Mendocino County Elections. · Opposition Now Spending $6.78 Per Voter The campaign against Measure H is being controlled -- and almost entirely bankrolled -- from Washington D.C., by corporations such as Monsanto, Dow and DuPont, who have shattered local spending records, according to finance records released today by the elections office. If approved by voters in the March election, Measure H will prohibit the "propagation, cultivation, raising and growing of genetically modified organisms in Mendocino County." It is not a labeling law. And Measure H does not affect biotech medicine, food products found in the aisles of grocery stores or livestock feed. Under the guise of CropLife America, which represents Monsanto, Dow Chemical, DuPont and other corporations, the industry has dumped more than $300,000 into the opposition’s campaign. “These are the same corporations that brought us Agent Orange, PCB’s, DDT and are the largest producers of genetically altered food and seeds in the world,” said Laura Hamburg of the Yes on Measure H campaign. The industry-fueled opposition has now doubled the record for the most money ever spent in the history of Mendocino County elections. So far, the No campaign has spent a record $6.78 per Mendocino County voter. And while the huge money continues to roll in from Washington D.C., local financial support for the opposition campaign is practically nonexistent. Over the course of the entire campaign, only one contribution of $500 has come from within Mendocino County. In contrast, the Yes on Measure campaign has so far received more than more than 1,400 local contributions from local business owners, farmers and families who donated between $5 and $99 to total more than $13,000 -- making it one of the most successful grassroots campaigns in Mendocino history, said Allen Cooperrider, campaign treasurer. With still more than a week before the election, the opposition campaign has raised $318,000 as of Feb. 14. Of the $318,000 total, $300,000 came from one outside source: CropLife America, based in Washington D.C. “This is really a test case to see if corporations with billions of dollars can buy a local election,” Cooperrider said. CropLife America is the name behind the flood of opposition mailers and the saturation radio ads blasting deliberate misinformation about Measure H, said environmental ethics professor Ron Epstein, a Ukiah resident. “CropLife America is the front organization for Monsanto and other petro-chemical and bio-pharmaceutical multinational corporations who support, among other things, using human subjects, including children, to test pesticides,” Epstein said. CropLife America Vice President Patrick Donnelly made headlines today (Feb. 20) with his statement that CropLife supports the lifting of a national moratorium on intentionally dosing human test subjects, including children, with pesticides and other toxic substances.* “As an ethicist, I am shocked that over half a century after the Nuremberg trials, humans and even children are being used as test subjects by the pesticide companies such as Monsanto, who bankrolls CropLife America,” Epstein said. “And now CropLife is here trying to undermine the democratic process in Mendocino County, all for profit.” The opposition is outspending the Yes on Measure H campaign 5:1. Some of the money went to buy radio and newspaper ads, and flyers mailed to county households – all funded by CropLife America. But the largest chunk – more than $300,000 of the opposition’s campaign war chest -- was spent outside the county, mostly on opposition market research, consultants and out-of-state firms, which conducted a blitz of countywide push-poll phone calls. In contrast to the huge money spent by the opposition, the Yes On Measure H campaign raised a total of $67,118 in the last month and a half, according to the spending reports. Contributions of $100 or more totaled $43,000 and came mostly from local businesses and residents of Mendocino County including: Larry MacLeitch (Ukiah); Mary Buckley and Jim Mastin (Ukiah); the Purple Thistle restaurant (Willits); Michael Finerty (Fort Bragg); Cheesecake Momma (Ukiah); Mary Ann Villwock (Ukiah): Kathleen Azarnoff (Redwood Valley); Walter K. Barr (Ukiah); Pete and Roberta Stearns (Ukiah); James Devery (Covelo) and Mary Snyder (Ukiah). Major contributions to the Yes on Measure H campaign also came from Michael Funk, president of Mountain People’s Warehouse, a local food distributor, who contributed $4,999 and a $23,902 grant from the Center for Food Safety, an advocate for safe food and sustainable agriculture. “If we stand together against outside corporations like Monsanto and Dow Chemical, we will win,” said Cooperrider of the Yes campaign. “Mendocino County residents are smart enough to see through the terrible smear campaign the opposition is running. This is our home. We live here, farm here and work here, and we refuse to be bought and sold by these corporations.” * For information on the lifting of the moratorium preventing the testing of pesticides on humans test subjects and CropLife America’s involvement see: Los Angeles Times 2/20 story by Elizabeth Shogren. |
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Hotline | Contact Us VOTE YES ON MEASURE H MARCH 2 P.O. Box 1139, Ukiah, CA 95482 Campaign for a GMO Free Mendocino County - #1258121 |
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